The underwear bomber has again exposed the tender underbelly of the American intellect. By this I mean the tendency to advance ideological platitudes and inanities as maieutic process when addressing concerns on terrorism. It is ridiculous on its face to expect a 100% success rate against a domestic terrorist attack, even if Dick Cheney himself joined the Border Patrol. A determined foe will inevitably be successful; just as they are not immune to our offense. It also reflects what I believe is a fundamental misunderstanding of the conflict, even among those one would expect to know better. We are not at war with Islam. Yes, there are those wishing to make alterations in the existing geo-political power structure. And yes, the only viable weapon they have to wage this war is terrorism. But this weapon, terrorism, is little more than a nuisance, and cannot hope to dislodge or supplant the status quo, unless Islam as a psychological force multiplier convinces the foolish and fearful that this pussy cat is a prowling tiger.

Much is made of Muhammad’s farewell address where he called on his followers “to fight all men until they say “There is no God but Allah”. Even reasonably aware infidels are familiar with the creed that those who participate in this pursuit will supposedly be rewarded in life and the afterworld, where they will reside in shaded and ever-green gardens, indulged by pure women. And those killed in jihad should not be mourned as dead as, “Allah has bought from the believers their soul and their possessions against the gift of Paradise; they fight in the path of Allah; they kill and are killed…” These words can be powerful motivation, as they apparently are for the several thousand among the billion who ascribe to Islam, and who choose to ignore other passages with a more peaceful refrain. Still, the bloodthirstiness sometimes displayed by Allah by way of Muhammad is not dissimilar to Yahweh and his protégées in the Old Testament, and was just as invariably connected to plunder, power, and domination. Religious zeal notwithstanding, Islamic empires have risen and fallen, dominated and been dominated, been as rife with secular corruption, internecine atrocities, treachery, lust, drunkenness, materialism, and have been as abusive to the common man simply desiring to live in peace as has any so-called infidel culture. Historic vérité indisputably shows Yahweh, Jesus, nor Allah has significantly ameliorated the proclivities of the megalomaniacs, power hungry, or sadistic in world history. In fact many have inferred license for their proclivities in religion, and any promises of peace or paradise made by religious zealots have thus far been deferred to the afterworld, while political and material exploitation and dictatorship of the consciences of man have been the reward of those subjugated to those electing themselves God’s agents.

It is not my intent to engage in Deistic debate, but simply to suggest that “jihad” is just catnip for the gullible, and terrorism is nothing more than a Ulysses-like tactic to get a giant to waste his energy and treasure trying to swat flies, who will feed on his corpse when he collapses from fatigue. Our $233,000,000,000 response to the $500,000 attack of 9/11, and the billions we must spend to inspect the millions of people who enter our nation each year, clearly shows we have fallen for the trap, and are fighting the wrong war, the wrong way.

We are not at war with Islam. We are at war with a runt wearing an Islamic fat-suit. And so far he’s winning.