Needed: A New Threat Analysis

By Dr. James Hutchens

Each morning the President of the United States receives a Situation Report. This is a briefing provided by the National Security Advisor, among others, that includes a “Threat Analysis.” It is an intelligence estimate on the status of our war on terrorism. It involves not only the status of deployed U.S. and Coalition forces, but also that of the enemy situation – strengths and weaknesses, size and location, strategy and tactics, morale and mission. Failure to have a thorough knowledge of the enemy, especially his world view and his belief system, will guarantee an inaccurate estimate of his potential threat. Unfortunately, it appears we may have grossly and glaringly erred in our analysis of the threat that we face.

Any “Threat Analysis” that dismisses al Qaeda terrorists as disgruntled and humiliated throwbacks to the sixth century isn't even close. The same is true if the al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, Hamas, and Islamic Jihad are seen as Palestinian Arabs who are simply incapable of civilized behavior, or they are let off the hook by collectively thinking, “Oh well, they're just Arabs, what do you expect?”

No, the Islamic Jihadist quest is deeper and it encompasses the forceful focus of conquering the globe for Islam. It is evil to its core. The recent gunning down in Gaza of a mother and her four daughters at point blank range cannot be accepted as evidence of a political dispute between two nations whose mutual goal is peace. The last thing Yasser Arafat wants is peace. He is the godfather of modern terrorism and will remain a serial mass murderer until his death. This is not a matter of balancing the rights of two peoples seeking national self-determination. This is not about trying to find some sort of moral equivalence in the conflict between Jews and Arabs.

The beheading of Nick Berg by al Qaeda operatives demonstrates the gruesome reality that Islamic Jihadists, be they Arafat or Osama bin Laden, are all cut from the satanic cloth. Senator Lindsay Graham on hearing of Berg's decapitation said we are dealing with “an enemy who knows no boundaries, is despicable in every way and behaves like animals.” Indeed, the Apostle Peter would agree, “But these men blaspheme in matters they do not understand. They are like brute beasts, creatures of instinct, born only to be caught and destroyed, and like beasts they too will perish.” (II Peter 2:12).

A “Threat Analysis” that refuses to see that we are engaged in spiritual warfare is irresponsible and doomed to failure. The Berg murderers claimed they were retaliating as Muslims against the Crusaders. Our elected leaders may shrink from calling this a religious war, but rest assured, our Islamic Jihadist enemies do not. These sick and twisted perverts of religion have plumed the depths of pagan barbarism in their satanic obsession to murder and maim The sooner we see this as a demonically inspired clash of religious civilizations (a la Samuel Huntington), the safer we can hope to be. An assessment of the enemy situation that disregards the deeply spiritual dimension of our conflict, and Israel's for that matter, will inevitably come up with a skewed analysis of the threat we face.

One does not negotiate with Islamic Jihadists. There is no deterrent to bomb murderers and decapitators. Diplomatic compromise is not an option. These “brute beasts” have no concept of life created in the image and likeness of God. The sacredness of human life is totally foreign to Islamic Jihadists. They have forfeited the privilege of life in the human family – they constitute the incarnation of evil. They must be sought out preemptively and proactively, and then aggressively eliminated. As the Apostle Peter said, they must be “caught and destroyed.” They must be terminated with extreme prejudice. Anything less will result in a less than responsible and perilous Threat Analysis.