The Jihad Cancer

The civil war we’re watching in Iraq is now paralleled by the civil war we’re watching in Gaza. It’s safe to say the huge escalation in violence in Gaza was made possible by Israel ending its occupation and withdrawing its troops. Will the same thing happen in Iraq once we finally leave, with violence expanding beyond the Sunni triangle to the stable areas of Kurdistan and Basra? I don’t know. And don’t forget that long-running civil war in Somalia, with a central government that has effectively ceased to exist for over a decade.

There is a serious cancer in the Arab world, with no foreseeable way out. As Tom Friedman keeps pointing out, the Islamist groups from Al Qaeda to Hezbollah and Hamas have no central philosophy that involves state-building or helping citizens. Their sole M.O. is war and death – war and death for Israel, America, the West and other Arabs and Muslims. And it doesn’t matter who is running those particular countries or who gets in their way. They care so little about their own lives that they are more than happy to kill themselves if it gives them a better chance to kill you.

There are some success stories in the Middle East (besides Israel): United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Kuwait have progressive economies, better social standards than most and do not hate outsiders. They have learned to diversify their economies beyond oil and educate their citizens beyond merely standing behind the Koran as a justification for jihad. But these are exceptions. Most countries are run by despotic rulers or teeming with extremists who know nothing but jihad, for that is all they have been taught. And I sense there is a silent majority of Arab citizens who are good people that hate the jihadists but are trapped in the middle, either quietly suffering or leaving their countries behind.