Vilifying Islam

1. "Today Muslims and their religion are being increasingly and unfairly vilified......"
Interfaith Conference of Greater Milwaukee (1)

2. " Brace yourselves, because the war with Muslims has just begun....We are only Muslims trying to defend our religion, people, homes and land....we will keep on terrorizing you until you leave our lands and people at peace..The Quran gives us the right to defend. And that's all I'm doing."
Faisal Shahzad, at sentencing for rigging a car bomb in NY (2)

According to Shahzad it was his religion, embodied in the Quran, that spurred him to try to kill people in Times Square in May of this year. Moreover, he claimed that Muslims commit terror in defense of their religion, along with their " people, homes and land." But if Islam inspires people to commit barbaric acts against their fellow citizens (as well as others), then Islam deserves to be vilified, and the Interfaith Conference is wrong to say that it is "unfairly vilified." But is Shahzad right, and does he speak for Islam?

If Shahzad were nothing but a "deranged loner" (like most American assassins), we could dismiss his claims as the rant of a lunatic. But he is not a loner----he was trained for his mission at a jihadist camp in Pakistan. Moreover, since the bombing in Oklahoma City in 1995, every significant terrorist act and attempt in the US (September 11, Fort Hood, shoe-bomber, underwear bomber, etc.) was committed by a Muslim. In addition, all the major terror attacks in Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Mumbai, Madrid, London, Israel, Jordan and other countries were also perpetrated by groups of Muslims. Police investigating a series of crimes look for a common link; is there one here?

The nexus between Islam and world terrorism is too obvious to be ignored. Although the vast majority of Muslims have no connection to terrorism, most of those who do embrace terrorism today are motivated by Islam. But what about Islam, as opposed to Judaism, Christianity, Buddhism, and Hinduism, impels people to commit these crimes? Are not all religions intolerant of other faiths? Why not Buddhist terror?

Islam teaches that all people should be Muslims, and those who reject Islam should be subservient (dhimmi) to Muslims. The struggle between Islam and the forces opposed to the faith is called jihad, and every Muslim is obligated to participate in jihad until the final victory of Islam over all other ideologies. These principles are not iconoclastic, or held by only one sect or group, but are at the very core of Islam itself, as expressed in the Quran and the hadiths (apocrypha). The idea that Western Civilization is inherently the enemy of Islam was taught by Sayid Qutb, the founder of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, which inspired both Hamas and Osama bin Laden.

The United States is deeply involved in conflicts in the Muslim world: the Middle East, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, in particular. Although we are allied with moderate Muslim leaders in each country, the most vehement Islamicists are always our enemies. Therefore, we, along with the European democracies, are faced with the twin threats of external terrorism and violence perpetrated by Muslims within our own countries who sympathize with our enemies.

We must tread a fine line between legitimate defense against terrorism and religious discrimination. I do not agree with those who would have us adopt Saudi limitations on religious freedom, but apply them to Muslims; we must adhere to our own principles of religious freedom and equal protection of the laws. We have prevailed over the threats of secession, Fascism and Communism without abandoning these principles, and we will prevail against Islamic terrorism as well.

At the same time, we must draw a clear line between denouncing Islam for its triumphalism and intolerance (which is not bigotry) and denouncing certain people who happen to be Muslims (which is). There are plenty of good Muslims, and they deserve all the rights of American citizens, but there is no good Islam.

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(1) Quoted in the Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle, October, 2010, page 4.

(2) Associated Press, October 6, 2010.

Four Myths About Terrorists

Much of what the Mainstream Media say about terrorists is wrong, according to a new scientific study of more than 500 Islamic terrorists by former CIA psychiatrist Marc Sageman, published in a new book entitled "Leaderless Jihad: Terror Networks in the Twenty-First Century." (1)

The book explodes four common myths about Islamic terrorists. Most of Dr Sageman's findings also apply to Marxist American terrorists as well, even though only Muslims were studied for this book.

Myth 1: Terrorists are driven by poverty.
Fact: Most terrorists are middle-class, with more upper-class than poor people. This is also true of American Marxist terrorists, such as the Weather Underground of the early 1970's. For example, Bill Ayers was the son of a utility executive, and his wife Bernardine Dohrn (Whitefish Bay HS, 1959) was the daughter of the credit manager of a Milwaukee appliance store.

Myth 2: Terrorists are crazy.
Fact: Prior to involvement in terror, very few had previously exhibited any signs of mental illness or been treated for it. In fact, according to Sageman, terrorists are in better mental health than the rest of the population of their home countries.
Among American terrorists (not included in the study), only Unabomber Ted Kaczinski showed clear signs of mental illness before he started mailing bombs.

