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A friend of mine said recently, “We shouldn’t even be there. Let them kill each other. I mean, that would solve the problem. Right?” I thought about that statement as I read the news coming out of the Gaza Strip. As Hamas and al-Fatah were literally battling to the death for supremacy in their region, I came to the conclusion we all must take the time – right now – to understand what it is they’re fighting about. The truth is our lives depend on it.

To look at the situations in Iraq and Gaza as separate conflicts is to view them in a naïve and overly simplistic way. True, the battles taking place in Gaza are more akin to a civil war, if in fact a civil war can take place without a recognized country to govern. And the battles taking place in Iraq are almost completely instigated at the hands of al Qaeda terrorists hell-bent on creating chaos with violence while destroying any chance of democracy in that nation. But what the less visionary among us are deficient in understanding and neglectful or deceitful in not addressing is the reason they are fighting, their goal, their end-game.

Many among us insist that the reason radical Islamist terrorists – insurgents or militants as they like to call them – have taken to jihad against the United States and the West because of the encroachment of our culture into the 7th Century Middle Eastern culture in which they exist. They point to Osama bin Laden’s original 1996 fatwa against the US and the West citing the presence of Western military personnel and installations as the catalyst for al Qaeda’s Islamofascist aggression.

While these points may very well be the justification used by the cadre of terrorist organizations originating throughout the Middle East for attacks against the West, it doesn’t explain their propensity for Arab on Arab, Muslim on Muslim violence. It doesn’t explain the original catalyst for the conflict between Sunni and Shi’ite Muslims and it certainly doesn’t address the Islamofascists’ goals, their “end game.”

That Islamofascist aggression, advanced through the use of terrorism, is taking place around the world, against members of every faith, is a testimony to the fact that radical fundamentalist Islamists are engaged in an intentional conflict of global conquest. As we covered earlier, Osama bin Laden has declared his desire – as a Wahhabist – to see the establishment of a global Caliphate.

Terrorist attacks in the name of Islam have taken place all over the world against, Jews, Christians, Buddhists, Hindus and even conformist and non-fundamentalist Islamists.

When one examines the facts and logistics of Islamofascist aggression – both in history and modern times – it is hard to argue that the basis for this aggression is Western influence on the Islamic culture. If this were the sole reason for Islamofascist aggression there would be no excuse for attacks in the name of Islam on the Hindus or Buddhists or in any nation that doesn’t embrace Western values such as Thailand, Somalia or most of Indonesia. Yet, the slaughter of innocents in the name of Islam does take place against these people and in these non-Westernized regions.

By acknowledging these facts – and they are indisputable – we can dismiss the argument that the US and the West have brought the wrath of Islamofascism upon ourselves.

What, then, is the catalyst for Islamofascist aggression and what could be so powerful as to produce legions of suicide bombers and those willing to die, without reservation, for their cause?

While the many elements of this subject are complex, together they indicate an overall agenda that is not.

In almost every declaration and action of the Islamofascist, from Osama bin Laden to Hassan Nasrallah, Ayman al Zawahri to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the goal is the same: the successful establishment of a global Islamic state – or Caliphate – ruled under Sharia Law. This notion is not a supposition on my part. Rather, it is an accurate observation, based on understanding and acknowledging the actions taken and the words used by each of these fascist leaders.

In his 1996 fatwa, Osama bin Laden proclaimed:

“...O you horses (soldiers) of Allah ride and march on. This is the time of hardship so be tough. And know that your gathering and co-operation in order to liberate the sanctities of Islam is the right step toward unifying the word of the Ummah under the banner of ‘No God but Allah’...Our Lord, shatter their gathering, divide them among themselves, shaken the earth under their feet and give us control over them...”

It should be noted that to bin Laden, the Ummah is considered a figurative nation comprised of all Muslims and all Islamic nations.

In 2000 bin Laden declared:

“...Afghanistan is the only country in the world that has the Shari'ah. Therefore, it is compulsory upon Muslims all over the world to help Afghanistan. And to make hijra to this land, because it is from this land that we will dispatch our armies to smash all kuffar all over the world.”

In October of 2005, during his address to the United Nations, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said:

“From the beginning of time, humanity has longed for the day when justice, peace, equality and compassion envelop the world.”

And in a speech to Friday prayer leaders he said:

“Our revolution’s main mission is to pave the way for the reappearance of the 12th Imam, the Mahdi.”

It should be noted here that Ahmadinejad believes – as do most Shiites – that the 12th Imam (or Muhammad al-Mahdi), according to their interpretation of the Quran, will bring “peace and justice on earth” by establishing Islam throughout the world. This equivalent of the “second coming” would take place when the world has fallen into chaos and civil war emerges between the human race for no reason.

If we are to take the leaders of the Islamofascist movement at their word – and the leaders of the United States and the West have been delinquent in accepting the declarations of fascists in the past, so much so that world war has ensued – we can only surmise that the battles taking place between Sunni and Shi’ite factions in Iraq, Gaza and elsewhere in the world are for dominance in what they perceive as an inevitable global Islamic Caliphate.

It is crucial that the United States government – and all the governments of the West – dispense with the political infighting that currently holds hostage national unity and the collective will, so we can defend ourselves from the inevitable full-scale confrontation with an emboldened and strengthening Islamofascist movement. The first step to achieving this unity is an honest, comprehensive understanding of the enemy. The education to achieve that end must begin immediately.