On The Blame America Left
David Ignatius writes a column for “On The Left,” a feature of the Investors’ Business Daily editorial page.
Today, he wants to make sure we understand that terrorists are really no longer any danger, but the danger they pose is because of what we’ve done in Iraq.
It’s the third wave of terrorism that is growing, but what is it? By Sageman’s account, it’s a leaderless hodgepodge of thousands of what he calls “terrorist wannabes.”
Unlike the first two waves, who were well-educated and intensely religious, the new jihadists are a weird species of the Internet culture. Outraged by video images of Americans killing Muslims in Iraq, they gather in password-protected chat rooms and dare each other to take action. Like young people across time and religious boundaries, they are bored and looking for action.
The first wave have been largely killed off in the war in Afghanistan - you know, the good war. At least, now it’s a good war in comparison to Iraq. Iraq is a bad war. There weren’t any terrorists there before we came. It was a safe place for everyone before we got there and started killing all those Iraqis. That’s why they want us to leave right away.
The second wave was the trainees who came to Afghanistan (still part of the good war). Many of them have been killed off, so that’s good.
The third wave is just a yowling mob of untrained people. Not really terrorists, just terrorist wannabes according to Mr. Ignatius’ expert, Mr. Sageman. Mr. Sageman is a CIA covert operative - but a good one, since he doesn’t like the war in Iraq.
We’re to blame for their continued existence and the threat they might pose to the U.S. If we would just leave Iraq, they would soon get bored with jihad and fade away.
“Since 2003, the war in Iraq has without question fueled the process of radicalization worldwide, including the U.S. The data are crystal clear,” he writes. We have taken a fire that would otherwise burn itself out and poured gasoline on it.
The third wave of terrorism is inherently self-limiting, Sageman continues. As soon as the amorphous groups gather and train, they make themselves vulnerable to arrest.
“As the threat from al-Qaida is self-limiting, so is its appeal, and global Islamist terrorism will probably disappear for internal reasons — if the United States has the sense to allow it to continue on its course and fade away.”
We tried that - it was the mark of the 1990s. Leave the movement alone and only go after the criminals who commit, you know, crimes. Everything else will just wilt away from lack of motivation.
It didn’t work then. Why should we try it again.