Myth 3: Terrorists lack secular education.
Fact: Nearly two-thirds of Islamic terrorists attended a university, far more than the ten percent in their home countries with any post-high school education.
Among American terrorists, Ayers was a graduate of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, Dohrn earned bachelor's and law degrees at the University of Chicago, and Kaczinski earned a PhD in mathematics at the University of Michigan. Only about half of American high school graduates go to college at all, but the most violent radicals went to the best universities in the nation. On the other hand, Timothy McVeigh did not attend college.

Myth 4: Islamic terrorists are religious fanatics.
Fact: In Sageman's sample, only about a fourth were deeply religious when young, while nearly two-thirds were secular. Many did not even read the Quran until they were in prison, and most knew little about Islam.

Then, why do some young Muslim men become terrorists, while most do not?

Sageman found that about 80% of the Islamic terrorists in his sample were either immigrants to the West from Muslim countries, or sons or grandsons of immigrants. Many harbored a deep sense of grievance against their adoptive countries or Western Civilization. They found a common ground of grievance with other young Muslims in their communities . Often they were drawn into terrorist cells by friends or relatives who were already members.

Discussions among members of these small groups tended to reinforce and confirm the outrage that they felt against those regarded as the enemies of Islam. As the consensus of a group tended to drift in a more militant direction, those who were turned-off by militancy dropped out, leaving the hard-core members in charge. Those angry enough to take action then heard only the voices of those who felt the same way.

Although large numbers of Muslims live in the United States, as well as Western Europe, native Islamic terrorism has been a much greater problem in England, France, and Spain than here. (2) According to Sageman, the difference is that in the US the Muslims are just another minority group, along with blacks, Hispanics, Jews, etc. Muslims are accepted into American society and its economy much more than in Europe, where they are conspicuous as the main "outsider" group and experience substantial discrimination. The homogeneity of the non-Muslim population in many European countries is major factor in the perception of exclusion by the Muslims.

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(1) University of Pennsylvania Press, as reviewed in The New Republic, October 22, 2008.

(2) None of the September 11, 2001, hijackers were US residents, nor were any of those who bombed the World Trade Center in 1993. All of them entered this country from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, and the United Arab Emirates.

"Obsession" Obsession

"American voters deserve to know whether they are targets of a multi-million dollar campaign funded and directed by a foreign group seeking to whip up anti-Muslim hysteria as a way to influence the outcome of our presidential election."
Nihad Awad, Executive Director of Council on American-Islamic Relations (1),
referring to the DVD "Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West"

By now you have probably received the Obsession DVD with your Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (or other newspaper). If you have not already viewed it, I suggest that you do, if only to understand the controversy over its creation and distribution.

The DVD is full of scenes of terrorism and violence, interspersed with snippets of Islamic radicals preaching hate against Israel, the United States and western civilization. Included are comments by talking heads such as Daniel Pipes, former PLO terrorist Walid Shoebat, and Nonie Darwish, whose father committed terrorist acts against Israel on behalf of Egypt nearly 50 years ago. Although the film is strident and repetitive, it effectively conveys the message that "Radical Islam" (but not all Islam) is at war with the West, and most of the terrorism we see today is due to incitement by radical Islamic clergy.

The DVD was distributed by the Clarion Fund, Suite 800, 255 W 36th Street, New York, New York. About 28 million copies have been sent out. Gregory Ross, a spokesman for the Clarion Fund,who previously raised money for Aish HaTorah (Fire of Torah), refused to identify the leaders or funding sources of the Fund. However, the address of Clarion is the same as that of Aish Hatorah International and HonestReporting, which produced Obsession. However, a spokesman for Aish HaTorah denied any connection with Clarion or the DVD.

It is fairly obvious that the Clarion Fund is a front for Aish HaTorah, a tax-exempt charity. If Aish HaTorah could be proved to have engaged in political activity, it could lose its tax-exempt status. However, the more cogent question is, " Is Obsession intended to affect voting in the November election?"

First, I would note that Obsession does not mention of American political parties or candidates, and does not suggest voting for against anyone. The dates on the film clips indicate that the film is at least two years old, and most of it substantially older. Although there are several photos of President George W Bush, there is no mention at all of Barack Obama or John McCain.

But does the message of Obsession subliminally affect the viewer? The DVD obviously engenders hostility toward the Islamic extremists, but does not that translate into a preference for a more "hardline" candidate (i.e. McCain) over one perceived to be less aggressive toward the enemies of America (i.e. Obama)?

