The End Of Islamist Terrorism?

This is a video interview with Yigal , who is the president and founder of the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), an organization which monitors and translates Arabic and Persian publications, radio and TV broadcasts and religious sermons into many languages and circulates them over the Internet. He was a Colonel with the IDF Intelligence from 1968–88.

His suggestion is that the word is getting out around the Middle East that Osama Bin Laden did not die the glorious death of a Martyr that he preached and this is making him look like a coward and a hypocrite. Given his status as an inspirational figure and a symbol, this could have a serious long term destructive affect on the Jihadi movement. He also thinks that the "Arab Spring" will result in young Arabs seeing an option other than Jihadism in the long run. The combination of these two factors led to the title. Check out the video, it is well worth watching.

"I heard Christiana Amapour last night saying the young people in Arab countries are not radicalized and want change without terrorism."

I have heard many Jihadi experts make the claim that young Arabs have been attracted to Jihadism as the only perceived alternative to authoritarian Arab Socialism. I have also read a lot of accounts about how the young educated Arabs in the 19th Century were attracted to the ideals expressed in the U.S. Declaration of Independence. This did not set well with the traditionalists. The trend seemed to be moving in our direction until the rise of socialism. In the early 20th Century young western educated Arabs started to turn to Jihadism. I think that this was the result of an ideological vacuum, which was left when we stopped believing in and promoting the ideals behind the American founding.

Now, for various reasons, Jihadism is being discredited in the eyes of a lot of Arab young people. It looks like the Jihadis have the money and the organization, but have not won over the masses. The proponents of democracy in the Arab world are unorganized and under funded, but they do have an opportunity now to seize the moment.

The person who seems to have the most expertise on Jihadism is Dr. Walid Phares, who is originally from Lebanon. He wrote a book on the changes now taking place entitled: "The Coming Revolution: Struggle for Freedom in the Middle East” The site can be accessed here: http://thecomingrevolution.net/wp/

Nice post, and I agree.

There is essentially a power struggle underway in the Islamic world. On the one hand, the jihadists. On the other, the reformists. As always, the majority are waiting to see which way the wind blows.

After the failure of “Arab Socialism”, ie, Nasser, Saddam Hussein, et al, there was a huge ideological vacuum in the MidEast. The Salafists, with their call to purity as it were, appealed to many young people, and of course, many took up arms.

Earlier in the 20th Century, America was widely admired in most of the MidEast; not everywhere, mind you but the majority of Arabs thought we were decent enough folks. As you pointed out, we stopped believing in, and promoting, the American ideals. We became cynical power players in their eyes.

On the other hand, Salafism is starting to be discredited. Turkish Imams are starting to preach the line that the Salafists are MINO’s (Muslims In Name Only). Of course, they do so in a diplomatic manner, so as to not cause offense (or get killed, presumably). Even though he’s a little wacky, watch a gentleman called Harun Yahya sometime; he looks kind of like Robert DeNiro, of all things, and he’s got some serious babes (unheadscarved !!) on his daily program. It’s on the web. He consistently preaches that it’s what you believe in your heart, not how you dress, that God wants you to love one another, including Jews and Christians, and that terrorism is wrong. Before people start screaming “Taqqiya !”, bear in mind this show is aimed at a Muslim audience. Oh, and he’s got some wacky conspiricy theories about “Atheist Freemasons” and the like. And he’s a big-time creationist (that might turn some people off). He also endorses building the Temple in Jerusalem.

I point this out in regard to my concept....there’s an ideological civil war going on within the Islamic religion. Sadly, we’ve been caught in the middle of this, owing to our resource dependency. You made a good point about 19th and early 20th Century Arabs being attracted to the ideals expressed in the U.S. Declaration of Independence, as well as our Constitution. And as you also said, this didn’t set at all well with traditionalists.

Proponents of representative or parliamentary democracy have a genuine window of opportunity, and it won’t be open for long; they must seize it while they can. Salafism is a dying force, ideologically, but that’s not to say they can’t make a big mess of things before they go out for good. If there are any would-be Thomas Jeffersons, George Washingtons, Alexander Hamiltons, or Benjamin Franklins out there in Cairo, Damascus, Tehran, Kabul, you’d better get up off your keesters, my friends. The future is yours to lose, so strike while the iron is hot.

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