Adamit, Saturday, July 29, 2006
There is no war on terror! There never has been, not here and not in the U.S.A. War on terror is a misleading slogan. Makes people think that there is a “terror” that has to be defeated. Not true, terror is a tactic, not an enemy .
Who is the enemy? If you and I were to stroll through Southern Lebanon we would not be able to identify the enemy. The enemy does not have a big “T” on his forehead nor does he wear a uniform. The enemy is the segment of fundamentalist Muslims that believe in Jihad (Holy war) to spread the true faith. The Arab world needs the West and its technology but certain Arab countries are hesitant to accept Western culture. That is there privilege of course but some are using the Jewish scapegoat to detract from democracy and provide a seemingly de jure reason to ignore Western culture. In other words, an anxious Arab leader that fears Western concepts such as democracy and freedom of speech can turn to the religious concept of Jihad. By so doing, he unites his people in a common cause of defeating heresy and spreading the word of the true prophet. Democracy, free press and other democratic concepts are refuted as coming from the West, the source of heresy and therefore to be shunned. Terrorism is acceptable to achieve this purpose (Jihad) and Muslims that fall for the sake of Jihad are Martyrs. Until recently Lebanon was considered a Christian country with many minority groups. Now many Christians have fled and Moslems are the largest group. Today Lebanon is a country in flux. I expect that in a relatively short time, say ten years, the Shiite Muslims that are forty percent of Lebanon's population today, will become a majority, supported politically (and militarily if something isn't accomplished now) by Hizballah. Lebanon will be become a country that supports Jihad. The Sunni population will not look to the West, the source of heresy, and will align itself with the concept of jihad. By then Druze and Christians will be wise to keep their thoughts and desires to themselves. The possibility of Lebanon uniting with Syria, which already shuns the West and has a hereditary leader that controls all aspects of ruling his country will be a logical next step. Modern Syria has always believed in “Greater Syria” i.e Syria, Lebanon and Palestine (Israel) as one country. Western concepts such as democracy will not ensure the creation of “Greater Syria”. Uniting in a Jihad against heretics can bring about the creation of Greater Syria. With Jihad leaders successfully uniting Lebanon and Syria in the future and continuing to use terror against the Jewish State, we are likely to see the Egyptian and Jordanian citizens abandoning democracy in favor of a fundamentalist government. At present the enemy is only that segment of fundamental Moslems that follow the creed of Jihad. Hopefully, the Lebanese will come to the conclusion that armed militias are leading to the destruction of their beautiful country and will regain control of their own destiny. After that the future of Lebanon is up to the Lebanese. This goal of returning Lebanon to the Lebanese without armed militias may not be obtained in the present campaign. No one is talking about the future of Lebanon in more than clichés but it is my opinion that the objective of this campaign must be the disarmament of all militias in Lebanon and the return of Israel's kidnapped soldiers. Two not too simple issues.
Dan Kohn, Adamit