Senator Dianne Feinstein, while appearing as a guest on CNN’s Wolf Blitzer’s Late Edition show with Senator Pat Roberts this morning to discuss terrorism, threw out the red herring that unless Muslim leaders issue fatwas declaring that terrorism is against Islamic beliefs, extremist actions cannot be defeated. She also mentioned a parallel between Christians excommunicating members and the effect such a fatwa would have on the Muslim community.

To that I say: get a clue, Senator Feinstein.
Show me one Christian church that, as a response to terrorist activities committed by someone who professes to do so in the name of their Christian God, has been excommunicated. And then, show me how such an action has stopped someone else from using the name of God to justify the next terrorist attack.

If Senator Fenstein truly believes that ultimately  the WoT must be fought via Muslim clerics issuing fatwas, thus abrigating the responsibility of governments to use every practical tool they have in order to fight this faux war, then not only do I wonder what she’s actually learned about how terrorism is spawned – I also wonder what the entire Senate Intelligence committee is wasting its time on. She doesn’t believe what terrorism experts have been saying for decades – that the roots are complex and that issues like poverty and dissatisfaction with the status quo must be addressed.

Pat Roberts, Chairman of the Senate Intelligence committee, sitting alongside Feinstein and agreeing with her statements, said that he was not aware of any fatwas issued by Muslims against terrorism. Perhaps he missed this one issued by Spanish Muslims and all of these condemnations issued immediately following 9/11. There are more. Considering then that fatwas have been issued, one would then logically assume that, according to Feinstein and Roberts beliefs that fatwas can stop terrorism, these actions would have had an impact. We all know they haven’t, because the rest of us know that winning this WoT has nothing to do with issuing fatwas. That’s simply a distraction, and frankly an insult to our intelligence, thrown out into the public as an excuse for 1) admitting that a war on terrorism can never be won and 2) inexcusable mismanagement of intelligence efforts and 3) the refusal to properly fund anti-terrorism activities in the United States and elsewhere.

As an aside, Blitzer asked Feinstein and Roberts about the Rove situation without making a very crucial link to the terrorism issue which was prominently discussed in the hearings about the leak this past Friday. Former CIA analysts and case officers made the case that the effect of this prolonged investigation into Plamegate has had far reaching consequences on intelligence gathering efforts around the world. This is a very important point. If informants are concerned that their identities may be leaked by this administration, they are definitely less likely to trust their handlers or to even participate in infiltration of terrorist organizations. Their lives are in their hands on a daily basis and they sure don’t needed the added threat that some politically driven lackey in DC is going to cause a leak that could result in their ultimate execution.

While many have pointed out that the lack of human intelligence on the ground has severely limited US efforts to infiltrate Al Quaeda and other terrorist groups, they refuse to make the link to how the leaking of Valerie Plame’s name and the refusal of this administration to take swift action to deal with this situation has made this limitation one thousand times more difficult. Make no mistake. There is a connection and its effects have been devestating.

So, I say to you Senator Feinstein, get back to your committee and face the real facts here. You can sit around and wait for fatwas until the cows come home, while ignoring that many have already been issued and have had absolutely no effect on the WoT or you can start taking all of this much more seriously and look at what you and this administration can do in practical terms. Stop blaming Muslim clerics for the WoT. The simplicity of that type of belief is so incredibly ignorant and fantastical that it defies logic. It’s the same type of thinking that would say you can stop the killing of abortion doctors and the bombings of black churches by the KKK by having Christians denounce such crimes. This is not about the larger religion involved. This is about extremists who use religious beliefs as an excuse for their actions. Having mainstream Muslims or Christians denounce such abominations does nothing.

If that’s the best tactic you have in your playbook for fighting the WoT, you are just admitting that you are so completely powerless that you might as well fly that white flag right now.