Terrorism must be vigorously purged

Man’s inhumanity to man never ceases to make me sick to my stomach. What kind of creatures are they, masquerading as human beings, who can lay armed siege to a shopping mall and turn their guns on men, women and children going about their daily lives, harming no one?
The blood crazed terrorists, who murdered over 68 and injured 175 (those numbers will rise), during a deadly onslaught on shoppers in Nairobi that began on Saturday are described as members of the ‘Somali militant group Al-Shabab. But there is no Islamic jihad sanctioning the indiscriminate slaughter of innocents. Even the name Al- Shabab, meaning the youth, sounds benign, belying its murderous intent.
The group is, in fact, a Somali cell of Al-Qaeda that bills its aim as “waging jihad on the enemies of Islam”. In that case, its following should look at their ugly faces in the mirror because such warped thinking is in itself the biggest enemy of a faith that promotes tolerance and peace. There is nothing Islamic about indiscriminate killing. Indeed, the Qur’an says the killing of one person unjustly is akin to the killing of all humanity.
Al-Shabab, its master Al-Qaeda, and their affiliates in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Syria and the Egyptian Sinai should be given the designation “infidel” by the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) as well as Egypt’s respected Islamic authority Al-Azhar and prominent religious sheikhs throughout the Islamic world. They should be shunned by their families and neighbors; they should be ostracized by the societies in which they live. There is nothing heroic in acts of terror, which are the last resort of losers and weak-minded ignorant men open to being indoctrinated by merchants of hate.
Those who selected a Kenyan shopping mall to spill blood are nothing but cowards. Al Shabab’s spokesman claims this was a revenge attack in response to the presence of Kenyan troops in Somalia’s Lower Juba district at the invitation of the Mogadishu government. If that pretext were so, then why don’t they fight “the enemy” in their own country rather than civilians enjoying an outing; people who can’t fight back? Cowardice is the group’s badge when its claim to fame is the kidnapping of tourists and aid workers. Al-Qaeda-linked terrorists are nothing but cockroaches emerging from holes in search of soft targets like Kenya battling to recover from its own internal problems.
The dual Australian-British national, Ross Langdon — one of the few named victims of the attack — was no enemy of Islam and neither was his pregnant wife Elif who was also gunned down. He was a prize-winning director of an architectural firm engaged in pro-bono work to help the Kenyan people, a young man eagerly awaiting the birth of a child. The Ghanaian poet and diplomat, 78-year-old Prof. Kofi Awoonor, was due to recite his poems at the pan-African Storymoja Hay Festival to encourage literacy among young Kenyans, when a trip to the Westgate Mall marked the end of his life and works.
A photograph in the Guardian of a scared little girl running for safety is a pull on the heartstrings. Who knows what atrocities she witnessed or what level of fear she’s experienced? But one thing’s for certain, feelings of safety in the snug world of childhood that is every child’s right, will be forever gone.
Surely it’s beyond time that that the international community pulled together to wipe out this terrorist scourge on humanity that prevents entire nations, even those with rich natural resources and a wealth of fine minds, from prospering. While the West bangs on about the virtues of democracy and freedom while slamming governments doing their utmost to achieve law and order as authoritarian, terrorism and extremism under the faux banner of religion flourishes. Human rights groups are equally guilty of heaping condemnation on governments for crackdowns without taking into account that terrorists have no respect for individual freedoms. How can anyone enjoy personal freedom when they fear boarding a train or gathering in prayer or shopping in a souk or shopping precinct?
GCC states, representing the region’s last bastion of security are right to pull up the drawbridge on fanatics espousing cultish creeds and fifth columnist enemies of the state. Egypt should be commended for rooting out terrorist factions in Sinai and arresting disgruntled Muslim Brotherhood followers who’ve set fire to churches and police stations or marched through city streets wielding AK-47s.
One only has to cast an eye toward Iraq to know what horrors are in store for nations burdened with an imperfect security apparatus. I still remember how every Western TV channel celebrated Iraq’s first free and fair ballot with pictures of smiling Iraqis proudly displaying their purple fingers, but what good are purple fingers when so many have lost theirs as well as their arms, legs and lives during terrorist attacks happening almost daily? On Sunday alone, a suicide bomber blew himself up along with 16 others attending a funeral in Baghdad, while two attacks in northern Iraq killed two policemen and wounded 37. Saddam Hussein was a tyrant but his iron fist discouraged sectarian violence and even his staunchest detractors would admit that when he was in charge they were able to enjoy normal lives.
Terrorism and rogue states that have descended into terrorist breeding swamps should no longer be tolerated in a world that has shrunk to a global village. We’re all inter-connected. We’re all at risk. There, but for the grace of God, go you or I. International counter-terrorism conferences; intelligence sharing, global strategies and cooperation should go hand-in-hand with determined resolve to wipe this manmade sickness from the face of the earth.

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