The New Face of Terror

With the timely demise of Abu-Musab Al-Zarqawi a hole now rests firmly at the top of Al-Queda's "Iraqi Power Chart" in this ongoing insurgency in Iraq. Need I point out that a more noteworthy "hole" would be the one in the Baghdad "safe house" where Al-Zarqawi met his destiny with the aid of a 500 pound laser guided air ordinance munition).

Jordanian by birth, it comes as no surprise that the so-called "Freedom Fighter" was eventually "ratted-out" by Jordanian Intelligence. Apparently, Al-Zarqawi's antics had pissed-off more than his fair share of fellow countrymen and his presence was more of an eye-sore than an apple.

Al-Zarqawi was "hand-picked" by Osama bin-Laden to wage their ongoing war on America in a quest to quiet the resounding call for freedom in the sands of Iraq and Afghanistan.

As a fighter myself, this would usually be the part where I would render honors to a fallen enemy and praise him for his fight, determination and resilience. Well that will not be happening in this case. Al-Zarqawi's "extermination" was only a matter of time. As the PsyOps cartoons displayed, he was the proverbial "rat in a cage" whose moments were duely noted and dwindling quickly.

Enter Abu Ayyub al-Masri - the man with the dubious distinction as being the person identified by top CIA sources as the man most likely to succed the vacancy left by the departure of Al-Zarqawi. As with any terrorist cell, there is little known except through leaks, heresay and conjecture. I really do not think there is a specific hierarchy as far as terrorists are concerned because their position higher or lower on the chain of events does not make them any more or any less a threat. Let's state fact - a terrorist is a terrorist is a terrorist. As long as they lay claim to "jihad" and hide behind their own version of the Koran, free nations of the world will be held hostage by the sheer unpredictability of these hypocritic and deviant self-sevants.

There have been calls by the people of the United States to "stop the war" in which I reply "The War in Iraq ended in May 2003 - where have you been?" The U.S. call to end hostilites ended, and that is when the enemy took off his uniform and performed a make-over of epci proportions - no longer identified as a "soldier" these people now became the ultimate weapons of the Jihadists and have been carrying out their attacks since May 2003.

So, let's take a good look at what has been accomplished by the Jihadists in the 3 years since the end of hostilities in Iraq:

• 2000-plus American and Coalition force casualties in addition to more than 15,000 wounded.
• Unknown amount of vehicles lost to roadside IED's
• Tens of thousands of innocent Iraqi citizens killed or wounded by roadside bombs, vehicle borne IED's and suicide bombers

The press is quick to point out that there have been numerous war crimes brought on by American forces against Iraqi citizens to include the Abu-Gharib Prison scandal, the Guantanamo Bay Detainee Lawsuit and the Haditha Damn Incident.

Now, let's take a quick peek at what HAS been accomplished since 2003 by the many men and women of the Armed Forces in and throughout the Iraqi Theater:

• Hundreds of refurbishing projects have been started throughout the country to provide residents of some of the poorest cities with new wells providing a clean water source, refurbishing of the many sabotaged electricity and public management of facilities to include new police and fire departments as well as increased access to health care.
• New public schools for many of the districts which were vandalized during the war.
• Public service and free elections in many towns once run and strong-armed by Baath Party Officials
• Free elections
• A New Parliment elected by the majority of the people and not hand-picked or appointed through cronyism.
• A new Judicial System
• A new Army

You never hear about the amount of insurgents killed because this would only further ignite the fires of the "libereal press" and they would have our politicians tarred and feathered and the troops yanked from Iraq quicker than you could say "terrorism."

Did I fail to mention oil? Well, many of the oil refineries and processing plants were damaged and vandalized during the war. What is more, many of the experinced people who ran the archaic machinery fled the country prior to the war and are now living elsewhere or are now in hiding in fear for their lives. There have been oil companies in the Middle East since oil was discovered back in the early part of the 20th Century - they are now assisting in rebuilding the countries dilapidated and again oil processing machinery and upgrading so that when they have the capacity to function on thier own, the wells, pumps and processors will not fail and will provide Iraq with some bargaining power on a world stage where oil is second only to gold...

Long ago there was a force which was democracy and a shared vision through blackened eyes and bloody hands to bring an end to terrorism. We stood united firm in our belief that there was room to serve notice that there was retribution to be had at the expnse of of a few bumps and bruises along the way. As the plan became less clear, division rose in the ranks. "United we stand - divided we fall" should be a lesson we should have learned from the past, but it seems to have been forgotten by our more than spoiled, instant gratification "me-now" society whose penchant for power and violence has about a 15 minute attention span and the stomach churning constitution of a bloated glutton waiting for more antacid in order to ingest the last slice of cake!

So what does it all mean? Why are we fighting for Iraq? Why is there no end in sight with the ongoing War on Terrorism? These are tough questions that have been raised and asked at the highest levels of our senate, congress and national press conference tables by many notable people. Has anybody ever bothered to ask this question to Osama Bin-Laden and his gang? Does anyone other than me see this as counter-productive to our cause? True, I see no harm in asking tough questions - but, what about the asking the people who started this war in the first place? The ongoing War on Terrorism will wage on as long as there is a terrorist out there who believes that what he is doing is "Gods Will." Does it mean we must eliminate every terrorist on the planet - no. What it does mean is that we should stay focused on the goal and realize that although there has not been any real dramatic break-throughs yet, there have been many "victories" which will lend weight to the cause of democracy throughout the region.

Once the ball of democracy gets rolling and the Iraqi people start to recognize that the only good terrorist is a dead terrorist, they will truly be a "free nation" and be able to stand upon their own. How long this all will take does not rest with the will of the terrorist - but with the will of the American and Iraqi people. They are the answer - not the politicians - not the press - not the terrorists. The ultimate force in the war on terrorism will not be a new weapon, the best rifle or the smartest tacticians - the force which will lead to the demise of the terrorists activities is a unified and free Iraqi citizen and a tough, wisened and focused America.

There is strength to be found in numbers and there are more freedom loving people in the world right now who outnumber those who choose to serve a repertoire of repression and strict obedience along with an occasional dosing of violence and death. My message to the terrorists of this world is simple: You will lose because you are a desperate vermin spreading a plague of deceit throughout a peace-loving world. And like most vermin, you will be erradicated or reduced to numbers that will render you impotent and endangered.

Really, it's just a matter of time...