The War on Terror: How About a Different Kind of Weapon?

The civil world virtually fell on its knees in grief and anguish, furiously pounding a giant fist of rage in the air. From Paris in France, to Bamako in Mali and Yola and Maiduguri and adjoining villages in Nigeria, blood-thirsty terrorists visited citizens, residents and visitors going about their normal activities with sudden death, destruction and tears. 

The fortunate few who were at the spot of the carnages in this Black November but escaped the unforgiving nozzles of the terrorists’ guns are scarred forever from the shocking memories. Even watching the sheer bestiality on tv or even writing about it sends down a chilling shiver down the spine!

Whatever shall the world do now? How is it that with the ultra-sophisticated guns weapons and nanotechnologies of the world’s superpowers, they have not been able to rein in this new scourge of the earth? Yes, the US, France, Russia and Germany and their allies have only been successful in momentarily subduing them or keeping them at bay from certain territories, while these blood-suckers strategize on the next city or town to strike.   

In the aftermath of the coordinated attacks that killed 129 people in Paris, a livid French President Francoise Hollande vowed to crush Isis. Less than 24 hours later, some 10 fighter jets pummelled Isis-held city of Raqqa with at least 20 bombs.

  

“The need to destroy Daesh (Isis or Islamic State)… concerns the entire international community," he told lawmakers, who burst into an emotional rendition of the La Marseillaise national anthem after his speech. The French president has also held talks with Washington and Moscow for a coalition in a unified effort against Isis and other terrorists. 

Before then, a Russian plane had crashed in Egypt, killing all 224 people on board. An Isis-affiliated groups claimed responsibility and an infuriated Vladimir Putin ordered a bombing blitz against the terror group. 

In Nigeria, as the nation’s military grapples to contain the strange tactics and seeming invincibility of terrorism on its soil, Boko Haram continued its deadly attacks with a suicide bomb blast that killed 32 people in Yola, and another suicide bomber – this time, a female – detonating bombs strapped to her to claim the lives of 10 people in Kano. 

The world was still heaving a sigh of despair over the mindless atrocities of a common enemy when Bamako in Mali hit the news channels as another group of terrorists, al-Murabitoun held guests hostage at the luxury Radisson Blu hotel. At the end of the standoff, 21 locals and foreigners – including an American – lay dead.

“This barbarity only stiffens our resolve to meet these challenges,” US President Barrack Obama said in reaction. “The United States will be relentless against those who target our citizens.”

Russia also said several of its national were killed in the Friday attack. “The widest international cooperation” was needed to confront global terrorism, President Putin said.

This week, the United States issued a worldwide travel alert to it citizens, urging them to exercise particular caution during the holiday season, and at holiday festivals or events. According to the US State Department, the alert comes amid information that ISIS, Al Qaeda, Boko Haram, and other terrorist groups continue to plan attacks in multiple regions by employing a “wide variety of tactics.”

The same day, Belgium’s prime minister announced that Brussels would remain at the highest alert level for at least another week.

We’re no military experts or war strategists, but we do knows arms and ammunitions aren’t the only effective weapons against the enemy – even mortal ones like Isis, Al-Qaeda or Boko Haram. So, back to our question: How about a different kind of weapon? 

By now, you know our focus is on THE MIND. Here’s our rationale. 

·       1. All man’s actions gravitates around the mind: Yes, not the gun; the hot words or the defiant fist clenching. The mind is the switch; simple. Man may not be a machine or robot, but these are built from the model of a man; so there are some similarities. Therefore, sometimes when a movement is so ingrained or a mass belief is so delusional, you should go beyond coercion or the force of the arm. Look for ‘the switch’ in the central system and ‘tap down;’ although it the process is more complex than can be explained.

·      2. Terrorists have managed to banish all sense of fear of death or the inevitable. …Or they have perfectly masked it. Soldiers are trained to be ready to pay the ultimate price in the defence of their country; but terrorists have taken that defence mechanism a step further. Even soldiers would not blindly sacrifice their lives and would only go down protecting their territory in a fierce line of fire. But become a suicide bomber to prove allegiance to the king, queen, president or country? NO! No matter how much tough exterior they try to project, soldiers are secretly afraid of death in the face of danger just like the rest of us humans too. Terrorists have no such restrictions.

·     3. The promises of a paradisiac afterlife. This is supposedly the reward for their indiscriminate and barbaric murder of people and campaign of hate for those who do not share their beliefs. It is tied to the point above and is the morbid reason they are shorn of fear. The even more terrifying truth? They ABSOLUTELY believe their own lies!

·      4. Religious fundamentalism spawn from a false sense of justice: What else can be more emboldening for an action, no matter how destructive? Once people feel their action is sanctioned by a higher, superior power or being, nobody else’s views matter! And once such a murderous group access dangerous weapons, no one else is safe!

·         5. Feeding on the juice of an ignorance mass: Take another look at their army of recruits and you’ll hazard a pattern: Their hellish philosophy feeds on fertile idle minds; people on the fringes of life, those who have grievances against the ‘system,’ how it works, don’t understand it or have simply lost faith in it; and others conditioned to believe they belong to a marginalised minority.

So shouldn’t high-level communication and military strategists work together more and complement each other’s efforts? Need we say more?