Posted on 12/03/2003 7:19:25 PM PST by knak
Defeatism in the Islamic World has become a currency and self-inflicted pain has become pleasure
November 28, 2003
The Iranian
''Bush's war has been the greatest thing that ever happened to Al-Qaeda. If Bush were making progress in the war on terror, we wouldn't be seeing vastly more Al-Qaeda attacks now than we saw before the Iraq war'' -- From a friend's post
Conspiracy theories, as in stories in 1001 Arabian Nights, abound in the 21st century. The wearied argument from the Arab street stresses that because of the new crusade by the Bush administration, there is a new holy war! These mushrooming sleeper-cells and wide spread convoluted sympathies on the fringes of the Islamic world exist because they need to heap the reasons of their failures on someone else. In the recent century it happens to be the US; in the last century it was colonialism.
Islam today is faced with new questions that need to be answered by the main body politic of Islam, not Bush; that is how Muslim blood became the collateral damage in the jihad against infidels. For when guns are turned on one's own as a result of an inability to face the West, it has led to the failure of Al-Qaeda sympathizers and their implosion within their own confines, the fallout of which is now affecting Muslims at large.
The blood orgies of Al-Qaeda have opened a lot of unopened eyes; the questions that were missed post 911 (as most of the blood was those of 'infidels') are now being asked, such as why and what for? When Western blood is spilled, there is a gleeful silence; when Western interests are hurt, there is a universal sense of accomplishment in fringe Islamic communities. This perverse pleasure taken in the miseries of the West is not what Islam preaches as its very message is peace and creation of the abode.
Wasted excess of squabble against US imperialism cannot be more exemplified by the life of a fringe youth within the Islamic world. He, who wakes up with a Proctor & Gamble mouthwash, a breakfast of Kellogg's frosted wheats, wears Gap jeans, works on a Cisco-Intel-Microsoft based technology to connect to the internet whilst sipping Starbucks coffee lashes out at American way of life. The envy towards America, for its accomplishment through hard won freedoms, is nothing more than passive-aggressive aggression egged on by the sense of abject failure and underachievement of the leadership that failed them.
A madrassa product can not be compared to an Oxbridge grad and this is the result of centuries of accumulated failure where 'innovation of thought' was denounced by Imam Al-Ghazali as heresy. Khuldoon, Sina, Ibn Ishaq, Khayyam, Biruni or Farabi you name it, for one or other reasons were declared heretics or were condemned as revisionaries by the clergy of the time, the efforts to arrest Islamic free thought in the cocoon of time have been always triumphant as clergy took the front seat in championship of Islam.
The silent majority spirit has always been trampled by determination and 'insight' of clergy to keep the masses in check, the inability to move with times and be a part of change left Islamic world directionless. The concept of pre-destination, and born with the will of Allah, overtook struggle for betterment. Clerical leadership has been the cause of decay. Had it not been for the foresight of leaders like Sir Syed, the South Asian region would be as backward as those north in Asia. It is not an accident that Afghanistan does not have institutions like King Edward Medical College or the rail and canal systems.
The continuous battles to refuse supremacy and struggle for false sovereignty have resulted into a country that has limbless thousands and still unable to connect to the world. Connect tribalism with a virulent form of extremist ideology and an explosive combination will lead to a self destruction of the societies. Al-Qaeda today is in on the forefront to achieve this 'failure' of a society like Afghanistan for places that are connecting to the world. Turkey is the target since it represents the ability of Islam to co-exist with democracy and freedom.
Palestinians feel aggrieved by Israeli aggression but their leadership has failed them during the course of this century by aligning themselves with losers. The issue of Palestine would not have risen had the Ottomans not aligned itself with the Germans in the First World War. The break up of the Ottoman Empire was the result of realignments within the world and the mufti Al Hussieni went to Hitler in World War II to produce Muslim recruits for the German army. Why should Islam become aligned with losers? Why can't we have the vision to connect with the winners? The Palestinian issue is at the core of the Islamic world but defeatism has become a currency and self-inflicted pain has become pleasure.
The war against the civilized world was hatched by the loonies of the world when the icon of 'Democrats' was busy having flings in the sacred office of the White House. After the USS Cole bombing in Yemen, appeasers fired misguided missiles on Sudanese factories and mud rubble in Afghanistan but no consistent policy was followed. The hornets' nest was considered to be far too sensitive. These vandals on the doors need men with resolve; the left with its self serving agenda does not have what it takes to face the criminals. The call of global jihad against the US and her citizens was carried out by the likes of Osama bin Laden under an administration that never took it seriously.
