Nevertheless, this ideology persists, and in an age in which ideas and images can travel the globe in an instant, our response to terrorism cannot depend on military or law enforcement alone. We need all elements of national power to win a battle of wills and ideas. So let me discuss the components of such a comprehensive counter-terrorism strategy.

First, we must finish the work of defeating al Qaeda and its associated forces.

The Huffington Post. “Obama Drone Speech Delivered at National Defense University (FULL TRANSCRIPT).” May 23, 2013.

By narrowing his war to Al Qaeda and related affiliates, Obama may claim some victories.

By seeking to integrate the Muslim Brotherhood into domestic and international governance, in essence enlarging its operating environment, he may also claim progress: the day of the dictator’s free ride, including when the dictator is ours, may be over — as a rule, the peacocks are strutting through more complex, sophisticated, and varied social environments than ever before, and whether scrutinized by such as the Committee to Protect Journalists or merely surprised by FEMEN, those who a decade ago would have capitalized on watching others are, lo and behold, finding themselves watched by an entire world.

Obama goes on to note, “Beyond Afghanistan, we must define our effort not as a boundless ‘global war on terror’ – but rather as a series of persistent, targeted efforts to dismantle specific networks of violent extremists that threaten America.”

Unfortunately, the attractive quality promoted in warring on the west is of a boundless quality summoned by such as Quran 9:29:

“Fight those who do not believe in Allah or in the Last Day and who do not consider unlawful what Allah and His Messenger have made unlawful and who do not adopt the religion of truth from those who were given the Scripture – [fight] until they give the jizyah willingly while they are humbled.”

Nonetheless, the fronts are boundless too, from the landing zones of distant mountains to proliferation of Facebook and other forums in Intellectual Battlespace, and, frankly, the more conflict is worked around language, the more quickly language may be evolved away from the many curses of the medieval mind and its straying from humanity.

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