Al-Qaeda leaders are losing control, U.S. says

"WASHINGTON (AP) — Leaders of al-Qaeda lost some control of the terror network last year due to the arrests and deaths of top operational planners, but the group remains the most prominent terror threat facing the United States and its allies, the State Department said Friday."

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I believe this type of report is dangerous in two important ways. For one, it treats Al-Qaeda as if it was a main objective instead of just one of hundreds of so-called terror organizations and secondly, such a report absolutely misses the point as to the nature of terrorism and its goals.

Killing or incarcerating terrorist leadership does nothing to reduce the motivations that drove the organizations to be formed in the first place. The war on terrorism cannot be fought solely against existing organizations but must, in a larger sense, address the culture from which such organizations arise.

The way to combat terrorism is by taking the desperation and powerlessness its supporters feel; replacing it with an efficacious political system that allows them to seek meaningful redress without having to resort to inhumane violence. Removing dictators from power and replacing them with responsive democratic bodies accomplishes this goal: the majority of terrorist activities are provoked by its adherents feeling that no other viable options exist. When considering such dictatorial regimes such as Iran, pre-war Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and to a lesser extent, Egypt, we see that the citizens of these nations have very little opportunity to effectively air their complaints. Until this situation changes, the war on terrorism is merely a sophisticated public relations campaign that, like the war on drugs, will never actually accomplish anything, but instead tout encouraging statistics while root causes go relatively un-addressed.

It is important to understand that only a tiny fraction of Muslims actively take part in terrorist activities. The main thrust of any anti-terrorist efforts must instead concentrate on eroding the popular support these radical organizations rely on to survive. Terrorism only thrives when it can rely on a constant network of sympathizers to finance its operations and protect its operatives.

This is why I believe that, for better or worse, the West must redouble its efforts in assuring the democratization of the Middle East; gone are the days when Western governments could play one dictator against the other for their own personal gains; as WMD become more readily available to the highest bidder, the neo-colonialist policies of old are no longer relevant. It’s time to practice what we preach; democratization in the Middle East must be realized or this war will be just another Madison Avenue brainchild with no end in sight.