Getting Terrorists in Our Cross Hairs
26 Jul 2006
Two things occurred when the terrorist organization Hamas won the Palestinian elections a few months ago. First, the vast majority of Palestinians were exposed as terrorists’ supporters or terrorists’ sympathizers. The façade was off; no longer could the world pretend that Palestinians were displaced people wanting some property so that they could peacefully coexist alongside Israel. Instead, the vast majority proved with their ballots that they were dark-hearted anti-Semites who want “Israel wiped off the map” and “all Jews driven into the sea.”
Second, Hamas was forced out of the shadows into the seat of government by its surprising electoral success. Since that time, Hamas has fallen on some really hard times. No longer a shadowy figure interspersed among and indistinguishable from the populace, Hamas is now a sitting government at which the rest of the world can take clear aim. As a result, the international community is punishing Hamas by cutting off millions of dollars in international aid desperately needed to prop up an impoverished Palestine. With little hope of their Arab neighbors helping out, for fear of losing Palestine as a propaganda piece, and with discontent growing among the populace over Palestine’s deteriorating financial crisis, Hamas suddenly finds itself between a rock and a hard place.
What is occurring in Palestine to a once shadowy terrorist organization shows us that terrorists are like vampires; their survival and success is predicated on them staying in the dark and never coming out into the light of day. Take Hezbollah for example, though some Hezbollah members serve in the Lebanese government and the Lebanese government is for all practical purposes under Hezbollah’s thumb, Hezbollah and the Lebanese government, unlike Hamas and the Palestinian government, are not seen as one and the same. Thus, in spite of the fact that Hezbollah may control Lebanon just as much as Hamas does Palestine, no one can draw a target between Hezbollah’s eyes because it keeps its head ducked down behind the façade of a Lebanese nation state.
Having hijacked a state, rather than being elected to head it, Hezbollah strikes out against others with impunity, knowing that any retaliation from its victims will be condemned by the international community as an unprovoked and unjustified attack on Lebanon. Existing in political limbo and as a stateless terrorist organization, Hezbollah can launch hundreds of indiscriminant rocket attacks on Israel from Lebanon with the assurance that Israel’s response will be roundly condemned, as well as limited and precise, in order to hold down collateral damage. Any Lebanese casualties will be blamed on Israeli aggression rather than Hezbollah cowardice, despite the fact that Hezbollah terrorists protect themselves by using the Lebanese people as human shields.
Do you remember the old song “Me & Bobby McGee”? There’s a line in that song that explains how Hezbollah has prospered in Lebanon while Hamas has fallen upon bad times in Gaza. The line simply says, “Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose.” As long as terrorists have nothing to lose—no state, no government, no territory—they’re free to conduct their terrorist operations without fear of being bulls-eyed. However, the moment they take over a government or a state, they can be easily targeted and retaliated against. Thus, Hezbollah, with members hidden among Lebanon’s civilian population and weapons hidden in Lebanese neighborhoods and villages, is a far harder target to hit than Hamas, Gaza’s sitting government.
If our championing of democracy in the Middle East results in the election of terrorist organizations, as it has in Gaza, then perhaps we can cut lose on those countries and make short work of this war on terror. On the other hand, if it results in the creation of more quasi states like Lebanon; that is, countries that are incapable of controlling the terrorists who operate freely within them, then I’m afraid our war on terror has no foreseeable end. Contrary to popular belief, more Lebanons in the Middle East will not help us in our war against terror; instead, they will only serve to obscure terrorist organizations and obstruct the sights of those attempting to get terrorists in their cross hairs.
Don Walton
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