IT’S THE HOLY MANÂ Â in Rome- Pope Francis ,not us, who said that the terrorists have started World War III. Piecemeal that is , the leader of the Catholic church explained – in terms of “crimes, massacres and destruction” based on recent separate events.
The ironic thing about it is the world war is not between nations as world wars I and II were, but between ideologies. Terrorism, anchored on a twisted Muslim faith foundation vs the Free World.
The terrorists , of the ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) and the Al Quaeda variety,  are not even  interested in occupying geographic states but  are more of  being “nihilists” -people who just want to destroy out of their own warped thoughts of religious nobility.
Terrorists proudly believe  that the ultimate sacrifice to Allah is to die in His Name- and dying such as those like in  a combat suicide will surely bring one’s soul straight to their heaven. It is a romanticized religious cult that appeals mostly to the young and the carefree.
Terrorism, of late, has taken all comers that the global conflagration is indeed equivalent to a world war.
In September 2001- they  brought America to the ground through her symbolic Twin Towers in New York, the citadel of American capitalism which houses the Wall Street and the NY stock exchange. In October 31 this year, they blew up  a Russian commercial airliner plane with  mostly Russian tourists coming from the Red Sea over the Sinai desert using a two-pound bomb that blew  open the aircraft’s belly. Killed were all 224 people abroad including 17 children. Russian PM Vladimir Putin is red as a beet in anger.
The Moscow leader vowed ” we will hunt you down like dogs wherever you are”.
Meanwhile,  last November 13- 8 ISIS terrorists massacred 130 people dead (360 injured with 100 seriously in the ICU) in Paris ‘The City of Lights” France in a series of  simultaneous suicide attack mode. This was to be Paris’ equivalent of the tragedy of September 11 in the USA.
Out to do another mayhem, French paratroopers, however,  days later killed three  allied- terrorists inside two apartments in St Denise outside Paris -including the alleged mastermind.
All killers were below 30 years old -and Pope Francis cried that  the merriment of Christmas is just a charade given the recent spate of violence. He claimed close affinity to the French people.
Days later, an armed group of the Al Quaeda , killed 27 persons in a 5-star Raddison Blu hotel in Bamako, Mali in Africa- and three of the terrorists  eventually killed by a joint Malian-US-French force.
The monsters then announced that the United States specifically New York with its Times Square was the next target and then beheaded a Chinese hostage somewhere in the Middle East.
By taking all the major world powers like the USA, Russia, France (and therefore Britain and the European Union), China and Africa, the terrorists want to paint themselves as a “global super power” and unafraid of these giant  nations. They also want to sow paranoia among the big nations  in order to disrupt the normal way of life of most people- giving them a sense of power over many  nations’ destiny.
Psychologically, the best antidote now  is not to show any fear -and instead go on  with life in an even exaggerated way of merriment and courage to give a message to the organized goons –  that they are not winning the war of the minds. That- the USA and France have done in great lengths.
Militarily, that means continue the massive air strike bombardment against known ISIS strongholds although the latter  are extremely mobile. Attune to this is bombardment of oil tanks that  house the gas  that the ISIS stole and sell illegally in the market and areas where they hide the gold that  they stole from the banks.
The financial cripple effects of these moves are hoped to reduce the terrorists’ military potency. These terrorists normally cut off  any and all of their  familial ties so as to shield themselves from potential kidnapping with blackmail.
They are a smart and dangerous group.
A Global Anti Terror summit thereby is in order. Because there are many contentious issues. For instance, many of the nations in the Free World  do not read the same page as in Russia  who is propping up the dictator president Bashar Al Assad of Syria  but who himself has also  cold-bloodedly killed 250,000 of his repressed countrymen while fighting the ISIS; the West wants to get rid of Assad first and then deal with the ISIS.
There is the great debate whether  allied countries will just prop up the local Syrian and Iraqui forces fighting the ISIS through airplane bombings and intelligence or get their own  ground troops involved.
There are genuine nationalists in the Free World who are citing that the past  intervention in overthrowing dictatorial regimes like  those of Sadam Hussein in Iraq and Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi only weakened the state and de facto strengthened  instead the ISIS within their  geographical areas.
Being in a state of war, the world must  meet the threats of global violence with unremitting force and political will. For -aside from climate change, the world’s greatest danger is Terrorism.
In context, we can now look up-then- with more kindness in the efforts of president Noy Aquino to keep the Masapano Plan top secret and bypassed protocol -precisely because of his confidential knowledge about the grave  ramifications of this thus far undeclared World War III.
In killing the bomb making terror Marwan – the country, with the help of US intelligence, got rid of one of the greatest terrorist-bombers in this side of the earth . This is not to denigrate, however, and -of course- the value of the lives of the 44 SAF (special forces) men who died in the process of the  successful assassination of Marwan.
All of these  events connive together to form a  new perspective that the idea of the type of world war to expect in this century  has changed dramatically since after the end of the Vietnam War.
The Free World is dealing with an invisible enemy who appears from the shadows to make their vicious attack on unsuspecting, hapless, unarmed  victims  and then vanish in the dark -dancing in glee -in mocking arrogance of their conquest and daring the world to “come and get us” to the tune of a Black Sabbath rock anthem.
Prayer and action needed.Que horror!
For comments: email to dejarescobingo@yahoo.com or bohol-rd@mozcom.com