A Battle, but Not the War

As of Saturday, May 7, 2011

There are changing and conflicting accounts, but let’s go with the first to come across the newswires.

The great warrior, the first soldier of Islam, the titular big guy of al-Qaida, apparently threw one of his women in front of Navy SEAL guns before the American team caught him in the head with one of their bullets. By Thursday afternoon, television news was reporting that the woman in question was bin Laden’s wife.

Even if this account is finally proved to be false, it doesn’t really matter. We already know that women and children are strapped with terrorist bombs, or they are placed in the way of American missiles for propaganda purposes, their lives inconsequential to the cause.

But just pause for a second to really contemplate the horror of a man who would sacrifice his wife in the seconds before his own death, and compare that cowardice with the American heroes of 9/11 — the first responders, who approached the towering infernos and entered the skyscrapers to save the lives of others.

What about Todd Beamer of Flight 93? With the cockpit of his plane already controlled by terrorists and one passenger dead, and knowing that he was going to his death along with every other person on the plane, he and others stormed the cockpit and successfully saw to it that Flight 93 would not be used as another terrorist missile.

Witness the difference between bin Laden’s final act, and what we know about the night the RMS Titanic sank. Its crew knew there were not enough lifeboats on board to save everyone. And while we can speculate about isolated cowards, men who attempted to get on board those lifeboats, in the end, 1,517 people, mostly men, drowned in order that as many women and children could be saved as possible.

There is something so metaphysically foreign, so sub-human, about bin Laden’s final act, and the other ways women are abused by the men of radical Islam, that one must ask, to what extent is an enemy like this willing to go, and for how long?

Remember, we’re not talking about just lives being expendable to further global jihad. We’re talking about our mates. Was Hitler as evil sending 6 million Jews to the gas chambers? Were Mao and Pol Pot for the countless humans they slaughtered?

If the treatment of Muslim woman can be used as a puzzle piece in the larger context of the war on terror, a picture begins to emerge about an enemy that makes the tyrants of history pale in comparison. We are in a battle against pure evil.

That is why it was encouraging to read in Friday’s Wall Street Journal, “U.S. Secretly Adds Strike Teams.” Since 2009, the Obama administration has added 16 new Special Forces strike teams in Afghanistan that “have carried out thousands of raids in the past year.” These raids killed 3,200 insurgents and captured another 8,000.

According to the piece, “officials say the Pentagon intends to bolster the teams and increase the number of missions they are assigned to carry out.”

Many say it’s time for our troops to come home, that it’s time to leave Iraq and Afghanistan. The sentiment is understood. America is war-weary. We miss our children; we want our families whole again.

Leaving Afghanistan and Iraq, not keeping troop presence anywhere terrorists are being bred, will prove very costly. If bin Laden’s death teaches us anything, it’s that we need to be out there and ready to strike at a moment’s notice.

This war against terrorism, the hideousness of the enemy, and his willingness to fight forever, begs us to adjust our thinking about how and where our military is deployed. Our idea that national defense means “from our shores” isn’t suited for this fight.

Bin Laden’s death is a great victory, and praise must be given to our Navy Seals, our intelligence services, and President Obama for his decision to strike. Let bin Laden’s death be a harbinger to terrorists of things to come.

His end is more than sweet justice. It’s the war on terror being fought where and how it should be fought.

But we have only won a battle, not the war.

Geoff Cutler is owner of Cutler Tree LLC in Southern Pines and is a regular contributor to The Pilot and PineStraw magazine. Contact him at geoffcutler@embarqmail.com.

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moonchild7 2 years ago

Geoff, are you a feminist? If so, you would know that the WAR AGAINST WOMEN has been going on FOREVER by more that just the men of RADICAL ISLAM. How about the RADICAL Hasiddic Jews who erased Hillary Clintons picture out of the "Situation Room" photo? How about Conservative Mormons who still practice Polygamy? How about Southern Baptists, Pentecostalists and Seventh Day Adventists who forbid women from wearing make-up, wearing short skirts and dancing? Thomas Aquinas taught that women were a biological mistake; so of course NUNS can never become Priests. On and On. The many, many ills of todays world are based on the continued abuse and subordination of women. In my lifetime I thought perhaps I'd see the end of it. Wow, was I mistaken.

SnakeFlag1 2 years ago

Fringe religions may have some weird rules for women, but real Christianity honors and cherishes women as sisters in Christ.

