Jihadis of the Left

Much has been written about the notion that Islamist extremists, whether the outlaw variety such as al-Zarqawi, Zawahiri, and Bin Laden, or the nominally more mainstream sort such as Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and al-Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti, are not rational individuals in the commonly (Western) accepted meaning of that word. Their devout fealty to the ideology that drives them (Islam) leaves no room for the sort of reasoned critical thinking that we in the West normally associate with a rational mind. A review of the recent testimony of convicted 9-11 terrorist Zaccharias Moussawi only confirms the observation.
I am reminded of this by today’s WaPo editorial, “Revolt of the Generals.” Naturally, the Post uses the occasion of it’s editorial to lambaste the President, his policies, and of course Secretary Rumsfeld. But there is also the implication that there are more than a few persons on our domestic political left wing who are guilty of the same sort of mindless subservience to an ideology that so hinders the long range thinking of the Islamists with whom we are at war.

Anyone who protested the pushback of uniformed military against President Bill Clinton’s attempt to allow gays to serve ought to also object to generals who criticize the decisions of a president and his defense secretary in wartime. If they are successful in forcing Mr. Rumsfeld’s resignation, they will set an ugly precedent. Will future defense secretaries have to worry about potential rebellions by their brass, and will they start to choose commanders according to calculations of political loyalty?

Meanwhile, over at The Belmont Club, Richard Fernandez says it best (as usual)

Even the most anti-Bush activists must know that once doubt has entered the heart there is no return to perfect faith. One day there will be a Democrat in the White House and the sauce for the goose will be served over the gander. Regrets by definition, always come too late. But then, the General’s Revolt was the inevitable result of a reflexive instinct to politicize everything. Religion, funerals, the Oscars, the Pulitzers — everything. It happened because ‘activists’ couldn’t help themselves. And help themselves they did, until they wound up cheapening the very prize they hoped to attain.

But whether they know it or not isn’t the point. Like the Islamists, their devotion to the ideology that drives them makes them immune from the critical thinking that might ultimately save them. There is no course of action but jihad.