After week of reading (mostly on the Internet), watching a ridiculous amount of television (news programs and discussions), and listening to the radio (news, discussions, and call-ins), a few patterns are beginning to emerge from the conglomeration of information and data. The following represents a few of my thoughts and speculations on this.

Despite the fact that it's almost a dead certainty that Osama bin Laden masterminded the terrorist attacks of last week, we do not yet know this with absolute certainty. Until we do, it behooves us to tread lightly. It also behooves us to remember that Osama bin Laden is not the main issue here. Terrorism is. bin Laden's organization is such that, if the head were to be removed, someone else would move in to take his place. Other than partially satisfying the thoroughly understandable blood-lust of those who demand revenge, it would accomplish nothing. In fact, it could make things worse. It would give the terrorists an excuse to wreak "vengeance for vengeance" and redouble their efforts. What you can expect if Osama bin Laden is captured or killed is another massive terrorist attack, undoubtedly far worse than the one last week. And appalling as the idea is, one must never forget the existence of chemical and biological weapons -- or the nuclear bomb in the suitcase.

A byproduct of American foreign policy, going back as far as the late 1940s and the founding of the state of Israel, and America's subsequent support of Israel, is that we incurred the anger and resentment of a large percentage of the population of the Arab countries, most of whom are Muslims. Our actions within recent decades, especially operation Desert Storm, have further directed anger and resentment in our direction -- forgetting, of course, that Kuwait asked for our aid when they were invaded by Iraq. The hatred and fanaticism of bin Laden and his cohorts has reached the point where there is nothing short of the entire population of America committing suicide that would appease them. The only demand that bin Laden makes is that we all die. At this point, the terrorists attack us not for what we have done, nor for any concessions we could make, but simply for who we are.

On call-in and discussion programs, I have listened especially hard to Muslim speakers. They all assert that Islam is not a religion which advocates violence. Several Muslims have stated that Islam maintains that "to kill one innocent person is as big a sin as killing the whole world." One speaker, on NPR this morning, defined the word "jihad" as meaning "struggle." He described the four jihads. The only definition that could even remotely apply to the actions of the terrorists is the "jihad of the sword." But this, the speaker said, applies only to self-defense. And what the terrorists are doing is attacking; it is not self-defense. The most important jihad of all is the jihad of the soul: the inner struggle. The speaker emphasized that, no matter what they believe, they are not Muslims, they are terrorists.

Another discussion I listened to was between two retired generals. One of the generals was composed entirely of knee-jerks. His whole thesis was, "Reduce them to rubble! Nuke 'em till they glow!" That, the other general asserted, would be totally counterproductive. It would accomplish nothing to destroy a country that has already been destroyed, and it might very well cause the Muslim countries to coalesce against us. And this, he said, is exactly what Osama bin Laden wants: a Great Jihad between Islam and the West.

This general suggested that the best approach is to discredit and humiliated bin Laden and his followers. Don't make martyrs of them, make pariahs of them. Cut off their support and give them no haven. We can't do that. But the Muslim countries can. We must induce the Muslim countries, even those hostile to us, to repudiate bin Laden and his followers. This cannot be accomplished by military action. It requires diplomacy of the highest order.

This is, indeed, an entirely new kind of war. Are we up to the challenge?

Don Firth