There is no easy way to defeat our al-Qaida terrorist enemies — the enemies who planned and executed the 9/11 attacks that killed nearly 3,000 Americans.
They are not a traditional army that can be defeated straightforwardly on the field of battle. Rather, they hide among civilian populations in numerous nations in the Middle East, Africa and elsewhere — even in our own country.
But easy or not, one thing is certain: We dare not give up the fight against them.
Here is just the latest reason why.
Al-Qaida recently executed two girls — a 15-year-old and an 18-year-old — it had supposedly convicted of “spying.” The girls, citizens of the African nation of Somalia, were savagely gunned down by a firing squad of 10 masked killers. Al-Qaida had conducted a show trial in which no evidence was presented, according to news accounts.
As if the sheer cruelty of such killings were not outrageous enough, al-Qaida forced hundreds of townspeople to witness the appalling executions.
We cannot imagine what would motivate such brutality. But we must never surrender to it.