Terestita said: The Rand Corporation, in their report titled “How Terrorist Groups End – Lessons for Countering al Qaida” looked at the factors that result in the termination of terrorist activity after studying 648 terrorist groups between 1968 and 2006. They concluded that 43% of the time the terrorist groups convert into mainstream political movements. Forty percent of the time law enforcement activity and intelligence work bring them to heel. Ten percent of the time, the terrorists quit because they achieve their stated goals, while only 7% of the time does military action (since 9-11-01 the primary emphasis of the US War on Terrorism) neutralize the terrorists.

Interesting, but a better study by Rand would have been to broaden the scope and not look at just the termination terrorist groups but the termination of fanatics.

I point out constantly to colleagues of mine that, especially, the Left is mistaken and ignorant of history when they say that a war against terrorism can never be won. That one can’t fight an ideology. And that for every terrorist one kills, several more take his place.

They all forget, which is a shame because it was so recent, that United States fought the most ruthless fanatics in the history of the world and won: the Imperial Japanese. Compared to the Japanese of WWII, the goatherds of al Qaeda and the Taliban are relatively tame. These people invented the suicide bomb, worshiped a living god every bit as real as Pharaoh was to the Egyptians, and still were arming 8 year old girls and boys with spears to repel an American invasion even after the first atom bomb was dropped.

If anything, history shows that fanatics can certainly be beaten, but it all depends on how far and how hard one is willing to fight. Sean Connery’s line to Elliot Ness in “The Untouchables” comes to mind: what are you prepared to do?

It seems we’re not prepared to go all the way. Not yet, at least. We want our cake and eat it to and want the world to like us while we play whack-a-mole.