Trees and Terrorism

I've been working to completely re-do my lawn this spring. During the tilling process, I came across lots of tree roots. Normally that wouldn't be especially out of the ordinary, except that the trees on our place are all fairly young and some of the roots were at great distances from the trees to which they belonged. The worst culprits were the honey locusts. It got me to thinking about terrorism.



Ok, why terrorism? Because the honey locust tree is the perfect illustration of terrorism. I will attempt to explain.


The part of the tree that is above ground is what we see. It is the war in Afghanistan and Iraq. The trunk is al Qaeda and the branches are the various groups aligned with them. The leaves are the specific terror cells associated with each group. They are all tied together -- part of the same organism.

The part of the tree that is below the ground is the real problem. It continues to feed the tree even if some of the branches are cut off. If we succeed in felling the tree in Afghanistan and Iraq, because of its nature (just like a honey locust), it will spring up elsewhere from the roots, or from the stump. This will continue to happen as long as there is life left in the roots.


The roots draw sustenance from a huge area. They reach into the Islamic countries of the Middle East. They reach into the banking havens of Europe, Latin America, and various islands. They reach into the drug trade (opium, heroin). They tap resources that we don't even know about yet. At any point along the course of the roots, a new tree can spring up. (On a honey locust it is commonly called a "sucker.")


If the tree is allowed to seed, the seeds drift on the wind to points long distances from the original tree. This would be terror cells planted throughout the globe such as the ones recently captured in the U.S. and England.


So, how do we destroy terrorism? We attack it everywhere it raises its head in order to cause it to use up its resources. But at the same time, we must attack it at the roots. For the groups associated with al Qaeda, we must "root out" the Islamofascist brainwashing that is occurring throughout the Muslim world. I personally do not believe this will ever be accomplished as long as Islam exists.


Terrorism in the world is like sin. We see it all around us. We see it in our own lives. We fight it daily. The problem is, that it is deeply rooted in this world and in our human nature. It entered the human race in the very beginning with the first human and has been part of this world ever since. The only way to overcome it is to transcend our humanity -- to overcome the world.

"Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God."
__ 1 John 5:5