This question could be answered definitively by setting up a number of focus groups, half of which would view Obsession before answering a political questionnaire. If the funders of the Clarion group did so, or concluded on their own that Obsession would make viewers more likely to vote Republican, then the suspicion voiced by Mr Awad in the quote above is justified.

One factor that must be considered is that Barack Obama's father was of Muslim ancestry (though the senior Obama did not practice any religion), as was his Indonesian stepfather. Raised in Indonesia for several years, Barack Obama is no doubt more knowledgeable about Islam than any other major party candidate, now or ever before. However, he accepted Christianity over twenty years ago (unfortunately, in Jeremiah Wright's church). He never changed his Arabic middle name, Hussein, which he shares with the late Sadam and the late King of Jordan. McCain, on the other hand, has no connection to Islam at all.

Unsophisticated voters may be swayed by Obsession into voting against Obama because of his very tenuous connection to the religion of his paternal grandparents or other relatives, but I suspect that most of these voters would not have voted for the Illinois senator anyways. In his campaign appearances, including the September 26 debate, Obama has taken just as hard a line against Al Qaida and the Taliban as McCain, resolving to kill or capture Osama Bin Laden even if it means violating Pakistani sovereignty. His positions on Iraq and Iran are distinctly less belligerent than McCain's, but Islamic radicalism is not really the issue in either case. (2)

I am glad that Obsession was distributed here in Wisconsin, because I want my fellow residents to be aware of the dangers of militant Islam today, especially in the Middle East. However, the latest poll does not indicate that the DVD has effectively shifted Wisconsin voters toward McCain; if the distributors expected it to have that effect, they wasted their money. In the midst of the current credit crisis, I do not believe that attitudes toward Islam will have an appreciable impact on the coming presidential election.
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(1) "Jewish group denies link to DVD" by Meg Laughlin, St Petersburg Times, in Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Sept. 27, 2008, page 10A.

(2) Ironically, the invasion of Iraq, which Obama consistently opposed, strengthened the relative power of Iran in the Middle East, since Sadam's Iraq was a Sunni counterweight to Shiite Iran. Obama wants to negotiate with Iran over its enrichment of uranium, but McCain would not. Neither candidate advocates bombing Iran, as that would endanger US troops in Iraq and spark a painful spike in world oil prices.

Why We Were Attacked on Sept. 11

Charlie Gibson of ABC news interviewed Republican Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin, and asked her this question: "We talk on the anniversary of 9/11. Why do you think those hijackers attacked? Why did they want to hurt us?"

The Alaska Governor responded, "You know, there is a very small percentage of Islamic believers who are extreme and they are violent, and they do not believe American ideals, and they attacked us......they see that the only option for them is to become a suicide bomber, to get caught up in this evil, this terror....."

Although Gov. Palin correctly noted that the hijackers were suicidal Islamic terrorists, she failed to identify the particular motivation for attacking the United States, rather than other countries. Neither Gibson nor Palin addressed the specific targets: The World Trade Center and the Pentagon. (The hijacked plane that crashed in Pennsylvania was probably intended for the US Capitol.)

Shortly after the attacks, President George W Bush opined that the terrorists hated our freedom. Maybe they did, but neither Bush nor Palin grasped the real motive for the crime.

From the perspective of Al Qaida Al-Jihad (The Base for Holy War), Islam is locked in an epic struggle against the forces of Christianity, Judaism and other non-Muslim ideologies. Al Qaida seeks the triumph of Islam over these forces through jihad. Although the ultimate goal is the victory of Islam in the entire world, jihadis are most determined to first rid the Arabian Peninsula of all non-Islamic power: Christian and Jewish. The idea of a sovereign Jewish state of any size whatsoever in the Gate of Islam (Dar-al-Islam), especially in Jerusalem (al-Quds), is particularly abhorrent.

Although the United States is barred by its Constitution from establishing a religion, the Islamic fanatics consider the US a Christian nation, and its soldiers are often characterized as Crusaders. The presence of these soldiers in Saudi Arabia (1) and Iraq, together with US support for Israel and non-Islamic Arab regimes in the Middle East are an affront to Islam. For these reasons, Sheik Osama bin Laden issued a fatwa (religious decree or psak) calling on all Muslims to attack Americans. After Bin Laden and his followers moved into Afghanistan in the 1990's, the US directed airstrikes at Al Qaida training camps in that country in co-ordination with the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance.

Just as the Pentagon is the center of American military power, the World Trade Center was a symbol of American financial power. Located in New York, the office complex also served as an icon for Jewish financial power within the United States economy. Another group of jihadists tried to blow it up in 1993. It remained an inviting target in 2001.

