How do you fight this?

This past week there was a US Army major who went on a murderous rampage killing 13 and injuring 31 others. This was not Afghanistan, but deep in the heart of Texas at Fort Hood. This act was undeniable evil. I have exactly zero ill will toward the Muslim faith. But this man's Muslim faith is what drove him to do murder those soldiers as he shouted Allah Akbar.

Mark Steyn has a typically good article talking about the hole in our strategy for dealing with terrorism. He is long on diagnosing the symptoms of our flawed strategy, but short on prescription. Well, here is the prescription:

For too many in the Muslim world there is no love for anyone they disagree with, including other sects of Muslims. Muslim on Muslim violence is probably worse than Muslim on infidel violence.

There is really only one cure for this problem: to strengthen the family. Recently at a BYU Forum, there was a story of a group in Afghanistan working to strengthen families there. The group is called penniesforpeace.org. The speaker was Greg Mortenson and the mp3 of his talk is here.

One key is to educate the women. They then hold their children close to the family and prevent them from being attracted to the Taliban and their lethal version of Islam.

This gives great meaning to the statement in the Family Proclamation:

we warn that the disintegration of the family will bring upon individuals, communities, and nations the calamities foretold by ancient and modern prophets.

Thus, the terrorism problem very similar to the gang problem in US inner cities. Gangs and the Taliban thrive on the same principle. They prey on the uneducated, those with weak families, and they promote both problems.

The disconnect is that the 9/11 attacks and this week's attack at Fort Hood were perpetrated by educated individuals. But they take their inspiration from the Muslim people who are oppressed by lack of education. Somehow groups like the Taliban and gangs are able to export their poisoned ideologies even to the educated.

How often do people with education think the gang lifestyle is glamorous and love the music that comes from it? It must be the same thing that the educated who are drawn to terrorism find something glamorous in the terrorist message. I am willing to guess that had Nidal Malik Hasan been married that he would have never gone on that murderous rampage.

One of the things mentioned by Greg Mortenson is that the mother has to give approval before a son goes into jihad. Educated women did not give permission. The lack of love in the world preys on the lack of education.