Matthew Continetti says he has an idea that will resolve the
ongoing confrontation between what he calls radical Islam and what he calls the
West. He suggests at the onset of his discussion that: “We need to kill them
over there – in the Middle East – before they
reach the West.” He follows with a long explanation as to why this strategy
will work, and he ends with the following: We must fight over there, or be
resigned to terrorist attacks over here. Again and again and again.
Continetti reveals his strategy in an article he wrote under
the title: “Fight Them Over There” and the subtitle: “The central front of the
war on terror is no longer Iraq .
It is the West.” It was published on January 17, 2015 in National Review
Online. He says that “Until 2001, the US treated Islamic terrorism as a
matter of law enforcement” despite the fact that the terrorists were busy
terrorizing Americans everywhere in the world. Then came 9/11, he says, at
which time the terrorists were called “unlawful combatants,” and America
went on the offensive against them.
Without explaining why it happened, he then reveals that “America invaded Iraq in 2003.” And this is when
“Aspiring jihadists, enemies of the West, traveled to Iraq where they
encountered US pilots, soldiers, and Marines” who killed them, he says. The
strategy to deter the terrorists worked according to him because the American
message was this: If you choose jihad, you will spend your life in Guantanamo or you will
die.
Then Obama came on the scene, says Continetti, and things
went haywire. That is because: “Our troops were removed from the battlefield in
Iraq and Afghanistan …
The words 'Islamic terrorism' would not be uttered,” he says. And the result,
according to him, was “a dramatic uptick in Islamic radicalism.” He gives
examples to illustrate that last point: the FT.
Hood massacre; the assault on the US consulate in Benghazi ; the Boston Marathon bombing, and
the public beheading of Lee Rigby.
And this is where you stop and try to evaluate what this guy
is throwing at you. Is he saying that kids who had been fighting America since before 2001, had their spirits
dampened by the American threat of being killed or sent to Guantanamo ,
and then had their spirits buoyed when America
pulled out of Iraq ?
Is this what gave those kids new impetus to plan and execute FT. Hood,
Benghazi, the Boston Marathon and the beheading of Rigby? Or was there
something more profound that motivated them before 2001, that continues to
motivate them, and will continue to motivate them for perhaps a long time to
come?
Matthew Continetti's own assessment is that the global
movement, as he calls it, now possesses more than 2 billion dollars in assets,
commands 40,000 fighters, has become an expert at propaganda by deed, and much
more. Not only that, but similar groups have sprung up in Yemen , the Maghreb, Nigeria
and Somalia .
As well, the Taliban who were here before 2001 are getting ready to come back
to Afghanistan .
And all these groups are attracting what he calls disturbed and alienated men
and women hungry to join a winning fight. So the question: Where will the fight
take place? In the West and all lands associated with the West, says our
author.
But does that not tell him that there must be a more
profound reason why these kids are fighting the West, especially that many of
them do come from the West? In fact, he has acknowledged at one point that
“aspiring jihadis” came from around the world to fight in Iraq when America got involved there without
a good reason, and without an acceptable explanation.
But instead of using these realities as a starting point to
make his final argument, Continetti goes on to lament that the Obama
administration seems to be scaling down America's aggressive move against
groups that are motivated to fight – and die fighting if necessary – to do away
with the unfairness which America brought to their people.