Two thousand six is coming to an end much as it began: with war, terrorism, bloodshed and moral confusion. From Afghanistan to Iraq to Somalia in the Horn of Africa, warfare continues between regular military establishments and irregular radical Islamist forces.
In the Horn of Africa, historically Christian Ethiopia has declared war against the Council of Islamic Courts, an Islamist entity in Somalia with probable al-Qaida connections that aspires to govern. As of Tuesday, the Ethiopian attack with tanks, helicopters and fighter jets was advancing "decisively" on all fronts. According to The Associated Press, some observers believe that the Horn is being targeted as the third front (after Iraq and Afghanistan) "in militant Islam's war against the West."
On the terrorist front, The Associated Press reported on Christmas Eve from London that "Islamic militants want to attack the Channel Tunnel between England and France during the holiday season, a British newspaper said Sunday, citing French and U.S. security sources. ...
"The newspaper cited unidentified French officials as saying the plot was being directed from Pakistan and involved militants in western Europe, possibly Britons of Pakistani descent. ... The newspaper also said that militants with links to al-Qaida were plotting a wave of attacks on an unidentified European country, with the plot planned and run from Syria and Iraq."
Of course, rumors of terrorist attacks have become the background noise of our times. Also in that background noise is the growing assertiveness of Muslims in the West. The year 2006 began with Danish cartoons, the alleged blasphemy of which drove violent Muslim demonstrations around the world. Later in the year, Pope Benedict's lecture on reason, violence, Islam and the West also generated worldwide violent demonstrations by Muslims.
The year also saw provocative acts of the "flying Imams," which were used by American-Muslim "civil rights" advocates to try to persuade airlines and law enforcement officials not to challenge Muslims whose conduct would naturally arouse suspicion and fear. Were these assertions legitimate expressions of concern for unfair treatment of Muslims, or are they part of a campaign of intimidating our government and the public into exempting Muslims from legitimate law enforcement scrutiny?
This fall, an article in a scholarly military journal analyzed the doctrine behind the increase in American Special Forces troops. This increase in Special Forces is premised, pointed out the article, on the probable need to fight Muslim terrorists in rough country such as Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia. However, the article pointed out, there is increasing evidence that terrorists are also likely to assemble in the cities of Europe -- a terrain in which we would need different fighting tactics.
To my knowledge it is not American military doctrine to train for European urban warfare between American and Islamist terrorist forces. But analysts are beginning to wonder whether it should be. Whether such a contingency is remote, nonexistent or likely is speculative.
Indeed, there is little about the threat from radical Islam that is not speculative. Those of us who find the darker potentialities sufficiently plausible to require American and Western preparation are considered alarmists by those who expect the future to vary only by degree from the current state of relative inter-civilizational peace. I hope they are right.
But as we come to the end of 2006, nothing has emerged to refute these darker fears and, in fact, evidence -- admittedly ambiguous -- continues to assemble to support them. From Iraq and Afghanistan to Africa, Europe and America, 2006 has been a good year for the forces that may be out to destroy our way of life.
Tony Blankley is editorial page editor of The Washington Times. Dimitri Vassilaros is on vacation.
