CENTRAL VIEW for Monday, September 6, 2004

Winning the war that dare not speak its name

The ACLU aside, most Americans are tolerant of the religious beliefs of others. So, we find it difficult to accept that a Holy War is being waged against us.

Fortunately, our Islamofascist attackers are but a fraction of the Muslim population. It is important to keep that in mind as we root out the aberrant Muslims who are committed to the idea that Islamic success in the 21st Century depends on their ability to destroy the Judeo-Christian culture that lies at the heart of Western Civilization.

Historically our military forces have been designed to fight armies flying the flags of hostile nation-states. At the end of hostilities, we require our enemies to sign formal documents of surrender as we did with both Germany and Japan at the end of World War II.

When we win the War on Terror, as surely we must because we simply cannot afford to lose it, it will end with a whimper, not a bang. It will end when we derive the Islamofascists of the funding they need to support their operations.

The best way to do that is by driving the value of a barrel of Arab-Iranian oil down to virtually nothing. We could do that simply by use of the Law of Supply and Demand.

The most desirable way to eliminate the demand for Arab-Iranian oil is to invent an affordable supply replacement for Arab-Iranian oil. That might come with the invention of ways to convert hydrogen or other substances into fuels that could power our cars, trucks, trains and airplanes. What we do not know is which of these currently “exotic” technologies will pay off. What we do know is that western ingenuity and technology will someday invent an affordable and environmentally acceptable substitute for Arab-Iranian oil.

Meanwhile, the Islamofascists think time is on their side. By having the funding to establish and run their madrassas schools around the world that teach young Arabs and Iranians to hate Jews and Christians, in particular, and Western Civilization, in general, the Islamofascists think they can continue to train wave upon wave of suicide bombers to send against us and Israel. They seek to use funds from Arab-Iranian oil to purchase technology such as nuclear or chemical or biological weapons for a series of catastrophic attacks designed to bring us to our knees.

But time is not on their side if we act and act now to deprive them of their sources of financial support. While we are waiting for the invention of “the” technology that obviates the value of Arab-Iranian oil, we can take other steps all of which are doable but are certain to face opposition by the left wing of the environmental movement.

We can create incentives to increase the domestic production and distribution of natural gas. We can get behind a pipeline to bring Alaskan natural gas to the lower 48 states. We can allow the drilling for oil and gas on 2,200 acres inside the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve. We can increase our refinery capacities. We can do more off-shore drilling for oil and gas.

We can invent more environmentally acceptable ways to use our 300-year supply of coal. We can convert more and more of our vehicles to clean-burning propane. We can do more with solar and wind-generated power. In short, there are many ways by which we can work toward energy independence. And, as we do, the Law of Supply and Demand will begin to depress the price of Arab-Iranian oil to the point that the Arab-Iranian oil states can no longer fund the Islamofascists.

Granted, these energy conversions will incur some environment costs in the short term. But, in the long term, we will have invested in new technologies that will allow the environment to recover and be better than before.

Moreover, in terms of blood and treasure, our costs to win the War on Terror would plummet.

William Hamilton is a syndicated columnist and featured commentator for USA Today and the co-author The Grand Conspiracy and The Panama Conspiracy – two thrillers about terrorism directed against the United States.

©2004. William Hamilton.

Dr. Hamilton can be contacted at:

Email: william@central-view.com