Counter Poised (9 page)

“Aye-aye, sir,” said George as he grabbed his notes and gathered up his other materials.

“Okay, Commander Wayne, what does Intel have for us?” asked the admiral, dismissing George with a wave of his hand.

As George walked to the door, he heard Lannis begin, “Admiral, I’ve done some extra research today about the Wahhabi/ Salafi ideology, which is the Islamic fundamentalist ideology, which underlies al-Qaeda’s terrorist operations. I think it would be beneficial for all the members of the staff to understand this material. It may give us some insight into what al-Qaeda may be plotting. After all, before you can
beat
your enemy, you have to
know
your enemy.”

As George closed the door behind him, he heard Admiral Yates respond, “Very good, Commander. Let’s hear it!”

“Shit!” said George. Lannis was truly an asshole. He had intentionally done this to make George look bad, and now all he was doing was parroting back exactly what the admiral just said. He was just changing the words a little and throwing in a cliché here and there to make it sound like they were his own time-tested ideas.
Surely the admiral is smart enough to see through that!

George headed straight for the men’s head. He felt like throwing up!

Chapter 9

“Admiral, the terrorists follow an extreme and perverse ideology known as Wahhabi/Salafi ideology,” Lannis continued, following George’s departure. “It is a minority fundamentalist religious cult, distinct from mainstream Islam, but growing. Islamic scholars say Islam teaches one to be lenient toward others and to understand their value systems. The essence of Islamic tolerance, they say, is summarized in the words of the
Qur’an
, ‘For you, your religion; for me, my religion.’ The so-called fundamentalists, however, have perverted Islam into a religion of
intolerance
. Through hatred and violence, they attempt to intimidate and ultimately conquer
anyone
who does not share their extremist views, even other Muslims.”

“Let’s refer to them as
radicals
rather than
fundamentalists,
” said Admiral Yates. “If Islam is fundamentally lenient, then fundamentalist is a misnomer.”

“Aye-aye, sir.”

“How widespread is this radical ideology?”

“As many as ten to fifteen percent of Muslims may subscribe to it to some degree. While relatively few Muslims are willing to shed blood themselves, it seems countless millions of others either sympathize with the funda—I mean radicals—or sit silently by and do nothing. Over the years, despite efforts in the War on Terrorism, this situation has only gotten worse.”

“Wait a minute,” said the admiral. “You said as many as
fifteen percent
of the Muslims in the world may believe in this radical ideology to some extent…how many is that?”

“Well, sir, with about one point three billion Muslims in the world that equates to about a hundred and ninety-five million.”

“So you’re telling me there are almost
two hundred million
radical Muslims spread around the world?” asked the admiral in a skeptical tone, raising one of his bushy eyebrows as if to punctuate the question.

Lannis’s left knee began to jerk nervously as he stood at the podium. He took a deep breath trying to control it. “Not exactly, sir. First of all, I said ten to fifteen percent of Muslims
may
subscribe to the Wahhabi/Salafi ideology
to some degree
. It’s only an estimate, and while some of them may buy into it totally, others in this number may accept only some of its tenets. Second, the radicals are not uniformly spread around the world. In some Muslim countries the radical ideology is king, while in other countries it’s practically unknown.”

“Thank you for the clarification, Commander. It’s still a huge number.”

“Yes, sir, it is, and the situation is exacerbated by the fact that the majority of mainstream Muslims, the other eighty-five percent, seem to be doing
nothing
to help resist, isolate, and discredit this dangerous ideology.”

“Why would so many Muslims sit quietly by and let these radicals hijack their religion? Certainly these people can see that the rest of the world is likely to interpret their inaction and their silence as complicity with the radicals. So why don’t they do something? Why don’t we see marches against terrorism by millions of Muslims around the world? Why aren’t they demanding that their own Islamic governments find the terrorists within their borders and eliminate them?”

“Well, sir, I think there are several possible explanations,” ventured Lannis. “These are just guesses on my part, but I’ll just throw them out on the table for discussion. I think some of them can be discounted immediately while others are real possibilities.”

“That’s fine, Commander Wayne. After all, you
are
an intel officer, and most of what you guys say are wild-ass guesses! Let’s hear yours!”

