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July 06, 2008 The Struggle for CivilizationBy Jack LottSeven years is a long time for the American public but a short time for the enemy. We need to explore the reality of the current conflict before the phrase "9/11" slips from our memory, like "Pearl Harbor," becoming something kids Googleâ for a school assignment in history. This war includes a major propaganda battle, which we are on the way to losing. Americans have trouble with ambiguity and complexity in public issues and an inherent skepticism of government statements. They have little interest in things foreign, especially if discussion requires some knowledge of another language. The domestic political wrangling over Iraq illustrates how far the public and much of the government and media elites are from understanding the real war. The enemy in a slogan war is a condition, not an organization, so it cannot be defeated in the military sense. Warfare is the wrong metaphor for the sustained effort it takes to reduce recreational drug use, redistribute wealth or protect civilians from intentional combat injury. The confusion surrounding "The War on Terror" exists because the phrase was painted over a real war initiated by real enemies with real objectives. It took the 9/11 attacks to get America's fleeting attention to the real decades-old conflict within Islam. America has paid scant attention to terrorists killing modern people in Bali, England, and Spain, and even less attention to them killing developing people in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Turkey, and Yemen, where control of these people is the enemy's objective. To regain the initiative we've lost, we need to make this war real in the public arena by looking at the complex makeup of the enemies and the simplicity of their objectives. The conflict will not go away because we have tired of talking about it. There are three things to understand before we get into the reasons for the 9/11 attacks. First, in spite of the confusion and conflict over the term "War on Terror," our enemies started their War Against Civilization, in the 18th century, not the 21st century. It doesn't help our understanding that this war against civilization is so outside of our modern sensibilities. To make sense of it, we have to consider the enemies' world as "inside the looking glass" -- as puzzling to us as the Red Queen was to Lewis Carroll's Alice. Second, the enemy is not the religion of Islam, but certain Muslims, like the team of Usama bin Laden and Mullah Omar of the Taliban, who follow the uncommon Wahhabi interpretation of Hanbali Islamic law. Laurent Murawiec's definition, from his book Princes of Darkness, is succinct and clear:
Thanks to Saudi money, Muslim disdain is fast becoming no longer the case. The danger of cartooning the war in religious terms, such as calling the fighters jihadi (transliterated Arabic -- one who strives in the path of God), is that Al Qaeda gains undeserved status among Muslims because of our misuse of their language. Professor Douglas Streusand of the Marine Corps Command and Staff College addresses this problem by terming the terrorists hirabi (transliterated Arabic -- sinful warrior), in place of jihadi, which has positive connotations for most Muslims. Streusand also suggests that we use the Arabic word for terrorist (irhabi) when discussing those who attack civilians for political purposes. The poor choice of words, in Arabic or English, has more than a negative impact on our propaganda. It enhances the enemy view of us as easy prey -- not the formidable foe we have been to past totalitarians -- because it underscores the perception of us as ignorant of them. Al Qaeda wants to resurrect the Caliphate (the office of the successor to the Prophet, ended by the Republic of Turkey in 1924). They want control of the 57 nations that make up the Organization of the Islamic Conference as a step to conquering the world. The Caliphate is the leadership of the "Ghost Country" that we are fighting; the term Ghost Country avoids getting sidetracked into discussion of Muslim religious politics. It is an accurate way to characterize the source of the Shadow Army, Al Qaeda, who initiated this war. The Wahhabi camp within the twenty-thousand-member Saud family wants to reconstitute Islam, as it existed before 632, the year Muhammad died. They spent 140 years conquering most of Arabia and imposing their morality on it. The advent of effortless oil revenue in the 1930's gave them the aura of power and exponential growth. Some of the family is attracted to the modern world, and has less zeal for the imposition of Wahhabi practices within Islam. But the Wahhabi supporters still characterize the family and fund a significant missionary effort. Al Qaeda feeds off this missionary effort. The Wahhabi Sauds are smart enough not to correct the Western misperception that Al Qaeda is the sole Muslim enemy of modern civilization. They want to continue quietly building a Muslim resistance to modern life without aggravating us to the point of open conflict. The Al Qaeda camp is less patient than the Saud camp, and has different motives. They are not interested in promoting the Saud-Wahhab alliance as the path to Muslim virtue and