True victory is to change jihadists' minds

He was an al-Qaida branch's chief televangelist for the Internet age, the English-speaking inspiration for a whole new generation of would-be suicide jihadists.

The death of Anwar al-Awlaki by drone strike in Yemen is worth celebrating for sure. As much as anyone, he defined recent terror recruitment. Samir Khan, a magazine editor who also died in the airstrike, was the Martha Stewart Living of the strap-on-a-bomb set.

Together, they made dying for darkness seem to some like a glamorous act.

It was keen intelligence and high technology that killed these two. But their deadly message will never be answered with GPS coordinates and Hellfire missiles alone. The damage they did before dying can only be countered in the realm of ideas.

Clearly, there's an audience for their brand of hatred and hostility. Theirs was an audience that will not die with them. But thankfully, we have a powerful answer for that kind of thinking. The answer is our way is compared to theirs.

Blue jeans are better than burqas. Secular society is better than fundamentalism. Light beats darkness every time.

Now it's up to us. We must do a far better job of out-persuading the al-Awlakis and Khans and those who come next. Every day going forward, we must out-convince their audiences in the life-or-death struggle for hearts and minds.



IF WE CALL LONG ISLAND COUNTY SUFFAU, WHAT ELSE CAN WE COMBINE?

1. Wantapequa: Sure

2. Riverhank: Beats Yaphead

3. Hemp City: Cool, man

4. Greathasset: Quit bragging

5. Sycho: You'd be too if you lived here



ASKED AND UNANSWERED: Lightning-strike folo: Now, will someone please block-and-spike the MTA board? . . . Was Samuel Eshaghoff the only test-day ringer on Long Island? Or did other high-school seniors pay some brainiac to take the SAT for them? . . . Despite the power problems, Irene wasn't it. Should we still be jumpy about the Really Big One? . . . What does Corey Ribotsky's Roslyn-based NIR Group stand for? Nothing Is Remaining? The alleged hedge-fund scammer is telling investors not to worry -- plenty remains! . . . Is this the real lesson of Thursday's LIRR lighting strike: Shrewd riders recalculate and adjust? Pretty much everyone got home eventually, right? . . . Plum Island, home to the old Animal Disease Center off the North Fork, presents "biohazard issues" for any new buyer. But doesn't PI still beat Rat Island off the Bronx Coast, which the cash-strapped feds are also eager to unload? . . . Where would someone fence a gold-plated, sterling-silver chalice with a crystal node and a platinum cross? St. Agnes Cathedral is one chalice short.

 

LONG ISLANDERS OF THE WEEK: BRIAN DOYLE, DOMINIC CATOGGIO AND STEPHEN UBERTINI

For reviving downtown Huntington's dormant IMAC as the glistening, 1,500-capacity Paramount Theater. Their exquisite renovation features a multilevel industrial design, cutting-edge sound system and a we-mean-business lineup of concert-level acts: B.B. King, Willie Nelson, Third Eye Blind, the 52s, Pat Benatar and Friday's Elvis Costello opener. The co-owners have done their part. Now it's up to Long Island music lovers to turn out and do theirs.

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