Stop protecting terrorist leaders
Arab states must first deal with those who preach terror ideology above all, Sever Plocker writes
It's inaccurate to say that leaders of Arab states like Egypt and Saudi Arabia don't want to eradicate Muslim terror from their countries. They do, but they are scared.
They fear the wrath of the masses. They are afraid of retaliation of millions of worshippers in mosques where Zealot beliefs are planted. They are afraid of cutting off the head of the dragon out of fear of what will likely grow in its place. More than anything, they want to preserve their skins and their leaderships.
The growing attempts made in the war on terror show two strategies for victory. The first was made by the secular military regime in Algiers, which resulted in overlooked and mass killings of terror forces. Scores of terrorists and suspected terrorists were killed by Algiers's military cult until the head terror group finally laid down its weapons, at least temporarily.
This policy requires mass recruitment, a brutal police force, intimidation and a priority of killing.
After hesitation, Israel incorporated the second strategy -- of targeted killings of terrorists -- during the Palestinian uprising. This method required accurate intelligence, snap decisions, the training of special forces and preparation for dealing with moral criticism and unavoidable mistakes.
The first strategy leaves behind a river of blood. The second leaves behind a small number of "quality" killings.
Responsibility on bombers
The first method places the responsibility of terror attacks on the suicide bombers themselves, on those who sent them and on the sources that support them. The second places the blame on the leaders, mainly the "spiritual" heads of terror, who sit in their guarded offices and then conduct their sermons.
They, the terrorists' "mentors", enjoy a kind of protection that is neither understandable nor justified.
These are the people that the heads of Arab states are afraid to hit. They are the ones who are spared. They stay away from them. Egyptian and Saudi security forces would not hestitate to "purify" a village to reach a lone terror cell. They would not hestitate to wipe out the people who planted the terror in the village through mosque sermons or in a university.
The political, "spiritual" terror is the forefather of the actual terror. Wipe out the first and the offspring will later perish. But show fear and weakness in the face of the ideology of terror and years will pass, even generations, until its results are beaten. History has shown as much.
Era of restraint over in Britain
This is why after the attacks on London's Underground, Prime Minister Tony Blair ordered police to extract Muslim terror out of Britain by its roots. The time of restraint had ended. The result -- British forces carried out their first targeted killing. They erred in their identification of the assailant, but not in the system.
This has not yet happened in Cairo. The hands of the Egyptian leadership, like the leadership of other Arab states, are shaking. Corruption is apparent in their countries, the stench is rising and billions are erupting from the oil-ladden ground and disappearing into safes in the Virgin Islands.
Such circumstances make it difficult to order a war against spiritual-religious terror leaderships who hide behind the ruse of a struggle to purify Arab society. And the dozens of those killed in the Sinai bombings are paying the price.
