Yesterday's relatively small anti-war protest was disappointing. There was no massive demonstration judging by the size of the crowd as I walked by, and the calls to action by the speakers were the same old, tired rhetoric.

Apparently what passes for intelligent debate on the war is a chant of "Get the fuck out now!"

In all seriousness, though, the really sad thing about yesterday's protest is that it completely ignores reality and what is at stake in the war on terror — which itself is somewhat of a misnomer and would more accurately be described as the war against radical Islam.

What I mean is that the enemy in this war is not President Bush or Vice President Cheney or Halliburton or capitalism or the CIA or the military — all of which were blamed at the rally. In truth, the enemy in this war is a small minority of Muslims who have perverted the message of Islam and are determined not only to convert the world to their views, but to destroy any and all who dare stand in their way.

The enemy must be shown for what it is and that is why the College Republicans, along with Students for Prosperity, will be showing a documentary titled "Obsession: Radical Islam's war against the West" tonight at 7 p.m. in B130 Van Vleck. We are not doing this to cause a controversy or to besmirch a peaceful religion; on the contrary, we do this to expose the radicals for what they are and how far they are willing to go to achieve their goals.

The documentary makes the argument that today, we are engaged in World War III. We are still fighting fascism and extremism, but unlike the Nazis, our enemy today has no country, no uniformed military, and they will not fight in open battle. Even so, they are just as dangerous to our way of life as the Nazis were more than 60 years ago. The Islamic extremists we fight today do not care about innocent human life or whether someone is in the military or a civilian. All that they care about is whether we believe as they do.

What they believe is frightening.

In the United States and in Europe, we place value on human life and the equality of men and women and do not seek to place one religious belief over another in our laws. The extremists want the exact opposite. They view women as little more than property, and they seek to re-establish a caliphate throughout the Middle East. They are prepared and willing to kill themselves in service to their cause, and they will not hesitate to kill innocent women and children because they do not value life as we do. The extremists do not tolerate other religious views, rather they persecute or kill those who do not believe — and it is not simply non-Muslims who are in danger; moderate Muslims are just as much infidels as Christians and Jews.

This enemy will not rest, and they are prepared to die for their cause, so one may wonder: What good will come from our fighting them?

It is not enough to simply fight and kill them in Iraq and Afghanistan — there is no purely military solution for this war. Instead, it must be fought with economic and political reform and stability as well as military might. The poverty and despair that so often is the breeding ground for followers of radical Islam must be dealt with so that young men do not feel there is no other choice for them but to radicalize and become martyrs.

In order to fully realize and appreciate the danger that is posed by radical Islam, I urge everyone to come and watch "Obsession." It is an honest and upfront look at the terrorists we are fighting, not through our eyes or with our words, but with what they say about themselves and their goals. It is footage from their websites and their television stations.

Many may be reluctant to label the enemy for what it is. After all, our enemies in wars past have fought for their homeland or for conquest, not for religious beliefs. But simply because they claim to follow a religion does not make it true. They have disgraced one of the world's great religions and declared their war on us. Now we have but two choices: fade away and give in to the hope that they will be content to fight amongst themselves despite what has happened before or face them wherever they show themselves and fight for our values and way of life.

I pray that we choose the latter.

Mike Hahn ([email protected]) is a senior majoring in history and political science.