Greg Mortenson

Are you more inspired when your president sends helicopters to aid quake survivors in Pakistan, or when he lectures the Chinese about democracy?

I am writing mostly to explain how you can help homeless Pakistanis endure winter. But first, allow me to complicate this straightforward humanitarian effort by putting it in the context of a grand strategy to defeat Islamic extremism.

Four years into this war on terror, it is clear we do not have the stomach to fight people like Abu Musab al-Zarqawi on their terms. It doesn’t matter how many flags and slogans we paste on our cars and big trucks. This is good, because America’s strength is elsewhere. The sooner our lawmakers realize that the United States is losing the current war on terror, the sooner more of them will start thinking strategy. It is possible to pour many billions of dollars and many thousands of lives into a violent contest before giving strategy much thought at all.

Strategy in war begins with a study of the enemy, his motivation and his center of gravity. The latter is a fancy term for what the enemy cannot do without, and where we must concentrate our force.

The “enemy” is a desperate way of thinking which masquerades as being true to Islam and the example of the Prophet Muhammad. It claims that what we call terrorist attacks are legitimate reprisals in a defensive jihad. Its center of gravity is the very acceptance of this notion by significant and growing numbers of Muslims. Every time American forces shed Muslim blood, every time we abuse prisoners or desecrate bodies of dead Muslims, indeed, every day we remain occupiers of a Muslim country, it is safe to assume that al-Qaida is winning converts.

When we secure a deal for another military base in the Muslim world, when we assure Israel that it may keep specific settlement blocks in the West Bank, when we insist that Iran cannot have any nuclear weapons while we retain our own preposterous supply, moderate Muslims must feel the earth move under their feet. But every time we do the unexpected, like helping Muslim survivors of tsunamis and earthquakes, we raise doubts about the claims of extremists.

I recently read an article about mujahidin in Pakistan who were first on the scene for earthquake victims in some of the more remote regions of the country. It is tempting to dismiss such things as peripheral. In truth, this is where the real contest is taking place.

The struggle against Islamic extremism will be won or lost in the hearts and minds of Muslim youth. It will be fought in village after village, and the decisive tactics will be the construction of schools, health clinics, roads, shelter, the creation of jobs, and all the things that convince Muslims they can help build a just world without adopting fanatical ideologies.

About the time we launched our war against the Taliban in Afghanistan, I read about Greg Mortenson of Montana, who was raising money to build schools in Pakistan. For this purpose he founded the Central Asia Institute, and he kept showing up in the news.

One of Mortenson’s buddies is Phil Powers, executive director of the American Alpine Club in Golden. The Alpine Club is collecting winter gear as well as financial contributions with which it plans to purchase medicines, food and other supplies vital for the survival of earthquake-affected villagers beyond the reach of helicopters. The supplies will be transported by donkeys and climbers. The Alpine Club is accepting contributions of four-season tents, sleeping bags and pads, insulated jackets, hats and gloves. Monetary contributions can be made on-line at www.americanalpineclub.org, or sent to the American Alpine Club at 710 10th street, Golden, CO 80401. Donated gear must be at the club by Monday, Nov. 21. Monetary contributions will be accepted indefinitely, as the project will continue one way or another.

In Boulder, both the North Face in the Table Mesa shopping center and Recreational Equipment Inc. (REI) at 1789 28th Street (west side, between Canyon and Walnut) are accepting winter gear contributions through Wednesday. In addition to the items mentioned above, these stores are accepting tarps, backpacks of 30 liters or more, and waterproof jackets. If you wish to purchase items at these stores to contribute, ask for the special Pakistan relief discount.

Buchanan lives in Eldora, where he is less excited about winter every year.

(c) 2005 Boulder Daily Camera