All of the religious problems for women that you cited are part of groups where membership is voluntary, and there are legal avenues to sever your ties with the protection of the laws of our land. To hold women in those conditions against their will is criminal and punishable.

Islam wants to bring their law to our country, as they are successfully getting a foothold in Britain, and have the force of law HOLD AND PUNISH women who do not wish to conform to their warped and perverted standards. Even execute them!

You need some perspective before attempting to lump all these examples into one pile of "good ole religious boys" in with evil Islam about abusing women. .

Bflat 2 years ago

Islam is about terrorism, tyrrancy and subjugation of women, so Mr Cutler is just stating the facts about women. Research it a bit more and that will be very apparent. There is no moderate or non moderate in Islam because that is not Muslim at all. It is pretty much a political ideology with religious trappings. By that I mean, human submission, justification for agressive war, vilifies the non-believers, and pronounces death on its enemies. When you strip the Koran of all negative, hateful, anti-Semitic material, you have a very tiny book. Also, when you study up on Mohammed the Muslim Prophet you realize he was a dictator, pedophile, and warmonger that was likely worse that ObL. It really points toward a totalitariam ideology.

moonchild7 2 years ago

I need perspective? The CONSERVATIVE elements within the majority of so-called CHRISTIAN RELIGIONS absolutely want their laws inacted here too. Roe v Wade sound familiar? The Conservatives have taken their religious beliefs against abortion and have made it a political/legal issue. Roe v Wade made abortions totally LEGAL here in AMERICA, but because a group of people take their "religious" beliefs to the streets(just as Radical Islamists do)and protest, yell, scream and yes MURDER DOCTORS who perform legal abortions, you say I'm needing perspective? Not wanting women to have the RIGHT of PRIVACY regarding themselves and their own bodies is just as backwards as stoning women for adultery. It all really is the same and if Roe v Wade is ever overturned, the stoning of women for adultery would be the next item on their agenda here in AMERICA.

honesty2 2 years ago

MC7, I have to agree with SnakeFlag here. In the USA, thankfully women have a voice and a vote. Re: some of the other religions you mentioned, those women have a choice- they can leave. This is not true in the case of many Islamic countries (they can be killed for leaving Islam, they suffer stonings, lashings, polygamy, beatings, not being allowed to walk the street alone without a male relative, requirement to be covered, not being allowed an education, not being able to drive, not being allowed to work, etc, etc.). While I respect your views on Roe v Wade, I have trouble believing it is "the same" as the complete repression and chattel mentality of Islamic radicals re: women. See above....Also, let's not forget the sexual slavery of women/girls either. I think we can probably all agree with Mr. Cutler in saying that Radical Islam is brutal to women.

teufelhunden 2 years ago

MC7-you should take it to the streets like you did back in the day...whew!

Bflat 2 years ago

There are plenty of issues involving Islam right in this country as their population is increasing.

teufelhunden 2 years ago

Increasing by leaps and bounds...infiltrating every fiber of this nation.

Bflat 2 years ago

Kashmiri is probably laughing now and plotting his next attack.

irkim13 2 years ago

Cristians care about abortion because it is murder. You can dance around that FACT all you want but it does nothing to change that FACT. The baby inside is not a part the mother it is a life of its own but somehow you MC7 limit your desire for privacy and choice only to the mother not the baby inside. Some are girls, where is their choice for their bodies? Why is the baby's privacy not respected? Because it is unwanted and too young? Do you know what happens in an abortion? do you think women should know all the facts before making such a drastic choice including seeing an ultrasound of the baby or do you not believe women should know all the facts before ending the life of their child?

Based on other posts from you MC7 I think you would rather women considering abortion being as ignorant of what they are doing as possible or they might change their mind when they realize they are ending the life of their child and not a clump of tissue.

Ross 2 years ago

I wonder - will you provide a home for this unwanted child who? Will you care for it and love it ?

christians love to appear caring until it requires them to actually do something!

abortion is a tragedy - but an even bigger tragedy is to bring a child into the world unwanted with a future of neglect and abuse!

concerned 2 years ago

http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/04/30/1165994/gov-perdue-signs-fetus-protection.html

The fetus is not a human? Then why this law? As a former fetus, I can tell you that all fetuses are human and killing one is murder wether a abortion doctor or a criminal attacking a pregant woman does it.