Opinion : Winning the War on Terror

All I see on TV this last week is political ads arguing about the effectiveness of the War in Iraq and the War on terror. While I am for the effort in general and believe that it is a worthy cause, I will admit that we are losing, and here is why:

The civilized West in general has lost its sense of direction and principles, and we are fighting against the most principled enemy that history has ever seen.

It makes no difference who is right or wrong (democracy and freedom are right, fascist, sexist, murderers are wrong), the difference in a fight is who wants victory more. And quite frankly, the Islamic suicide bomber wants it more than we do. Much like Michael Coreleone's assessment of the Cuban freedom fighters in the Godfather (part 2?), we need to recognize that beliefs willing to die for are going to win out eventually over beliefs willing to spend money on. The martyrs of Christendom eventually won the ideological battle against the Roman Empire, and we face the same type of threat to our society today from Islamic fundamentalists.

Now I understand that thousands of Americans are willing to put their lives on the line and I deeply respect them for fighting for what they believe in. Yet their actions are ultimately misguided. The only thing the military is spreading in the world at the moment is violence and fear, and these are not guiding principals. Western civilization is built up on respect for human rights, (life, liberty, pursuit of happiness etc.) and on empirical rational reasoning in learning and law. And of course capitalism. These ideals are what we need to spread to the Middle East to be successful in the War on Terror.

Imagine what would happen if a group of nuns went into the suburbs of Baghdad and started teaching children and caring for sick and wounded. These nuns would certainly be persecuted and would likely become martyrs. Yet they would be martyrs for a good cause, a cause that would rally support and sympathy of both war hawks and pacifists and maybe even the people that they are trying to help. If western missionaries persisted despite these threats, they would eventually bring progress. By showing a shining example of what the west is like, they would likely win converts among people who are sick of violence and anxious to improve their lives. This would be true progress in the war on terror.

The problem is that this scenario is unlikely to play out in Iraq or elsewhere. Americans and Europeans simply lack the courage to die for something like teaching literacy or bringing modern medical care to repressed minority groups. And yet, Islamic radicals are clearly willing to die for the causes of repression and blind faith. They simply want it more, and we have no strong answers. In the past, dedicated missionaries who both sought truth and were willing to die for it spread Christian and Western values. When combined with appropriate military action, this strategy was very successful in defeating and civilizing many different areas (see America, etc). Yet we have inexplicably given up on this strategy, often believing that we are so obviously in the right that we don't have to prove our moral beliefs through our actions. Yet all the poor repressed people of the world see is our immoral actions. If we do not take action to gain the moral high ground, those on the moral low ground may well defeat us.