Free Republic

The first American victory in the war on terror was won by Ronald Reagan, and it happened on Jan. 20, 1981, the first day of his presidency. That was when the jihadists running the Islamic Republic of Iran released 52 American hostages precisely as Reagan took the oath of office. After 444 days of humbling Jimmy Carter, the rulers in Tehran decided to conclude their drama at the U.S. embassy before they had to face the new president. This marked the first of Reagan's foreign policy successes. To begin, some background: When Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini overthrew the shah of Iran...

After an Islamist rampage in the Saudi town of Khobar on May 29-30 that ended in the death of twenty-two persons, survivors of that atrocity have recounted how the terrorists went to great lengths to ensure that they would kill only non-Muslims. Their actions raise a delicate but urgent issue: how might non-Muslims best protect themselves if caught in such a situation?Even as the massacre was underway, the terrorists took pains to distinguish Muslims from non-Muslims. Here are some of the survivors’ testimonies:Hazem Al-Damen, Muslim, Jordanian: two terrorists knocked on his door and asked him and others hiding whether they...

"If You Are Muslim, You Are Suspect" by Daniel Pipes New York Sun June 1, 2004 http://www.danielpipes.org/article/1853 http://daily.nysun.com/standard/ShowStoryTemplate.asp?Path=NYS/2004/06/01&ID=Ar00700&Section=Foreign The U.S. government wrongly arrested Brandon Mayfield, 37, of Beaverton, Ore. on May 6. A fingerprint sent from Madrid apparently connected him to the March 11 bombings there that killed 191 people and injured 2,000. When the Spanish government identified the fingerprint as that of an Algerian, the Department of Justice requested that Mr. Mayfield be released, and he was. Putting aside the technical mistake, the Justice Department has come under criticism for having built its case against Mr. Mayfield in part...

The U.S. government wrongly arrested Brandon Mayfield. But did it wrongly note his numerous connections to militant Islam and the global jihad? The U.S. government wrongly arrested Brandon Mayfield, 37, of Beaverton, Ore. on May 6. A fingerprint sent from Madrid apparently connected him to the March 11 bombings there that killed 191 people and injured 2,000. When the Spanish government two weeks later identified the fingerprint as that of an Algerian, the Department of Justice requested that Mayfield be released, and he was. Putting aside the technical mistake, the Department of Justice has come under severe criticism for having...

Support the lesser evil [in Saudi Arabia] by Daniel Pipes The Australian May 31, 2004 Starting with the first terrorist attack just over a year ago, Saudi Arabia has witnessed about one major violent incident a month. This pattern has culminated with four incidents this month, including this weekend's deadly attack on a residential complex in Khobar. Although mostly directed against foreigners, and so the country's economic infrastructure, the attacks reflect a deep divide within Saudi society that has implications which go far beyond this. The issues involved concern religious, political and economic orientation, and they continue a conflict that...

Starting with the first terrorist attack just over a year ago, Saudi Arabia has witnessed about one major violent incident a month. This pattern has culminated with four incidents this month, including this weekend's deadly attack on a residential complex in Khobar. Although mostly directed against foreigners, and so the country's economic infrastructure, the attacks reflect a deep divide within Saudi society that has implications which go far beyond this. The issues involved concern religious, political and economic orientation, and they continue a conflict that began nearly a century ago. The Saudi kingdom took shape in about 1750 when Muhammad...

The pictures from Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq touched such a nerve in the Muslim world that one analyst said that the rape pictures "would equal a nuclear explosion" if seen in Muslim countries. Such extreme reactions raise the delicate topic of sex in Muslim-Western relations. Considering the Muslim reputation for archaic customs, it is ironic to note that Islamic civilization not only portrays women as sexually desirous, but it sees them as more passionate than men. Indeed, this understanding has determined the place of women in traditional Muslim life. In the Islamic view, men and women both seek intercourse,...

As the attack on the "neo-cons" gains momentum with On-the-Fritz Holling’s paranoid rantings and now General Zinni’s interview on “60 Minutes,” I had the opportunity to talk with oft mentioned "neo-con" Dr. Daniel Pipes during his visit to LA this past week. Even though his speaking engagement in Westwood the night before was covered by both the LAPD and private security guards, Dr. Pipes agreed to disappear into the hidden gardens of Beverly Hills with just me and some dumb questions. It started off like a Chris Farley interview: CG: “What did your dad teach at Harvard?” Daniel Pipes: “Russian...

Who would think that a Polish immigrant of German extraction would be a jihadist? Whence comes the main danger to homeland security in North America and Western Europe? With the single exception of the Oklahoma City bombing of 1995, notes al-Qaida authority Rohan Gunaratna, all major terrorist attacks of the past decade in the West have been carried out by immigrants. A closer look finds that these were not just any immigrants but invariably from a specific background: of the 212 suspected and convicted terrorist perpetrators during 1993-2003, some 86% were Muslim immigrants and the remainder mainly converts to Islam....

Whence comes the main danger to homeland security in North America and Western Europe? With the single exception of the Oklahoma City bombing of 1995, notes Al-Qaeda authority Rohan Gunaratna, all major terrorist attacks of the past decade in the West have been carried out by immigrants. A closer look finds that these were not just any immigrants but invariably from a specific background: of the 212 suspected and convicted terrorist perpetrators during 1993-2003, 86 percent were Muslim immigrants and the remainder mainly converts to Islam.“In Western countries jihad has grown mainly via Muslim immigration,” concludes Robert S. Leiken, a...

