The Tide Of War

Austin Bay argues that we’re winning the war on terror, despite the flurry of negative publicity around events in Iraq.

The ambush was never completely secret. In a column from Jan. 29 of this year, I wrote: "The massive American build-up around Iraq serves as a baited trap that Al Qaeda cannot ignore. Failure to react to the pending American attack would demonstrate Al Qaeda’s impotence. For the sake of their own reputation (as well as any notion of divine sanction), Al Qaeda’s cadres must show CNN and Al Jazeera they are still capable of dramatic endeavor. This ain’t theory. Al Qaeda’s leaders and fighters know it, and the rats are coming out of their alleys."

Astute observers have dubbed America’s ambush the "flypaper strategy."

Indeed, the real story of this war isn’t going to be found in the pages of the Washington Post or The New York Times. What we hear from the media are the soldiers that are killed in the streets. What we don’t hear about is the fact that Special Operations forces are engaging in a series of raids that are resulting in the capture or killing of hundreds of hardcore al-Qaeda.

Moreover, the jihadis think that this war will be another Afghanistan. What they forget is that until the United States turned the tide in Afghanistan, the jihadis were being slaughtered by the thousands by a superior military force. There will be no one coming to the aid of al-Qaeda in Iraq as the US did for the mujihadeen in Afghanistan. Al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups will soon find themselves standing alone if the United States and others continue to put pressure on state sponsors of terror.

The action of the terrorists are also showing the hypocrisy of Islamic terrorism. They claimed to care about the plight of the Iraqi people during UN sanctions, and now they are killing them by the dozens. The actions of these terrorists are directly hurting the Iraqi people.

The actions of these terrorists are ultimately self-destructive. They are engaging a much more powerful enemy that will not be broken by their terrorist tactics. We are engaged in a war of wills against these terrorists, and our leadership and our troops have no intention of flinching. The price is undoubtedly high, but the very future of our nation is at stake. As Mr. Bay states:

Defeatist hotheads who natter about “root causes of terror” must understand the taproot of terror is tyranny. Theft and brutality by local dictators are the leading causes of Third World poverty. UC-Berkeley faculty resolutions don’t stop gangsters. Cutting the taproot usually requires the explicit presence and sometimes the precious lives of Western soldiers.

August has been a hot and horrid month in Baghdad. Fascist and Islamo-fascist thugs are testing the collective will of America, the Iraqi people, Britain, and their coalition allies.

There will be more wretched months. It’s war.

It’s also a war we are winning.

Indeed it is.