power, but would supplant the Saud family as the leadership of the effort to restore a resurrected political Islam to world power. Western reaction to the 9/11attacks has masked this internal Arab struggle, amounting to a civil war for the leadership and allegiance of Muslims demoralized by modern life, into which we have been dragged because of our relationship with the Sauds and other traditional rulers. Third, globalization is the setting for this war. The political world closed in 1959, when the last open land, Antarctica, was internationalized by treaty. Since then, a modern commercial civilization has ringed the world creating an attractive donut of prosperity surrounding a hole of scarcity. Thomas P.M. Barnett, describes this world in The Pentagon's New Map, calling civilization the "Core" states, and the states in need, the "Gap," which stretches from Afghanistan, through Africa to Central and northern South America in the West, and through Indonesia to New Guinea and the Solomon Islands in the East. General Zinni, in The Battle for Peace, terms the African-Asian portion of this Gap the "Arc of Instability." The Ghost Country's Shadow Army is based there. With that background to focus our vision we can now peer into the looking glass to see the six reasons the Ghost Country attacked us on 9/11. Reason One. The Ghost Country warriors practice the old saying: "The friend of my enemy is my enemy." The United States is the friend, and modern Muslims are the Al Qaeda enemy we befriend. The Ghost Country traditionalists have a daunting strategic task. They have to win more than 57 campaigns just to end the beginning of the war against civilization. Nonetheless, they have been pursuing a "Near Enemy" strategy of fighting as many campaigns in the Gap as they could within their limited resources. The growing dominance of Al Qaeda leadership within global terrorism has promoted pursuit of a "Far Enemy" strategy. Al Qaeda assumes that none of the target Muslim countries has the strength to stand on its own, and offers an attractive alternative to the Near Enemy approach; attack America at home and it will withdraw globally, as it did when attacked locally, from Lebanon in 1983 and Somalia in 1993. Moderate Muslims will then fall under Shadow Army control as the emerging Ghost Country takes shape. Reason Two. We ignored the earlier attacks on the World Trade Center (1993), Khobar Towers in the Kingdom (1996), east African embassies (1998) and the USS Cole in Yemen (2000). These attacks failed to hold our attention and did not change our ways. At the risk of seeming callous, it is clear that the enemy values the symbolic damage from terror as more important than the substantive damage of any attack. Terror is the tool of the weak to communicate with us in the absence of formal paths of negotiation, which are closed to most terrorist organizations because they are covert and illegal in the countries they want to influence. In a media-rich modern world, the "Most Law" applies: on most issues, most of the time most people -- don't care. The media definition of spectacular has to grow as the audience appreciation of the last event fades. The media and the enemy understand this law, which fuels their symbiotic relationship. The terrorists provide the riveting imagery that the media outlets need to compete for the attention of a jaded audience. Reason Three. Al Qaeda wanted to advertise their ability to counter the pressures on Muslims to modernize their cultures that is inherent in globalization. The enemy leadership has two audiences. The modern public in the Core countries is one; the Muslim male teenage public in the Gap countries is the other. These boys are underemployed, looking for a commitment that will improve their lot, and prone to blaming some "other" for their plight. Al Qaeda's "Far Enemy" strategy feeds on these characteristics to provide the Shadow Army with the cannon fodder it needs to take on Muslim governments who are adept at survival, however ineffective they may be in serving their citizens. The argument is: what we, Al Qaeda, did in America, you young men can do in Muslim countries to rid yourselves of the evils of prosperity, including immoral entertainment and competition from unrestrained women. Just join us and we will make your world better, In'ch Allah (Arabic "God Willing"), the passive mindset of most of this audience. Reason Four. Al Qaeda's first attack on the World Trade Center failed and they needed to regain prestige with their peers in the world of terror. The Most Law leads the media to exaggerate any incident to maintain interest in the episodic nature of Ghost Country terror. Our interest quickly faded after 26 February 1993, when the images of the truck bomb attack were seen as no big deal. The low speed car chase of murder suspect and celebrity icon O. J. Simpson in 1994 drew more attention. Not so in the Shadow Army leadership, who are constantly jockeying for power, and for whom charisma is the dominant leader characteristic. The truck bomb failure brought questioning of Al Qaeda's capability, if not the overall strategy. Survival of Al Qaeda in Ghost Country leadership required a more daring attack to reach the objective of American withdrawal from the Gap and incidentally, to