Lannis chuckled, enjoying the verbal bantering with Admiral Yates.

“First, a rather frightening possibility is that the so-called
silent majority
agrees with the Wahhabi/Salafi ideology but is not ready to take any action themselves. I hope and think
that
possibility can be quickly discounted.”

“I agree, Commander. Let’s throw that one out.”

“Second, they may think this radical ideology is a legitimate interpretation of the
Qur’an
, but just not
their
interpretation. If they follow the
Qur’an
’s teaching, ‘For you, your religion; for me, my religion’ then their attitude toward the radicals may simply be, ‘For you, your brand of Islam; for me, my brand of Islam’.”

“That’s only slightly better than the first one. If we believe Islamic scholars when they say Islam is a peaceful religion, then we have to throw this one out as well. Otherwise, there would be no
brand
of Islam that supports violence.”

“Yes, sir, I agree.”

“Okay, what other possibilities do you have? I don’t like any of these so far.”

“Well, another possibility is that mainstream Muslims don’t even realize that the Wahhabi/Salafi ideology is a perversion of Islam. They may not know enough about Islam themselves to know the radicals are wrong. We hear from Islamic
scholars
that the radicals are wrong, but the great masses of Muslims are probably not as familiar with the detailed teachings of the
Qur’an
as the scholars are. As a result, many may blindly accept what the radicals are telling them.”

“Interesting. Is that all?”

“Yes, sir.”

“So which one is your favorite theory, Commander?”

“I believe it’s probably a mixture of all of the above, Admiral. However, I find the last one to be most compelling, and it probably explains why most of the silent majority sits back and acquiesces. My own experience with people of other religions here at home has been that when you ask them detailed questions about their religion, they can’t answer them. It seems that most people don’t really know or fully understand the teachings of their own religion.”

“That’s true,” said Admiral Yates. “I’ve noticed that in my own church, but never thought about it in terms of Muslims.”

“With Muslims, the problem is probably even worse because unlike religions such as Christianity, there has never been any centralized control of Islam. There are no official statements made by religious leaders providing Muslims with guidance. There are no equivalents to the Apostles Creed or Nicene Creed in Islam. Every mosque’s imam is on an equal level with every other and can interpret the
Qur’an
as he sees fit. We hear of radical imams every day who get up and preach to their congregation that it is okay to murder infidels. It’s no wonder Muslims are confused, and it’s no wonder the ranks of the radicals continue to grow.”

Buffalo, who had been listening intently to the banter between Admiral Yates and Lannis, interrupted at this point to make an additional point. “Excuse me, Admiral, but I believe there’s another possibility for why the silent majority is acquiescing—one that may make more sense to me than any of those just proposed.”

“Okay, Commander Sewell, what’s your theory?”

“Well, sir, to put this in a context closer to home, let’s assume Commander Wayne is from Chicago. He’s very proud of Chicago and the Cubs or the Bears or whatever. Then the Mob moves in and perpetrates a series of violent crimes and announces to the world that Chicago is a Mob town. Anyone who resists them is gunned down. The vast majority of citizens, of course, don’t like this and want the Mob run out of town, but the police seem to be helpless to stop it or protect anyone who crosses the Mob. Got the picture?”

“Yes.”

“Then one day a bespectacled little man comes to Commander Wayne’s door and asks him if he will sign a public petition denouncing the Mob. The little man says, “We’re going to send it to the
Chicago Tribune
for publication to show the Mob they can’t steal our town!” How many people do you think would sign that petition, which is going to be made public for the Mob to see? Would
you
, Commander Wayne?”

“Probably not.”

“Of course not. It would be like signing your own death warrant.”

“So you’re suggesting,” said Admiral Yates, “that the silent majority of Muslims are
afraid
to take a stand against the radicals because the radicals will retaliate against them and their families, right?”

“Exactly right, sir. Look at what happened in Iraq after Saddam Hussein was toppled. The radicals killed
thousands
of Iraqis—anyone who cooperated in any way with coalition forces or the new Iraqi government. It was a war of intimidation then, and it’s a war of intimidation now. And the radicals will win that war every time.”

