COUNTERCOLUMN: All Your Bias Are Belong to Us

Every so often, some clueless reporter interviews some general somewhere who says the war on terrorism cannot be won militarily, and then breathlessly runs the copy to the copy desk thinking he has a scoop.

You knuckleheads! I told you that very thing back in November, when this blog was just a few days old!

I wrote that there is simply no decisive point on the ground at which we can declare that victory over terrorism has been attained. And there's not going to be. It's not like WWII where there's an end zone called the Reichstag.

This is not even a point of contention among military officers, and never has been. Everybody knew going in that this war would not be decided on the battlefield.

Well, everybody but the nattering nabob class, that is.

We cannot win without taking the fight to the enemy--putting him on the defensive, denying him safe havens to train and equip himself, and forcing him to move constantly, and forcing him to rely on inefficient means of communication, such as messenger, for fear of exposing himself to US firepower.

But the war will not be decided on the battlefield. The war will be decided in boardrooms, at brand-new ballot boxes in countries which have never known democracy, by newspapers in lands which have never known a free press, by women in lands which had always quashed their potential, and of course, by guys with green eyeshades pouring over cash flow statements under flourescent lights.

Logistics is usually the decisive factor in wars. And the much of the logistics campaign against Al Qaeda centers on drying up the flow of money.

And much of that money, historically, has flowed from Saudi Arabia.

Here's a recent Council on Foreign Relations report on the fight to put the squeeze on jihadist financing in Saudi Arabia.

The bottom line: We've made progress.

Salient points:

In November of 2002, a NSC task force had had it with Saudi footdragging and was preparing to urge the President to crack down on the Saudis in retaliation. That was not necessary, though. Instead, US diplomats continued to press the Saudis to take more action against the suspect charities--helped along significantly by Al Qaeda's decision to begin hitting targets in Saudi Arabia itself.

Following the Khobar attacks, the Saudis announced a host of new measures to crack down on financing. Donation boxes were cleared out of shopping malls and mosques. Anti-money-laundering procedures were made available to international experts for scrutiny for the first time.

The Saudi government has initiated education reforms aimed at quelling the extremist ideological influence. Radical imams are being pressured or "disciplined." Some have already publicly renounced violent jihadism on state-owned television.

And Saudi security forces are now actively trying to hunt down and kill Al Qaeda members in their country.

Al Haramain, a charity organization thought to be responsible for raising 40-50 million dollars for Al Qaeda per year, was dissolved by Saudi authorities.

The report says:

Due to the forgoing activities, Al Qaeda's current and prospective ability to raise and move funds with impunity is severely diminished. These efforts have undoubtably had a real impact on Al Qaeda's financial picture, and it is undoubtably a weaker organization as a result.

Moreover, at President Bush's urging, Europe finally added Hamas' fundraising wing to its list of banned terrorist organizations. Although only after months of kicking and screaming.

(Note to self: One great way to endear Self to Europeans is to commit to killing Jews.)

The whole report is fascinating reading. I hope it gets the coverage it deserves.

It won't though. Accountants are unglamorous, and there's no art.

Reporters will miss this story for the same reason they missed the building S&L scandal a decade and a half ago (until it clobbered us with a bailout bill of billions of dollars), and for the same reason they're missing the building retirement crisis in the United States which will visit us a couple of decades from now.

It just ain't sexy enough.

But verily I say unto you: It's largely under these green eyeshades, and in these boardrooms and meeting halls in Saudi Arabia where the war on terrorism will be decided. And if Al Qaeda can be crippled and discredited in Saudi Arabia, it will be a powerful blow indeed.

And gosh darnit, I think that's pretty sexy.

Splash, out

Jason