maintain the strategic initiative in Al Qaeda's hands. Reason Five. Al Qaeda and their allies don't have the direct power to conquer significant Muslim countries on their own. Modern Muslims, often religious moderates, are their enemy. The Ghost Country warriors reached out to attack us at home in an attempt to overcome the inherent weaknesses they bring to the battlefield. They must contend for support in the face of significant losses in obscure campaigns that get little notice in the Core states. While the American media focused on Afghanistan and Iraq, the Ghost Country suffered a defeat in Algeria. Frustrated when their election win was abrogated by the government in 1991, the Ghost Country party, the Armed Islamic Group, began a vicious civil war, escalating their terror campaign to an insurgency that they lost on the battlefield, a loss they acknowledged in 2000, while resuming a low level of terror. The lesson from this campaign was that the national government won without much aid from the former colonial power, France or from the "Great Satan" America. The 9/11 Attack served to distract further the modern world from the problem-solving, promising strategy of closing the Gap. That strategy means overcoming the serious resistance of traditionalists through providing the benefits of modern civilization to the young, who, despite enemy propaganda, find our world attractive. Modern societies are more adept at nation building through a host of nongovernmental organizations, than our traditionalist enemies can ever be. Taliban Afghanistan is about the best that they can do. Reason Six. The enemy is certain that they are right and we are wrong, just as we assert the opposite, reflecting the mutual ignorance between innovators and traditionalists. It is ironic that civilized Americans and the Ghost Country warriors share a trait that explains why "The War on Terror" is so difficult to prosecute and has been so divisive throughout the modern world. Both sides think that everything that goes wrong in their societies (however different those societies are) is their own fault. The two sides differ only in what that fault is. The modern American attitude is demonstrated by the reaction to Hurricane Katrina damage. Americans castigated the governments involved for poor performance, in spite of the fact that the damage was the most widespread of any storm on the Gulf Coast -- ever. We believe that even natural disasters have to be somebody's fault, and that our society should be minimally affected by any disaster, no matter how severe the incident. The Ghost Country warrior attitude is demonstrated by the Arab recriminations after their loss in the '67 Arab-Israeli war, an attitude that continues to make the appeal of the Wahhabi message attractive. The attitude is that it was not Arab military incompetence that lost the war; it was the backsliding of the nominal Muslims in Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, and Syria from their religion. The argument goes: If only they had been more devout, then they would have prevailed. Regardless of our modern sensibilities, traditionalists, even as adamant as those in the Ghost Country, are not crazy. They may be as unrealistic in their goals as Americans are in their expectations, but they are rational. We need to remember that whenever they gain a tactical surprise like 9/11. Recall that our last world war began with a tactical surprise, Pearl Harbor. The enemies then are allies now, in part because our policy of unconditional surrender forced the zealots in both Germany and Japan to expire in a futile effort to defeat the "Arsenal of Democracy". We turned the people of the defeated nations into friends by helping them rebuild their countries as part of the world economy. Today, we are trying to rebuild the nations in the Gap while the battle for their loyalty is still being fought. If we expect them to be friends, we need to defend them from Ghost Country totalitarianism as vigorously as we defended democracy from political totalitarianism in World War II. Jack Lott teaches courses on intelligence, globalization, and terrorism for the Christopher Wren Association at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia.
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Comments
This is a very interesting article but I think it totally misses the point. We are a free people with the tingle of liberty born and bred into us. We are interfacing with powers that do NOT have a Bill of Rights that respects Freedom of Religion, Freedom of Speech, nor any other freedom. Our corporate entities can purchase any politician to support grants, loans, NGO support for "the people", or any other thing that will take our tax money to build the social net under these corrupt governments as long as we can sell more widgets. We must stop. We must stop now! If a government cannot support our proven view of freedom and the success it breeds they can and should be forced to do it on their own. No country whose parliament would vote to allow female genital mutilation should get a dime of our money any more than a country that refuses religious freedom should get trading credits. Death and starvation to tyrants and those that support them by carrying arms or baking bread!