“I agree,” said the admiral turning back to Lannis, still at the podium. Then, apparently ignoring the fact that Lannis had committed this glaring oversight, the admiral continued, “Are these terrorists making inroads here or just in Muslim countries?”

“Wahhabi/Salafi ideology has made substantial inroads throughout the Muslim world, sir. It is well financed with oil dollars and has become a global movement in much of the developing world. It is also making inroads among immigrant Muslim communities in the West.”

“So what are their goals, Commander Wayne? What are they trying to achieve? It seems to me they’re trying to spread their radical version of Islam around the world. Are they doing that, or are they merely trying to take away our freedoms? They can’t be trying to drive us out of the Middle East because we’ve already withdrawn.”

“The radicals generally claim they are trying to restore the perfection of early Islam practiced by Mohammed and the Righteous Ancestors. They desire to establish a utopian society based on these fundamental Islamic principles.”

“To what extent?”

“Their goal would be to impose their interpretation of Islamic law on everyone. In the Muslim world, they would eliminate more liberalized variants of Islam and would transform Islam from a personal faith into an authoritarian political system, much like what the Taliban did in Afghanistan. Outside the Muslim world, they would continue to terrorize and attack, hoping to eventually subdue the entire planet and bring everyone under the control of their extremist ideology.”

Buffalo was confused about Lannis’s response.
That’s not what he said before the briefing. He said they were trying to take away our freedoms. Now he’s expressing George’s opinion!

“Very optimistic goals,” said Admiral Yates. “So they want to turn the entire world into the Taliban version of Afghanistan. How are they going to do that by attacking us? Don’t they know we will defend our freedom to the death?”

“That’s true, sir, and at first glance it would seem to be a huge strategic blunder on their part. After all, if Muslims continue to emigrate to the West and convert additional people to Islam, they could eventually take over through peaceful democratic processes.”

“Yes, but that would take generations, and the radicals aren’t that patient.”

“That’s correct, Admiral, plus they don’t get their seventy-two virgins if they just sit by and wait for things to happen.”

“Yes, I suppose that
is
quite an incentive to young men living under Islamic rule.”

“Quite honestly, it’s probably quite an incentive to young men living under
any
rule!” Lannis quipped.

“Yes, that’s true, Commander, but is attacking us militarily the smart thing to do?”

“Well, sir, that question raises several issues. First, the terrorists know there is no one for us to strike back at with our most powerful and lethal weapons—our nuclear arsenal. Our strategic assets, designed for the Cold War, are useless against terrorists. Second, by spreading out their attacks, with five or more years in between, the media and our civilian leaders never fully realize we are at
WAR
. Even today, five years after the destruction of Washington DC, the media still refer to terrorists as criminals rather than combatants.”

Buffalo was astounded.
That little weasel! He’s got no honor! Can’t he voice a single opinion that’s his own?

“Yes, and while our executive branch and military think they are fighting a war, our legislative and judicial branches continue to follow peacetime procedures providing each suspected terrorist with the full range of constitutional rights,” noted Admiral Yates. “One has to wonder what the rest of the country thinks of our screwed up government, which doesn’t know which way to turn.”

Lannis responded, “Well, no doubt, sir, what they think is what they see and hear in the media. And the media, in general, still support individual rights above all else. It’s what our country was founded on and what we have stood for and fought for, for over two hundred and thirty years.”

Admiral Yates sighed and looked thoughtfully at the papers on the table in front of him as silence filled the room. “Yes, but during times of war, Commander, things have to change. It’s always a balancing act between individual freedoms and national security. But when terrorists are armed with nuclear weapons and are determined to kill as many of us as possible, the scale has to tip in favor of national security. It’s high time the media realized that.”

“Yes, sir.”

“But I think the problem goes beyond that,” the admiral continued. “Just as our government is divided into political parties with differing political ideologies, the media seems to be divided as well. While they all claim to be objective, some news organizations obviously impose a liberal slant on the news while others are conservative. Unfortunately the result is, no matter which political party is in power, there are reporters out there, it seems, trying to discredit or embarrass the administration, not because of some righteous desire to protect our democracy, but because they personally disagree with the ideology of the ruling party. It’s not right. It’s counterproductive, and it’s dangerous because they don’t know where to stop.”