Ignoring The War On Terror Doesn't Stop Terrorism, It makes Us Victims

 By Michael Ramirez - May 10, 2012

The above cartoon is even more humorous when we find that the bomber was actually a CIA source who turned himself and the technology over to US authorities. Why is that more humorous? The whole event took place a little over a week after Obama declared the "War on Terror" over.

Obviously various terrorist groups around the globe have a different opinion.



Given my former profession, I do have a bit of insight into terrorism and threats to US interests that average Americans (even average US Military Service Members) lack. I have studied and analyzed al-Q'aida and other groups dating back to 1996 (looking at historical data dating back to the 1960s, or 1060s, in some cases). Town Hall Magazine, Town Hall Online columnist, and STRATFOR analyst Stewart Scott gives very cursory insight in a recent article, for those seeking a little enlightenment.

Within the intelligence community, it is no secret that CAIR supports groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood and al-Q'aida. The reasons that the Taliban formed an alliance with AQ are clear. They share a similar ideology. They share a common hatred of "The West". They support Islamic Caliphates and tyrannical theocracies such as the one in Iran, even though Iran is mostly Shia'a and AQ/Taliban/etc. are mostly Sunni-sects (such as Wahabbiasm).

Most Americans no longer see the threat to our home turf. The attacks from Sept. 11, 2001 are over a decade in the past. Other attacks, such as the attempted Times Square bombing, have been thwarted. In addition, a terrorist attack conducted by an infiltrator was written off as "workplace violence". The Fort Hood terrorist attack at the pre-deployment processing center should form a warning of how far these dishonorable enemies are willing to go to spill our blood.

Those were two infiltrators. Recently, Jose Padilla, an Islamic convert who aligned himself with AQ, attempted a bombing at the Chicago O'Hare (ORD) airport, attempted to sue the US Government. After his attempted attack, he was labeled as an enemy combatant. The results of his law suit were that the courts upheld that enemy combatant status. It was the correct decision. He was not just a criminal. His allegiance was not with our country. His allegiance is to our nation's enemies.

Another infiltrator named Hasan Akhbar murdered my dear friend, CPT Christopher S. Seifert in Kuwait just hours prior to our necessary invasion of Iraq. This traitor never filed "conscientious objector" status. In fact, he refused to do so. His intent was to conduct this attack in order to weaken his unit as they prepared to cross that border. His allegiance was not with the US, the US Army, or his unit. It was with Islamic Extremists.

American born and raised, "Jihad" John Walker Lindh left the US to join AQ and the Taliban to fight along side of his "brothers" against his country. He has been directly linked to the attempted shoe-bombing of Flight 63. The shoe-bomber, Richard Reid, was recruited by Usama bin Laden. Do not allow yourself to be complacent or ignorant that there are potentially many more out there, waiting for the order or opportunity to attack.

Mexican drug cartels, human traffickers, and weapons smugglers work with various terrorist groups. Among those groups is the FARC. However, they also have direct dealings with Islamic terrorist groups, including AQ and the Taliban. They help traffic weapons to these groups, including US weapons coming from operations such as Fast and Furious. The drug smugglers deal in opiates supplied by AQ and the Taliban, assisting in financing these threats to our country. AQ and other terrorist groups have helped these criminal groups by training them in various tactics and bomb-making skills. The human traffickers bring sex-slaves both into the US, for profit, and out of the US, for sale or abuse by these extremists. These same traffickers help terrorist operatives to infiltrate our borders and implant themselves into our communities.

Despite what certain politicians and bureaucrats lead the public to believe, not all of the illegal immigrants coming across our southern border are Mexican. The last estimates available indicate as many as 18% of those who cross the border are from Islamic countries. If, say, 1000 were to cross into Arizona on a given night, approximately 10% may be caught. That means 900 get through. Of them 160 or so will be Middle Eastern. If 1 in 10 is aligned with an Islamic terrorist group, that would be 16 terrorist sleeper-cell enemy combatants infiltrating our country a night. Of them, 1-3 will be a potential direct action terrorist while the other 13-15 will become support personnel (spies, financiers, propagandists, logistics experts, planning & operations personnel).

Not all Middle Eastern immigrants are Islamic. Several are Coptic Christians. Of those who are Muslim, most are not allied with terrorist groups. Many, in fact, are fleeing that oppression. I know several, personally, who served with US Military personnel as sources or interpreters. They are devout in their faith. However, none of them want to see a caliphate or Shari'a law imposed in the US. They left those oppressive regimes to embrace US liberty and our Constitutional Republic. Those who do embrace Shari'a or the idea of a Caliphate are the minority. However, they are the dangerous minority. Their rhetoric can easily inflame "the good ones" to their side if we, as a society, don't embrace them into our way of life. That doesn't mean our female citizens should start wearing burqahs and abayas (or our males wearing dishdashas). It does mean we should have some amount of respect for their traditions of modesty. We have other religious groups in our country that have similar practices:  Amish, Mennonites, and Hasidic Jews, for example. 

Demagogues and propagandists will have you believe that the war is over because Usama bin Laden is dead. Anybody who believes them has no idea how these terrorist groups operate. They believe in their cause, not in just a single individual. These groups are not a group of snakes. They are a pack of multi-headed hydra. Not only do they not have, in each, a single point of failure in a figurehead leader; each leader that dies has another ready to take his place. Usama bin Laden was once the heir apparent of the EIJ before he formed AQ. The leader of EIJ became Usama's second in command of AQ. Having once been a network commander, Ayman Zawahiri, is just as viable a threat as Usama was. He now has Usama's connections as well as his own. Releasing their faithful isn't a sign of good faith. They do not honor the Geneva Convention and its stipulations that a freed prisoner of war not return to fight against his former captors. No, they do go back into the fight. I saw it time and time again in Iraq. 

This war is far from over. Reducing our defensive posture and failing to engage in necessary offensive operations just enables these enemies of the US and the rest of the civilized world to regroup, strengthen, and do worse in the future. If we don't reverse this trend, soon, our country will face another crisis, if not disaster.