Crusade We Must Fight TodayHouse accessgranted by both Bill Clinton and George W. Bush to
jailedjiha dists such as Abdur rahma n Alamo udi and Sami al-Aria n.
A fo rth ri ght ac kno wle dgm ent th at we ar e fa cin g a re new ed
ji had wou ldgo a long way to prev enti ng that sort of dipl omat ic and
inte llig enceembarr assmen t. This is not reall y as far-fetch ed as it may
seem. Jiha dterr oris ts have decl ared war on the Unit ed Stat es and
oth er non-Mus limnations—all the U.S. and Western European
countries need to do is identify the enemy as they have identified
themselves.Defeatingthe jihad internationally
After the. September 11 terrorist attacks. President Bush warned the
world, "You'reeither with the terrorists or you're withus,"But because
of official Washington's persistent refusal to acknowledge exactly who
the terrorists are and why they are fighting, that bold line in the sand has
been obscured time and time again. And few if any, are even asking the
right questions.
Dur ing her Sen ate con fir mat ion hea rin gs, Sec ret ary of Sta te Con-
doleezza Rice was grilled about Iraq, weapons ofmassdestruction, and
how long our troops will be in that strife-ridden country. But no one
bothered to ask her a more important question! When and how will
American foreignpolicy be adjust ed to defeat the goals, not just the
tactic s. of our Jihadopponents?
Thr ee years aft er Sept emb er 11 thi s has sti ll not been done. It
shou ld havebeen the first orderofbusiness.Other nationstake this as
axiomatic—including our enemies. Article 3 of the Iranian constitution
stipulates that Iran must base its foreign policy on "Islamic criteria,
formal? commitment to all Muslims, and unsparing support to the
freedom fighters of the world."
I recommend that the United States do the same: state itsgoals and
int ere sts rega rdi ng the glo bal jih ad. Thi s woul d inv olve a ser iou s re-
eval uat ion of American posture around the globe.