IT is the fundamental tenet of all terrorism, not least the wicked tenets of Al-Qaeda, that it seeks by the sheer inhumanity of its vicious assaults to rob those targeted of humane and measured responses. To achieve this the terrorists themselves have to behave inhumanely. Yet every terrorist, from the chiefs to the foot soldiers, is somebody’s father or somebody’s son.
The effect on a family that discovers to its horror that one of its members is a committed fanatic is invariably traumatic. On Monday this paper reported the tragic case of Abdul Rahman Al-Suwailmi of Riyadh whose sons Ahmad and Muhammad were lured away last year to join Al-Qaeda. Both young men simply disappeared. The first news their father had of them was the horrifying discovery they were both listed among the Kingdom’s most wanted terrorists.
Now Ahmad is dead, aged only 20, killed in a shoot-out with security forces last month in Dammam. Having gone through the most awful ordeal a parent can endure — identifying the dead body of his or her child — Suwailmi appealed to 23-year-old Muhammad to give himself up. It is not simply that he does not wish to lose a second son; Suwailmi is revolted at the thought that Muhammad might shed more innocent blood. There are too many other Ahmads and Muhammads out there and they are all horrifying their parents and families. What is so notable about most Al-Qaeda terrorists being slain or captured is their youth. This is the secret of the sinister and worldly-wise bigots who plan and direct these terror crimes. They exploit the half-formed convictions of young people who have hardly attained manhood. The youth of every generation adopts ideals and imagines it has the power to change the world. It is this normal stage in young men’s intellectual and psychological development that Bin Laden and his followers seize and manipulate so insidiously. In effect they base their evil campaign of mass murder on the immaturity of hundreds of youths who can be persuaded that blasting apart the bodies of innocent men, women or children is a noble and courageous deed.
This says all that is necessary about Al-Qaeda and its perverted cause that can only be advanced by duping immature and credulous youths. Few men, wise in years, could ever find anything but revulsion for the principles and activities of these thugs. This is particularly true of the families who see their young men lured away by the siren promises of terrorist leaders that by acts of savage violence and depravity, the world can somehow be changed for the better.
In the final analysis, it is hard to find much sympathy with the Ahmads and Muhammads of this world who, at a crucial moment, lacked the judgment and moral fiber to reject the call of terrorism. It is however all too easy to appreciate the grief of the families of these young people. They are in fact the unseen and largely unmourned victims of Al-Qaeda’s evil because every day their hearts bleed a little more and their heads hang lower in shame at the wicked deeds of their children.


Damaged political goods

GEORGE W. Bush looks to be heading for anywhere but a “place in history” as a further blow to his administration is landed with the resignation as majority leader in the House of Representatives, albeit temporarily, of key ally and Capitol Hill presidential enforcer, Tom DeLay.
The tough-talking DeLay, known in Washington as “The Hammer”, has, to the surprise and satisfaction of his many political enemies, bent under the impact of conspiracy charges relating to alleged illegal campaign financing. DeLay says that he has only stepped down to leave himself free to fight to clear his name. He also says the inquiry, initiated by the Democrats, is purely political. However, it seems that DeLay may be the latest leading Republican and Bush ally to have some very difficult questions to answer. The lukewarm endorsement of DeLay by the White House suggests he may have been pressured to quit as majority leader because the administration wants to distance itself from scandal.
In any event, DeLay now looks like damaged political goods. His troubles mirror those of another leading Republican, Senate Majority leader Bill Frist who is being investigated for insider dealing. In addition, the president’s policy supremo Karl Rove is under investigation as the source of a leak identifying the CIA spy wife of the US diplomat who blew the whistle on the fiction that Iraq had been buying uranium from Africa.Add all these allegations to the proven chaos of the White House’s response to Hurricane Katrina and fast-collapsing public faith in the president’s Iraq occupation policy and Bush looks to be in a sea of troubles. Even with his Congressional majorities he is having trouble pushing through his neoconservative reform agenda. Meanwhile, the budget deficit is ballooning out of control toward a massive $400 billion in 2006, driven by emergency post-hurricane spending and the huge cost of the Iraq entanglement. Yet the president is still sticking by his tax cutting policies.
All this looks bad for the mid-term elections next year when, on present showing, the Republicans are set to take a drubbing. Unless Bush can score some serious wins in the next 12 months, he could be doomed to limp through his last two years in office. The trouble could however come even earlier, as Republicans, sensing defeat at the polls, start to distance themselves from the administration. Worse, they could start turning on each other. What is so striking about this turn of events is how inexorably, the “straight-talking” neoconservative message of the Bush White House is being exposed as anything but straight and the “no-nonsense” policy on terror anything but sense.

—Arab News