Posted on 03/26/2006 9:54:25 AM PST by LurkedLongEnough
Knowing one's adversary, according to Sun Tzu, the author of "The Art of War," is a prerequisite for victory. Costly missteps in the war on terror, especially the invasion of Iraq, suggest that the Bush administration doesn't grasp al-Qaida's ideology.
As a result, the United States, though scoring short-term tactical victories against the jihadists, all too frequently furthers Osama bin Laden's long-term strategic aims.
A deeper understanding of al-Qaida's philosophy would help the United States gain the initiative in the war of ideas.
In the aftermath of Sept. 11, the Bush administration settled on a simple narrative to explain why a relatively small group of religious zealots hated America enough to kill nearly 3,000 innocent civilians.
According to the standard script, al-Qaida despises the West for its freedoms. There is some truth in this, but it is a caricature that conceals a more complex attitude.
Al-Qaida's ideology has an entirely different conception of freedom than the one that prevails in the West.
The jihadists, for instance, conceptualize human freedom as fidelity to God's will as laid down in the strict Islamic code known as Sharia.
Here most Americans will probably think of the punitive edicts requiring beards for men and burkas for women.
However, there is a deeper dimension within the idea of Sharia, namely, that true freedom involves surrendering to God's will.
Thus, living according to Sharia is thought to be the path to social justice, where no man lords over another, vast disparities in wealth are dissolved, and man lives in harmony with the natural world as its steward.
Concomitantly, many Muslims share a deep aversion to the practice of usury, economic injustices and the ecological degradations associated with capitalism.
Understanding the jihadists' view of social justice can help explain why they view Western society as an affront to God.
Jihadists are highly selective when quoting scripture to support their views, but they are undeniably adept at exploiting themes that resonate with Muslims, particularly regarding the causes of Islam's woes, which are seen to stem from the malicious intentions of external enemies (particularly the United States and Israel).
Defeating the enemies of Islam, as prophesied in the timeless tales of the Quran, so the thinking goes, will usher in a new Golden Age of Islam.
The evidence suggests that the vast majority of moderate Muslims do not subscribe to bin Laden's rigid fundamentalism or his eschatological vision.
Nevertheless, bin Laden has managed to strike a chord with a considerable portion of dispossessed Muslims, at least to the extent that he is seen as a defender of the faithful against a secular (and hence valueless and inhumane) West that is attempting to destroy Islam.
The notion that the West is perceived as an aggressor trying to destroy Islam will likely strike many Americans as misguided.
Nevertheless, many Muslims do feel their faith is under assault on a variety of fronts: physical, economic and cultural.
The carnage in Iraq, the fact that oil wealth benefits Saudi elites but not the Arab masses, and the gratuitous sex and violence in Western media fare are often cited as proof that the West suffers from a "hideous schizophrenia" (that it possesses fantastic technological powers but is spiritually and morally empty).
So long as the fundamentalists can convince ordinary Muslims that contact with Western secularism will corrode Islamic culture, they will continue to garner recruits for an ideology that enshrines violence.
Terrorism experts agree that it is essential to marginalize the jihadists. To this end, the international community needs to do a better job of convincing ordinary Muslims that the West represents values ordinary Muslims care deeply about.
Along these lines, a concerted effort to improve America's energy efficiency could help rehabilitate America's image as a poor steward of the world's natural resources.
Bin Laden has cited the Bush administration's rejection of the Kyoto accord as proof of America's ecological irresponsibility, thereby exploiting ecological concerns among Muslims.
Reforming America's energy habits also would encourage reform among the regimes that rely on petrodollars to maintain their autocratic rule, regimes the jihadist cite as inimical to Muslim interests.
Other factors that are likely to defuse sympathy for Islamic radicals are a resolution of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and a greater role for women in civic and economic life within the Muslim world.
Indeed, sociologists cite gender inequality as the single most important variable in predicting which societies succeed economically and which export violence.
Even if one gives the Bush administration the benefit of the doubt, that the invasion of Iraq could serve as a catalyst for engendering democratic and economic transformation within the Middle East, many Muslims have interpreted it as an act of aggression aimed at crushing Islam.
To this extent, invading Iraq has played into bin Laden's hands. Not surprisingly, any external imposition that is seen as being alien to Islam is likely to be resisted by the Muslim world.