If taking the battle from US streets to far flung areas of the world is not a success what is? These extremists are and will be in constant hibernation. The challenge is to deny them sanctuaries in hinterlands of terror production factories that existed under Global Jihad Inc under the tutelage of countries like Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and others. Even Iran's recent cooperation with the IAEA represents how the threat of big sticks works across the board so comprehensively. Iran is ready today to open up its facilities of enrichment and that is one other success of areas that are benefiting from global containment of terror regimes.
Thanks to the US, freedom of action that allows us to speak and differ, is now a new coinage in the Arab world, which is of historic magnitude. The very reason that an Iraqi can call Bush a 'usurper' is a success in the war on terror. The war on terror is freedom from the shackles of primitiveness, and that is the big picture post 911 strategy. I see it not as neoconism or a new crusade, but action for the collective good of the world, freeing Islam from people who want to hijack it in the name of blood orgies. From Bali to Istanbul the fight remains a single-minded resolve to free our world from influence of cave man who want to rob our freedoms.
The challenge is to bring the Arab world out from the cave age and from the cradle of conspiracy theories. Muslims must take a giant step to incorporate a free press where 'expression of dissent' is guaranteed in an era of new self-determination. The Bush Administration sees this and hence its ability to convert the most hardened on its side.
The likes of Musharraf, Prince Abdullah and Erdogan are ex-hardliners within the context of Islamic freedom movements. However they are now the staunchest of US allies. The US needed the pivotal countries of the Muslim world to carry its fight to the enemy. How strange that the left in the US is unable to appreciate the alliance of the most unwilling that this administration has been able to sew. If this is not a diplomatic success -- carrying a big stick and dangling big carrots -- what is?
The fight against Al-Qaeda is helping the cause of freedom in two ways. One is that the cancer is clear and presents itself as a defined target that can be confronted. Every suicide bomber leaves a trail that closes doors for 100 other possible bombers. Turks in Istanbul or Saudis in Jeddah blowing themselves up are not in retaliation to US actions but as a result of the inability of Al-Qaeda to destroy Western homes.
In a last ditch attempt, they are now on the path of self destruction. The streets that had gleefully expressed smiling adulations to the suicide bombers in Israel today find how horrendous these bombers can be. Saudis who complained that Israel should take no action against Palestinians, even if they keep blowing the Israelis with these bombs, are now on a crack down. They have realized that this ferocious beast is out to take anyone who opposes their brand of medievalism.
The Bush Doctrine has set a whole region free from the chains of the past. Yes, there will be upheaval and it will be a mounting task to face but the street in Arab lands fails to see why Muslims are killing Muslims in a vendetta that is directed against the West. The concept of collateral damages of Islamic blood is now too difficult to handle for appeasers and naysayers in our part of the world.
The reasoning that all this would have passed if no action was been taken is the biggest fallacy. There is, and was, no sympathy towards Western philosophy, according to the extremists. Islam promised its one billion faithful the rule of the world, and what they have discovered is that they are at the bottom most wrung of the ladder as a result of their own failure. The rage of impotence combined with blind craving to manage the human race through the 'will of Allah' is what propels hatred within the fringe elements.
It is dreams of rediscovering the history of Islam's golden age and the re-conquest of the world, like old Spain, that propels many lunatics to impose the 'will of Allah' on the unwilling. This is not about terror, rather this is about imposing a way of life through a 'regime of terror'. Appeasement only makes their work easier.
Throwing a gauntlet like what Bush did makes it harder but it takes a very big man to do it. History has put this burden on a Texan who looked quite ordinary -- and for the left even stupid -- but he has taken this burden better than many a Sagittarius!
This Mr. Latif sees things clearly -- not only in the Middle East, but also in the U.S.
The war against the civilized world was hatched by the loonies of the world when the icon of 'Democrats' was busy having flings in the sacred office of the White House.
I've got news for you: Islam is defeatism.
"Islam promised its one billion faithful the rule of the world, and what they have discovered is that they are at the bottom most wrung of the ladder as a result of their own failure."What they should have discovered is that they are at the bottom-most wrung of the ladder because Islam is system of false beliefs and cannot fulfill any promises.
Their failure is the failure to find and follow God. Instead they have chosen to follow a false "god" and a false religion.
"The rage of impotence combined with blind craving to manage the human race through the 'will of Allah' is what propels hatred within the fringe elements..."
...and leads to the service of Satan and not God.
"It is dreams of rediscovering the history of Islam's golden age and the re-conquest of the world, like old Spain, that propels many lunatics to impose the 'will of Allah' on the unwilling. This is not about terror, rather this is about imposing a way of life through a 'regime of terror'. Appeasement only makes their work easier."Yes, it is dreams of earthly glory that inspire them. On some level, they know that they serve Satan and not God.
Murder, torture, terror, warfare, slavery, suicide--in the name of God--the ultimate blasphemy!
Daschle and Kennedy already know this.
It simply isn't their top priority.
Power is.
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