By Enoch Stephen
It may be difficult, perhaps impossible, to stop a determined individual who wants to commit an act of terrorism if they get through every security check, but there are some things that can be done to limit the spread of extremist violence and divert their support.
Keep a Check on Extremist Clerics: Many of them have found a refuge in Western countries, having been driven away from their own countries for being "too radical." How do they manage to get into Western countries? Are they not screened? Is this "democracy" at play? Do we view these people as being "persecuted" by "undemocratic" countries and hence deserving of refuge? These clerics are the most dangerous of all extremists. The foot soldiers carry out the attacks and go away (in the case of suicide bombers). However, these clerics (the brains) keep cultivating and harvesting fertile and confused minds; educated, illiterate, rich, or poor, all are equally affected by their vitriolic sermons that call upon waging war on the West. Countless young minds have fallen prey to these clerics and the ironic thing is that they do so under the very noses of our "democracies." Should democracy, therefore, prevent us from deporting these clerics back to their home countries? Would or should this be considered a violation of "human rights?"
Make Aid Accountable: Developed countries give millions of dollars to countries such as Pakistan, for example, in the name of "economic aid." Well, it is a good thing to give aid, but shouldn't this aid be monitored and the recipient countries made accountable as to how they have spent this money? It seems most countries who give aid just think that they have done a good job giving the aid. They leave it at that. Especially if these countries are ruled by corrupt leaders; all this aid has basically gone either into the pockets of these leaders or gone into affiliated extremist groups, who might in fact come back and bite the very hand that feeds them. History is testimony to these mistakes yet lessons are never learned.
Stop the Flow of Terrorist Funds: Stop the rich countries that fund construction of religious schools without proper background checks. Pressure them through diplomatic channels to fund charities and religious schools only after proper verification and certification that they aren't indulging in any radical propaganda and brainwashing their students to wage holy wars. Also, improve banking laws at home as well as in developing countries to ensure that fanatics don't benefit from lax regulations and circumvent the system by getting funds to their plans.
Securing Defenses: There is no alternative to this. Fact is there will always be people out there who want to harm you and it is on you to defend your country by securing it as best you can. Stricter screening of people who come into your country would be required. This doesn't mean one has to close one's doors to everyone; however, one should at least keep an eye out for undesirable radicals who mean no good.
The Solution That Will Never Be: In closing, let's talk about a Solution that will never be—that is a peaceful solution. People who think that one can negotiate peace with fanatics are unfortunately living in a make believe world. Honestly, what can you negotiate with terrorists? What are the negotiating points here? What can we offer to them and what would they accept? Some terror groups, for example, want to see a world that is nothing like the one we know. Are we prepared to compromise and have them have their way on this? Should we turn back the clock and go back a few hundreds of years to a time when the dominant groups were different from those now? Many of these "brains" behind the most dangerous extremist groups want just that—their own utopian world governed by their own utopian laws. Some people just don't like the idea of "fighting." However, when you are confronted with an irrational enemy who sees no sense or knows not what their aims really is, other than blowing up people because someone drilled that into them, what can you do but fight and defend?
