The following piece was written and published on November 2003. I’m republishing it on this blog hoping its readers will find it to be of some interest.
By Con George-Kotzabasis
The tragic bombing of the residential compound in Riyadh by Muslim terrorists that killed and maimed a large number of their fellow Muslims from Egypt, Jordan,Lebanon, Sudan, and Syria, who were guest workers in Saudi Arabia, can serve as a “god-send” vengeance against global terror. This fanatic and stupid action of the terrorists against brother Muslims, is a huge fillip for strategists against global terror and must be used by them creatively and imaginatively, to stem the deadly flow of recruits into its murderous arms. This opportune moment handed out by this breathtaking dull-witted action of the terrorists, must be utilized swiftly, not losing a moment, by the strategists against global terror, and all its political advantages be turned into a battering-ram that will breach the walls of breeding terrorism.
The strategy will involve, in addition to defeating active terrorism, the simultaneous goal of defeating also future terror, by the eradication of the nests that breed it, i.e. the radical Islamist schools which propagate terror, and furnish their students with an “armor of belief” that makes it easy for them to sacrifice themselves in Jihadist actions.
The policy will comprise the following: (a) The coaxing and encouragement of the governments of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Sudan, and Jordan, to pass a decree prohibiting schools from propagating radical Islamist teachings, and to punish the imams who continue to do so with the most severe punishments. In case that some schools however, covertly continue to spawn the radical teachings of the fundamentalists, they will be closed down. Politically, except perhaps for the latter, this will not be difficult to be done by these governments, as the overwhelming majority of their populations are completely affronted and outraged by this terrorist attack against their fellow Muslims, and will support their governments’ action, or at the least will be quiescent about it. Moreover, such action on the part of these governments will be both in their own interests and in the interests of their own people. However, in regards to the closing of these schools, before such a drastic step is taken, America, Europe, and the economically developed countries of Asia, should immediately set up an international body with the authority of building schools in these Muslim countries quickly, with the purpose of accommodating the students from the closed schools. Consequently, none of the above governments which took this radical step of closing down these fundamentalist schools, could be accused of depriving the youth of their countries from getting an education.
(b)The building and running of these schools will be funded by an international entity, which could be named the International Global Fund For Education ( IGFFE ), whose financial resources will come from global corporations and from governments of the economically developed countries. (The funding of the IGFFE by global corporations will have the additional benefit of showing the benign face of globalization -that it does care for the poor of the world, and will serve as a counter argument to the detractors of globalization.)
Such a policy would contribute immensely to the defeat of global terror, and I repeat, it should be put in place speedily in this opportune moment that has been provided by the terrorists, by their moronic bombing of the Arab quarters in Riyadh.
The war against terror must not only be taken where the active terrorists are, but it must also be taken to the breeding grounds of terrorism, i.e. to the radical Islamist schools, both in the East and in the West. Moreover, this is a favorable and advantageous moment for the newly established covert commando “hit” squad of the CIA, to be hitting hard– as I’ve suggested twice in the past to high officials of the U.S. Administration – the preachers of radical fundamentalist Islam wherever they are.
The crashing of this infamy can only be accomplished by taking ab ovo, extreme, iron-fisted measures against these schools of fanaticism and their preachers. The most effective means of defeating terror is to put the fear of terror into their own hearts. The West cannot rest until the breeding nests of terrorism are torn apart.
CON GEORGE – KOTZABASIS
( FORMER DIRECTOR OF SBS TV 1986-1996 )
NOVEMBER 10 2003
MELBOURNE AUSTRALIA
Exceptional Leaders in War 