I was wondering how would we know if we won in Iraq and Afghanistan and couldn't answer the question, so I wondered what it would mean to lose.

There are two forms of jihad. The greater jihad is the internal struggle with one’s soul, but the one we are most familiar with is the lesser jihad, the holy war.

The idea of a holy war was first promoted by Islamic military leader Saladin who needed a way to rally his troops to fight to their deaths to retake the lands lost to the Crusades. Jihad was a tool of propaganda, and it worked. Saladin eventually ruled over a vast Middle Eastern empire.

Though much of his original views on jihad were later rejected, the origins seep through to today. Historian and sociologist Maxime Rodinson, writing in 2002, concluded that jihad is still a “propagandistic device which, as need be, resorts to armed struggle.”

What is it that today’s jihadists are fighting for, if not for land? They are fighting for Islam to rule the world. However, there are many Islamic countries today that differ amongst themselves, so which of their customs and laws does jihad seek to impose?

One way of thinking about it is to ask, what would a unified Islamic government look like? Such a government is called a caliphate, and it was basically the political structure of Islam for hundreds of years, until 1920 when Turkey shucked off the last vestiges of the last caliphate, the Ottoman Empire.

The caliphate was socialist. In a caliphate, the state must own all oil, gas and other fuels; all agricultural land; and all water. Redistribution was a central feature of the caliphate as taxes were collected to pay the poor, the disabled and the elderly. Thus, the caliphate had welfare, universal health insurance and government-funded pensions. The caliphate is widely recognized to have been one of the first welfare states.

The reason for al Qaeda’s existence is essentially to establish a caliphate; they make no secret about it — they even call their Internet newscast “The Voice of the Caliphate” — and Osama bin Laden probably wants to be the caliph, the leader of the caliphate.

The caliph is viewed to be virtually perfect and omnipotent, a benevolent dictator in a way. The desire for such firm leadership is not hard to understand — it persists to today in the United States.

Woody Allen has recently lamented that it is too bad that President Obama is not a dictator. “It would be good,” Allen said, “if he could be dictator for a few years because he could do a lot of things quickly.”

Obama has already done a lot of things quickly. He has effectively nationalized the automobile industry, the banks, the insurance companies and much of America’s real estate through the backdoor of mortgage nationalization. He has pushed through universal health insurance. Based on their voting, Americans have seemingly waged an internal struggle for political philosophy, a greater jihad if you will, and concluded that big government is good.

What more is there for jihadists to fight for?

phil@maymin.com