All Wars Begin and End in Peace

Terry Mollner

What is the most probable scenario going forward in this fight against terrorism?

Here is a short statement of my best guess. The United States executes some forms of military action. Things don't all go beautifully. More Muslim clerics call for a jihad against the United States. Things continue to not go beautifully on both sides. There is another terrorist action in the United States. If it is big, it could completely freeze the consumer — two thirds of our economy. Things get worse in all directions. Some Muslim nations begin to slip away. It begins to feel more like Muslims versus Christians to many.

How do you stop thousands of men, well trained and living throughout the U.S. and other nations, waiting for a message to do a suicidal act for Allah? They have no nation, no army, no land, no possessions. They have nothing to attack. And they are willing to kill themselves for their God. There is no way to find them guilty of anything other than having been trained in a terrorist camp. They are currently living peacefully.

We can do a lot to stop them, but there is no ultimate way to stop them other than to have them choose to stop. We are just too vulnerable to this tactic no matter how many precautions we put in place. Who has the ability to ask them to stop and to be listened to? They are doing it ultimately for Allah, their God. Therefore, the voices of their God will have the greatest influence on them.

Let’s remember, all wars begin and end in peace. War is mutual self-destruction but sometimes necessary to eliminate the power of a "Hitler." The only question here is how long and how destructive the war is until it ends. When the desire to have it end is stronger than the desire to sustain it, the spiritual leaders of the world will be in the best position to provide leadership to end it. If they get together with Muslim clerics of every stripe and jointly fashion a peace proposal, they may be listened to. That peace proposal, to be creditable, will have to include changing some of the ways we are running this planet.

Have the courage to step back from this situation and think of what you would do if you disagreed with the way the planet was organized, you had no power, and you wanted to sabotage its ability to continue in its ways. Whether it is because you believe everyone should follow what you believe to be the directions of Allah, because you do not like nearly half of the people on the planet living on less than $2 a day, or because of another reason, the strategy they have developed to sabotage the existing order is brilliant and working.

This form of terrorism can only be stopped ultimately by either putting everyone in a jail and watching them or convincing the people doing these things to change their minds and tactics. And we are now dealing with extremely powerful weapons. Our goal now must be to speed up this process as much as possible: all wars begin and end in peace. We are now at the beginning of the ascent up the first side of the bell curve. As a result, many will find these statements to be that of a traitor to our mission. But being aware of the probable patterns going forward at this time will allow us all to participate in a way that speeds this process up and awakens people to the wisdom of not having the bell curve get very high before we begin to bend it toward the completion of this process.

The more mature we are the more quickly we will start to bend the bell curve over. Having a view of how to complete it is one of the things that can help us do this. No one is thinking that religious leaders have a role to play at this time. I am arguing that they may have the most important role in the end.

terry@trusteeship.org

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