The Western Mind of Radical Islam Daniel Pipes Copyright (c) 1995 First Things 58 (December 1995): 18-23. Fat'hi ash-Shiqaqi, a well-educated young Palestinian living in Damascus, recently boasted of his familiarity with European literature. He told an interviewer how he had read and enjoyed Shakespeare, Dostoyevsky, Chekhov, Sartre, and Eliot. He spoke of his particular passion for Sophocles' Oedipus Rex, a work he read ten times in English translation "and each time wept bitterly." Such acquaintance with world literature and such exquisite sensibility would not be of note except for two points-that Shiqaqi was, until his assassination in Malta...

Civilizational senility -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Daniel Pipes May. 11, 2004 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 'Europe becomes more and more a province of Islam, a colony of Islam." So declares Oriana Fallaci in her new book, La Forza della Ragione ("The Force of Reason"). And the famed Italian journalist is right: Christianity's ancient stronghold of Europe is rapidly giving way to Islam. Two factors mainly contribute to this world-shaking development: The hollowing out of Christianity. Europe is increasingly a post-Christian society, one with a diminishing connection to its tradition or its historic values. The number of believing, observant Christians has collapsed in the past two generations...

Muslim Europe by Daniel Pipes New York Sun May 11, 2004 "Europe becomes more and more a province of Islam, a colony of Islam." So declares Oriana Fallaci in her new book, La Forza della Ragione, or, "The Force of Reason." And the famed Italian journalist is right: Christianity's ancient stronghold of Europe is rapidly giving way to Islam. Two factors mainly contribute to this world-shaking development. The hollowing out of Christianity. Europe is increasingly a post-Christian society, one with a diminishing connection to its tradition and its historic values. The numbers of believing, observant Christians has collapsed in the...

Muslim Europe By Daniel Pipes FrontPageMagazine.com | May 11, 2004 “Europe becomes more and more a province of Islam, a colony of Islam.” So declares Oriana Fallaci in her new book, La Forza della Ragione (The Force of Reason). And the famed Italian journalist is right: Christianity’s ancient stronghold of Europe is rapidly giving way to Islam. Two factors mainly contribute to this world-shaking development. · The hollowing out of Christianity. Europe is increasingly a post-Christian society, one with a diminishing connection to its tradition or its historic values. The numbers of believing, observant Christians has collapsed in the past...

The battle of will now underway in Fallujah between Iraqis and Americans will, I expect, increase. Further, I predict Iraqis will prevail, and I do so on the basis of two presumptions: Iraqis don't want Americans to rule them; and Iraqis care much more about the future of their country than do Americans. For the sake of argument, let's assume my reasoning is correct, the American government abandons its goal of "a free and peaceful Iraq," and coalition forces prepare to leave Iraq on less-than-optimal terms. What would then be the least-bad outcome? Having the central government control the entire...

An Interview with Daniel PipesJerusalem Center for Public AffairsMay 2, 2004 Daniel Pipes has been researching Islam for the past three and a half decades. He directs the Middle East Forum - a Philadelphia think tank. Among his twelve books, four focus on Islam. In 2003, President Bush appointed him to the board of the U.S. Institute of Peace. Years before September 11, 2001, Pipes uttered warnings that militant Islam was a violent threat to American security. In 1998, he wrote in the European edition of the Wall Street Journal that militant Muslims were at war with America, not because...

When the American Islamic Forum for Democracy organized “A Rally against Terror” on April 25 in Phoenix, its head, an Arizona physician named Zuhdi Jasser, said his goal was to give Muslim moderates “an opportunity to speak out publicly.” And Jasser presented the rally as a robust response to the many criticisms that American Muslims had not produced a “groundswell of condemnation” against terrorism. In fact, he asserted, The killing of innocent people out of revenge, out of hate or out of retribution is against the absolute laws of Islam. Suicide is against the absolute laws of Islam. People...

Daniel Pipes has been researching Islam for the past three and a half decades. He directs the Middle East Forum - a Philadelphia think tank. Among his twelve books, four focus on Islam. In 2003, President Bush appointed him to the board of the U.S. Institute of Peace. Years before September 11, 2001, Pipes uttered warnings that militant Islam was a violent threat to American security. In 1998, he wrote in the European edition of the Wall Street Journal that militant Muslims were at war with America, not because of what America did, but because Islamists perceive themselves as being...

What should be the U.S. goal in Iraq? The American government is clear on this point: it is “a free and peaceful Iraq,” which it presents as critical to the stability of the Middle East, which in turn “is critical to the security of the American people.” A free and peaceful Iraq is one in the American image – democratic, liberal, capitalist, under the rule of law. While completely sympathetic to this vision – who could not be? – I worry both that Iraqis do not welcome U.S. guidance and that such an ambition ultimately is unrealistic. My thoughts on...

The current insurrection in Iraq was discernible a year ago, as I already noted in April 2003: ''Thousands of Iraqi Shiites chanted 'No to America, No to Saddam, Yes to Islam' a few days ago, during pilgrimage rites in the holy city of Karbala. Increasing numbers of Iraqis appear to agree with these sentiments. They have ominous implications for the coalition forces.'' The recent wave of violence makes those implications fully apparent. Two factors in particular made me expect Iraqi resistance. First, the quick war of 2003 focused on overturning a hated tyrant so that, when it was over, Iraqis...