No, the Al Qaida terrorists did not "give a fig" about American freedom or democracy; many countries are just as free (take Sweden, for example), but do nothing to thwart the establishment of Islamic hegemony in the Middle East, and are not targets of Islamic terror.

We cannot effectively resist Islamic terror until we first understand that it is directed against our power, not our freedom.
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(1) In 2001 there were US armed forces based in Saudi Arabia, but they were withdrawn in 2003 after Sadam Hussein was deposed.

What Bush Should Tell Abbas

Hon. Mahmoud Abbas, President
Palestinian Authority
Ramallah

Mr. President:

I was distressed to learn that you have ordered three days of mourning for George Habash, founder and leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). You have referred to him as an "historic leader", but to Americans he was a terrorist and murderer.

As an official of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), I trust you were fully aware of this man's criminal activities while PFLP was a major component of PLO, but in case you have forgotten them, here is a brief refresher:

1. In late August of 1970 PFLP hijacked four airliners to Jordan and threatened to kill the passengers and crew if Israel did not immediately release certain prisoners. Although the hostages were not killed, they and their families endured days of wrenching anguish while they were held at gun-point. The apparent approval of this tactic by PLO, which continued to welcome PFLP participation, signaled that hijacking aircraft and endangering innocent people were legitimate tools in the struggle for Palestinian rights.
On September 11, 2001, operatives of Al-Qaeda carried this tactic to its logical conclusion by crashing four hijacked American airliners and killing nearly three thousand of my fellow citizens.

2. In May, 1972, PFLP murdered 27 travellers at the Lod Airport.

3. In late June of 1976 PFLP hijacked an Air France airliner to Entebbe, Uganda, where an American Jewish woman was murdered in her hospital bed after Israeli soldiers rescued all other hostages.

Since you have never been accused of personal involvement in terrorist acts, I believed your assurances that you were opposed to terrorism. If so, the death of Dr Habash afforded an appropriate opportunity to remind your people that threatening the lives of travellers was not only deleterious to the prospects of peace, but also morally repugnant. The fact that you have chosen to honor the memory of man who planned and authorized these crimes indicates that you find it necessary to curry the favor of terrorists (and those who support terrorism) among the Palestinian people. This calls into question your resolve to prevent and punish acts of terrorism against Israel after the establishment of a Palestinian State.

As the leader of a nation that has been seriously hurt by terrorism, I cannot tolerate any ambivalence whatsoever on the moral evil of this tactic. Accordingly, I have today signed an Executive Order barring the transfer of weapons made in the United States to Fatah or the Palestinian Authority until further notice. I have also urged the Government of Israel to adopt the same policy.

Yours truly,
/s/
George W Bush
President

Powering Hamas

"Attorney General Mazuz said the plan to reduce power to Gaza needed further scrutiny because of the possible impact on the population."
Reuters, Oct. 29, 2007

President George W Bush last week accused Iran of assisting terrorism by supplying Hamas and Hezbullah, known terrorist organizations. But Hamas gets its electricity and fuel, not from Iran, but from Israel! Without these sources of power, Hamas could not function as a terrorist group. By that token, Israel could be justly accused of facilitating terrorism against itself by supplying energy to Gaza, the base of Hamas.

Although nominally part of the Palestine Authority, Gaza has been effectively dominated by Hamas, the Islamic Resistance Organization, since June of 2007. Unlike Fatah, Hamas openly vows to destroy Israel. Moreover, rockets are fired from northern Gaza into Israel every day, causing terror, damage, injuries, and even death. Each rocket attack is an act of war. Although Hamas soldiers are not firing these rockets, Hamas does nothing to stop those who do.

The government of any territory is responsible for attacks launched from its land, so Hamas bears full responsibility for the rocket attacks, no matter what group actually fires them. Although Israel has periodically bombed launching sites and conducted military operations in northern Gaza to kill or capture the attackers, until now the Jewish State has continued to supply fuel and electricity to Gaza. It is hard to recall any other country that has continued to supply an entity with which it is at war.

The European Union (EU) has warned Israel against imposing "collective punishment" on Gazans (Reuters). The trouble is that collective punishment is the only kind of response that has any chance of pressuring Hamas to halt the rockets. What would any EU country do if it were assaulted by rockets across its border?

Life in Gaza is pretty miserable, and lack of electricity will make it a lot more miserable. But if the people are miserable enough, they just may convince their leaders to keep the peace with Israel. If the Government of Israel is serious about pacifying the Gaza border, it should cut off all electricity and fuel until the attacks stop for good.