Defusing terrorism, at least in part, means winning over the vast majority of moderate Muslims who recognize they have nothing to gain by casting their lot with apocalyptic fanatics.
The jihadists err when they claim that Islam will only revive its Golden Age when it extinguishes external influences; on the contrary, Islam flourished during its Golden Age (8th-9th centuries A.D.) precisely because it was an open society that assimilated the best the world had to offer.
To encourage greater openness in the Muslim world, America must return to being a beacon rather than a bully.
Funny thing though, islam respect bullies...but not beacons.
Do they respect bacons?
I know everything I need to know about the horror that is islam, after 9-11.
The key: they got the mind-bending working-at-the-carwash-blues.
Islam flourished during its Golden Age (8th-9th centuries A.D.) precisely because it was an open society that assimilated the best the world had to offer.
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This demonstrates the dangerously flawed thinking of appeasers and those who have swallowed the myth of the "Golden" age of Islam. Far from golden it was bloody.. Islamic hegemony was built on the crucified bodies of Christians who resisted and an oppression that still resonates in the nightmares of those whose ancestors survived it.
You can't win them over if you can't protect them from apocalyptic fanatics.
To encourage greater openness in the Muslim world, America must return to being a beacon rather than a bully.
"Openness"? You won't have openness unless you are prepared to protect the people who want openness. The primary victims of attack in Iraq are other muslims. A few Americans are killed, and these are the ones you hear about. Many, many Iraqis are killed, these are the main targets. Secretaries are machinegunned on their way home from work. Construction workers are beheaded. Kids playing in the street or boarding school buses are blown to bits.
Before our arrival, people were beheaded in police stations by men in uniform, on the state payroll. Now the head-choppers must hide out in the shadows. The moment we leave, they will shoot their way back into power, and reclaim their uniforms and salaries.
If we don't stand in the way, there is no other "beacon of hope".
I liked this one. This is the fault of the decadent West? In a land ruled by Wahabi rulers? It must be Bush's fault!
I resent this. If ANYONE needs to learn about the enemy it's Hollywood, Marxists and members of the Mainstream Media.
Absolutely marvelous........
These characters have yet to figure out "Red State" voters or their own sinking circulation figures, and they're instant Islamic scholars, military and geopolitical tacticians and diversity consultants all wrapped in bright pink ribbons.
At least they left Global Warming out of this tome. Must have left their pointy hats and magic wands in the closet.
Sorry that I just can't seem to capitalize such words.
Granted there is a monstrous gap between our society and theirs, but there is hope. It's just going to take a very long time.
Marx a Muslim? This crap is pure Socialism. All I wanted to know about Islam I learned on 9/11.
The reason that the Muslim religion is moderately successful is that there is no economic development in most of the Muslim countries, keep the people poor and instill in them that they will get their reward in the next life. 72 Virgins, want to buy a cheap bridge? For a religion that puts women as second class, a lot of credence is applied to virgins, strange.
When America was being a beacon Saddam was gassing the Kurds and the Taliban was destroying Afghanistan and plotting our destruction. We were are target more than a beacon. They Islamists have chosen to attack but now we have chosen the battle field. Good for us.
I was going along all right with the premise of the article until I got to the very end. Apparently it IS America's fault after all for not understanding our Islamic brethren. What hubris on the part of the writer. Does he really think that the current president - or any president, for that matter - isn't already surrounded by academics, thinkers, military historians, and specialists who attempt to understand the motives and the background of other people in the world? This writer is replaying the stereotype of "the ugly American," not thinking seriously about the issues of the day. This doesn't mean that we get it right 100 percent of the time - who does? The human condition implies imperfectability and unpredictability. However, to say that we just don't understand the basic outlines of the Islamic worldview seems inane. I noticed that the article doesn't provide substantiation for his viewpoint, either, just a vague, shared understanding that Americans are generally too naive and stupid for the rest of the world. Yawn.
So moderate Muslims can't control their own fanatics, and this guy says that before we can wage all out war on the fanatics, we have to prove ourselves to the moderate Muslims.
Sorry jack, you've got it backwards. The moderate Muslims need to clean up their own religion's mess and prove to us that we won't need to wipe all of them out.
I thank the author for compiling every self-delusional pacifist canard about Islam in one place.
You need to know yourself as well!
Hence the saying: If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.
Christians should read the New Testament and read the Koran.
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