A Better Way to Fight the War of Terror?

The time has come for us to accept the obvious conclusion that the War on Terror and its regrettable shadow, the War in Iraq, cannot be won through violence. Should we be surprised? One need only look at Israel and Ireland and a hundred other conflicts to know that this kind of enemy thrives on counter-violence, which only intensifies their resolve and widens their support.
      But if violence doesn't work, what will?
      Good question. In order to see the real alternative, we have to let go of our own fears and desires for revenge for a while-and that isn't easy.
      Our conflict with Islamic Jihadists is really a war of ideology. To effectively engage it, we have to use ideological weapons, not guns and bombs and commitment to "stay the course" failure. It is not enough to know that we are right and that our cause is just. We have to convince people who do not believe in our way of life-people who reject our culture out of hand, and don't share the historical and philosophical peculiarities from which our culture is derived. To assume that we share common goals, that they want the same things we want, has shown itself to be deadly presumptuous, leading to one disastrous mistake after the other.
      For one thing, we have to understand that creating the perfect society according to the teachings of the Prophet Mohamed is a fundamental aspect of Islam. For strict Islamic religionists, the blueprint for society has to come from the Koran, not the American Constitution, even if they begrudgingly find our democracy and way of life attractive.
      Which leads to an obvious question: Is it the correct policy to try imposing our way of life when it is contrary to their religious beliefs? In a land that has yet to accept women's equality, and a culture where religion permeates every aspect of one's life, including politics? Where scriptural law is so extreme that people are frequently executed for what a secular society would consider as minor offenses of free expression? How can we persuade or even force our convictions in a land where even the mere presence of American troops in Saudi Arabia led to the atrocities of 9-11, a reason we have yet to confront due to the closed-mindedness of our own national pride.
      So, what are these ideological weapons that can bring an end to the War on Terror, or, as our enemies see it, the War on Western Influence?
      They are not the kind of weapons we can purchase, that destroy people or houses or bridges or hospitals. They do not put our soldiers in harm's way, or cost us so many billions of dollars that we need to give another tax break to the rich. They are, unfortunately, not as tangible as guns and bombs, and therefore less attractive to those who prefer immediate, materialistic results, even when they are not forthcoming.
      The only effective weapons that we have to wage an ideological war are these: we have to resurrect the philosophical depth of our own American ideals and incorporate them into our political, social and everyday lives. We have to show that the freedom we extol is not based on the hypocrisy of the market and the acquisition of power. We have to show that the purpose of freedom is for every man and woman to live to their full potential, not only in making money, but morally as well. Forgive the religious reference, but we must truly become a holy nation to our Enlightenment beginnings, a place where citizens embrace compassion and live rightly, genuinely, for all the world to see.
      We must stop being internationally aggressive, both economically and militarily. Aggression is rightfully seen as suspect by the rest of the world, just as it is in our personal lives. To accomplish this, we have to overcome the subtext of greed that easily contaminates our highest ideals and noblest intent.
      We cannot be moral leaders in the world until we choose to lead the world morally. That means respecting and preserving the environment. Right now, the message to the world plainly states that we don't care about the planet we all live on and depend for our lives-profit, convenience and political advantage is far more important to us. If that is true, we will never win this war of ideology, for the ideals we show fail even us.
      We will never uphold the ideals of freedom if we allow a particular religious tradition to blur the separation of church and state, as if happening now. Doing so embraces the ideology of our opponents, who cannot conceive of a government of the people, but only of a particular creed. History shows us the failure of this concept, which has only led to sectarian strife, while opposing the freedoms we hold so dear.
      It comes down to this: We win the war on ideology when we win the war on virtue, when we show that freedom and democracy brings the best out in people and leads to a world of peace and prosperity for all. This can only happen when we, as individuals, act justly and morally in everything we do, and at every level of society.
      If freedom does not bring out the best in people, in all of us, what are propagating?

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