MARKET WATCH COLUMNIST
“True victory is to change jihadists’ minds”, Ellis Henican Column, Newsday, October 2, 2011
He was al-Qaeda’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. And the death with him of Samir Khan is worth a smile as well. Inspire, Kahn’s pro-death lifestyle magazine, is 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 in comparing our way to theirs.
Blue jeans are better than burkas. 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 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.
THE NEWS IN SONG:
It came from above.
“Thunder and Lightning” by Chi Coltrane
WHY SUFFAU ALONE?
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?…How soon ‘til animal-rights absolutists start barking again? “Cops in North Merrick should have been gentler with that pair of pitbulls who mauled a 62-year-old woman out for her morning walk!” Did I mention the dogs mauled a 62-year-old woman out for her morning walk?…Is Christie too fat to be president, was Oprah too fat to be a talk host? She did okay…Strongwater’s weak explanation: Until CEO Steven Strongwater says clearly why he’s leaving Stony Brook U Medical Center, won’t the hallway speculation keep getting stronger?…Despite the power problems, Irene wasn’t IT. Should we still be jumpy about the
Really Big One?…What does Corey Ribosky’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, present “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.
E-mail ellis@henican.com.
Follow him at twitter.com/henican
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