by Zalman Shoval
"Obama faulted in
terror fight, new poll finds," The New York Times declared in one of its
headlines last week. This conclusion was based on a survey conducted by
the newspaper, which found that for the first time in his presidency,
the majority of Americans disapprove of U.S. President Barack Obama's
policies on terrorism, and given a choice the American public prefers
the Republicans' policies on the issue rather than those of the
Democrats.
This sentiment may have a serious affect on the midterm elections for Congress, scheduled to take place in November.
On the one hand, this
position in unfair, since it was during Obama's first term in office
that al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden was killed. On the other hand,
Obama cannot distance himself from his decision to end the war on
terror, as declared by his predecessor George W. Bush.
This "war" has been
renewed, but as the American president has stated, it will focus
primarily on the Islamic State group. It seems that now, just as before,
Obama has failed to fully understand the radical Islamist nature of all
Arab and Muslim elements that subscribe to terrorism.
In a 1989 essay,
historian and political scientist Francis Fukuyama claimed that the end
of the Cold War had spelled the end of the clashes between various
ideologies and cultures, and that it ushered in a new era in which all
nations and their leaders will subscribe to liberal and democratic
values.
Few dared argue with
this optimistic theory at the time, and New York Times columnist Thomas
Friedman was quick to conclude that with the demise of the communist
threat, the strategic alliance between the United States and Israel was
no longer an absolute must.
Some had disagreed with
Fukuyama's rosy prediction, but we were the minority. At the time, I
was among those who warned that the potential threat posed by Islamic
fundamentalism may one day make all of us miss the Cold War.
In his new book,
"Political Order and Political Decay: From the Industrial Revolution to
the Globalization of Democracy," Fukuyama himself admits that the future
of liberal democracy is ambiguous, but he fails to directly link the
democratic West's theoretical decline with the external threat posed by
Islam.
Henry Kissinger,
however, offers a more realistic worldview, and in his latest book,
"World Order," he notes that the Islamist world negates the values at
the very heart of Western society and culture, and labels anyone who
does not belong to the Muslim nation as an "infidel." Infidels, as
everyone knows, must be killed.
The horrors perpetrated
by Islamic State have reignited the public and professional debate in
the U.S. about the threat of terrorism and its political implications.
Obama hopes he would be
able to limit his anti-Islamic State campaign to aerial strikes, but as
U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of
Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey have already said, it is only a matter of time
before Washington has to decide on a ground operation.
Islamic State may
dominate the headlines now, but the group is only one of many, albeit
more sophisticated and organized than most. The American administration
and with it European leaders are somehow still in denial as to the true
scope of the terrorist threat, and the fact that the Islamic State's
horrific acts, including their signature decapitations, are in fact
perpetrated by other jihadist groups.
The view of Hamas is
also plagued by duality: It may be officially classified as a terrorist
organization, but the West insists on remaining oblivious to Hamas'
ideological and theological affiliation with Islamic State, opting
instead to subscribe to a skewed view by which Hamas is part of the
"absence of solutions to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict."
Another monstrous
absurd is the deliberate disregard to the fact that Iran, which is
currently urged by the U.S. and its European allies to join the fight
against Islamic State, is a major proponent of global terrorism.
Sobering up to reality,
much like some wars, can be a gradual process. One can only hope that
the U.S. and the rest of the free world come to their senses sooner
rather than later; and that following the war -- partial as it may be --
against Islamic State, they would understand that terrorism is as
terrorism does. Defeating Islamic terrorism and ensuring democracy has
the upper hand mandates a comprehensive and systematic mobilization of
all nations in the free world, and first and foremost the United States.
Zalman Shoval
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=10063
Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.
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