Hamas: Zeal for Death

By time you read this, Hamas will have seized power in Gaza. The collapse of the Palestinian Authority (PA) predicted in the Feb. 4, 2007, Glazerbeam ("State of Chaos") is happening right now. It is possible that Hamas will sever Gaza from the West Bank, where Fatah and President Mahmoud Abbas still hold sway. Entities that are not geographically contiguous often split in this way. (1)

Hamas, which means "zeal" in Arabic, is the Arabic acronym of the Islamic Resistance Movement. Over the past 20 years the group has become well known for its tactic of suicide bombings, designed to maximize civilian casualties among Israelis. In January, 2006, Hamas won control of the Palestinian parliament, and subsequently formed a coalition government with President Abbas. The coalition fractured over control of the numerous security forces of the PA, and it now appears that Hamas militias are winning in Gaza.

But how did Hamas become so enamoured of martyrdom and killing? The story begins in Egypt back in 1928 when the Muslim Brotherhood was founded in Cairo by teacher Hassan al-Banna. (2) At that time Egypt was ruled officially by King Ahmed Fuad, but in reality the country was occupied and dominated by Great Britain. Al-Banna sought to fuse Islam with Arab nationalism in a movement that would eliminate foreign influence l and establish a true Arab Muslim nation. The Brotherhood, certain of the righteousness of its cause, engaged in assassination as well as political agitation to attain its goal. The Muslim Brotherhood established militant Islam as a serious political force In Egypt; from there the ideology spread to the Palestine Mandate as well as to Syria, Iran and India (which then included what is now Pakistan).

Al-Banna stressed the importance of death as a goal of jihad (holy war). He said, "The Quran has commanded people to love death more than life...Victory can only come with the mastery of the art of death (fann al-mawt)." (3)

The government of King Farouk (who succeeded his father King Fuad in 1936) tried to suppress the Brotherhood; in 1949 Hassan Al-Banna was murdered by the King's agents.

The suppression was not successful, and shortly after the death of Al-Banna a Muslim poet and intellectual named Sayyid Qutb joined the revolutionary movement. Qutb was influenced by Western Romantic poetry, which also glorified death. (Many 19th Century American Romantic poets, such as Edgar Allan Poe, were also obsessed with death, tombs, and the like.) Qutb soon became the ideological guide of the Muslim Brotherhood, and his writings inspired Arabs and other Muslims to be willing to die as well as kill for the victory of Islam in this world.

In 1952 the Egyptian Free Officers Movement, led by Col. Gamal Abdel Nasser, overthrew the Farouk monarchy. Although Nasser was a militant Arab nationalist himself, he regarded the Muslim Brotherhood as a threat to his regime and also attempted to suppress the movement. Leaders of the Brotherhood, including Sayyid Qutb, were thrown into prison and charged with plotting revolution. In 1966 Qutb attained martyrdom at the end of a rope in a Cairo prison.

Meanwhile the Palestinian branch of the Brotherhood was establishing a network of mosques, schools, and social service agencies. The group was particularly active in Gaza, which was under Egyptian administration from 1948 until the Israeli conquest in June, 1967. While Yasser Arafat was busy hijacking planes and plotting the destruction of Israel from Jordan, Lebanon and Tunis, the Gaza affiliate of the Muslim Brotherhood, now known as Hamas, was winning over the allegiance of the Palestinian population, first in Gaza, then also in the West Bank. Unlike Arafat, who adopted a facade of benevolence before Western leaders, Hamas did not court them. While Arafat welcomed Christian Arabs into the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), Hamas stood for nothing but Islam. While Arafat partied at the White House, Hamas recruited bombers.

While Arafat lived, Hamas accepted him as the iconic Palestinian leader. But after his death in 2004, the group challenged his successor Mahmoud Abbas (aka Abu Mazen), who had never been a terrorist himself. Hamas won with ballots in 2006, and now it looks like the group may also win with bullets.

On one hand, a Hamas take-over of the PA may mean that Israel will face continuous rocket attacks and terrorism for the foreseeable future. On the other hand, US (and other) international pressure for Israel to withdraw from the West Bank and make other concessions as part of a "peace process" will probably fade away in the face of Hamas' intractable hostility.Do not look for any Hamas leaders shaking hands with Ehud Olmert on the White House lawn any time soon.
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(1) For example, East Pakistan rebelled in 1971 and became Bangla Desh. Efforts to merge Egypt and Syria into a United Arab Republic also failed because Israel was between them.

(2)"Who's Afraid of Tariq Ramadan?" by Paul Berman in the June 4, 2007, New Republic.

(3"The Society of the Muslim Brotherhood" by Richard P Mitchell. The quotation is a paraphrase of several statements by Al-Banna.