War against Jihadism

With a hat-tip to Alan Hirsh for finding this in an article by...

George Weigel called Faith, Reason, And The War Against Jihadism: A Call To Action. ..

* Lesson one: The great human questions, including the great questions of public life, are ultimately theological
* Lesson two: To speak of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam as the “three Abrahamic faiths,” the “three religions of the Book” or the “three monotheisms” obscures rather than illuminates. These familiar descriptions ought to be retired
* Lesson three: Jihadism is the enemy in the multi-front war that has been declared on us
* Lesson four: Jihadism has a complex intellectual history, the chief points of which must be grasped in order to understand the nature of the threat it poses to the west
* Lesson five: Jihadists read history and politics through the prism of distinctive theological convictions, not through the lens of western assumptions about the progress of dynamic of history
* Lesson six: It is not “Islamophobic” to note the historical connection between conquest and Muslim expansion, or between contemporary jihadism and terrorism. Truth-telling is the essential prerequisite to genuine interreligious dialogue, which can only be based on the claims of reason.
* Lesson seven: The war against jihadism is a contest for the human future that will endure for generations
* Lesson eight: Genuine realism in foreign policy takes wickedness seriously, yet avoids premature closure in it’s thinking about the possibilities of positive change in world politics
* Lesson nine: In the war against Jihadism, the political objective in the middle East and throughout the Islamic world is the evolution of responsible and responsive government, which will take different forms given different historical and cultural circumstances
* Lesson ten: in the war against global Jihadism, deterrence strategies unlikely to be effective, because it is almost impossible to deter those who are committed to their own martyrdom
* Lesson eleven: Cultural self-confidence is indispensable to victory in the long-term struggle against Jihadism
* Lesson twelve: Islamist salami tactics (also known as the salami-slice strategy, a divide and conquer process of threats and alliances used to overcome opposition) must be resisted, for small concessions in the name of a false idea of tolerance inevitably lead to further concessions, and into further erosions of liberty and security
* Lesson thirteen: We cannot, and will not, deserve victory (much less achieve it) if we continue to finance those who attack us, therefore, a program to defund jihadism by developing alternatives to petroleum based transportation fuels is a crucial component of the current struggle
* Lesson fourteen: Victory in the war against global jihadism requires a new domestic political coalition that is proof against the confusions caused by the Unhinged Left and the Unhinged Right
* Lesson fifteen: There is no escape from US leadership

At least it gets past the impossible 'war on terrorism': which will never be one this side of Kingdom Come; it's a methodology not an enemy! But let's get away from the war metaphor shall we? It's bound to cause trouble.How about 'repurposing' Jihadis? Or, how about this from left-field: doing good to those who despitefully use us (after all these ones are responding in kind to perceived despiteful use, arguably)? So While I agree with the first two (and think them insightful), I'm concerned that the war metaphor is a spoiler. There can be no victory: only reconciliation (this is true for any conflict except genocidal ones), so let's not frame it that way. If we are to win anything it is hearts and minds: any other objective is bringing down the roof on ourselves. That said, I'd go with 6, 8, 10 & 13.