Posted by: SenatorMark4 | July 6, 2008 01:51 AM
In this alternative universe, Lott's wife is a pillar of wisdom:
Ignoring the facts and passing the buck and makes the struggle for civilization that much worse. The 90's were the extremist Republicans and Christians Contract on America owned the congress so much so that President Clinton couldn't blow his nose or anything else without LABI Limbaugh's drones avoiding his own drug and sex problems with claims of "wag the dog". I correctly predicted Hurricanes Katrina and Rita on 2/13/05 and weeks before they hit from our royal American extremist's global warming. As they unfolded, these hurricanes were part of the war on liberals, democrats, blacks, poor, and lack of free property to steal. Areas around the country obtained an increase labor pools and New Hampshire got a load of ice to keep the Katrina contract rolling. If you did correctly predict the Katrinas and the major typhoons from here to the Bay of Bengal, ignoring the 5+ billion people affected outside the US is as environmentally racist as Dr. Gray and Dr. Landsea who spin better lies.
Posted by: Ozonator | July 6, 2008 02:17 AM
Excellent Article. You said,"The domestic political wrangling over Iraq illustrates how far the public and much of the government and media elites are from understanding the real war." It is so true and if this attitude continues, it will cost dearly in ways many can't imagine.
Off topic:
How a Great Dream can change. I hope you consider:
Obama's "I Have a Dream" Speech Rough Draft Found In Caffe Latte Establishment!!!
July 5, 2008 by zachjonesishome
Found at: http://zachjonesishome.wordpress.com/2008/07/05/obamas-i-have-a-dream-speech-rough-draft-found-in-caffe-latte-establishment/
Posted by: ZachJonesIsHome | July 6, 2008 06:30 AM
Sorry, the enemy IS Islam.
Have you ever read the Islamic texts? Evidently not.
Furthermore, you are abot a thousand years off. This war against mankind began in the 7th century with Muhammad not the 17th century.
Posted by: Steve | July 6, 2008 07:36 AM
Having read Barnett's book I recognize this worldview. In the main it makes logical sense. My only argument with it is that Barnett and others who subscribe to it have only one solution. That is essentially the continuation of the Truman Doctrine (yes I still call it that) that began after the trauma of WWII. Why we made this 180 degree (OK 160) turn in foreign policy at the time is understandable. However, given the fact that there are adequate resources in the western hemisphere, we are now on a trajectory toward huge technological advances, and we get only tentative support from our "allies" a return to something like the old Monroe Doctrine isn't inconceivable or impossible. If we can settle things in Iraq and Afghanistan so they are relatively stable for say 5 to 7 years and we are very careful about whom we allow into this hemisphere we could make this half of the world a fortress via super advanced military technology. I am talking about technology that is 100 to 200 years beyond any other competitor. I am pretty sure that the entire eastern hemisphere would eventually collapse like the old Soviet Union although it is conceivable that the Chinese and Indians would band together and crush the terrorist forces. I don't hold out much hope for the Euros. The alternative is to continue our worldwide strategy and support of 120 to 130 military installations with our "allies" lending tepid support.
I am not really sure which strategy would be less costly. A return to the old Monroe Doctrine might actually be more costly in pure monetary terms. I tend to be libertarian in my views so the old Monroe Doctrine approach appeals to me. However, I am willing to be persuaded.
Posted by: GXM | July 6, 2008 08:39 AM
I agree wholeheartedly with Mr. Lott's final paragraph. However there is more to this than a geopolitical policy. We exist in a matrix in which other dimensions overlap. All the proper understanding and policy by itself will be shoveling manure against the tide unless Americans reawaken to certain truths about ourselves. We need to change. I am not speaking of the empty political mantras of Obama or McCain for that matter, but the real movement of individual awareness. The United States will retain strength only as it pursues good. This cannot be accomplished by social manipulation but by Americans one at a time. Until Americans wake and deny the images of relativism and perversion being served by Hollywood, until we overthrow and break the teeth of the liars in Academia, until we reject the globalist destruction of the jobs for honest living we will slide downward no matter our policy. Our consumerist foolishness is the fuel for the Ghost Country. It cannot be fought by social policy but by the denial of our wallets. Until we deny to the greedy immoral fools our support, we will continue to slide. Already, every young person that graduates from college is condemned to an extra dozen years of confusion until the vicissitudes straighten out their thinking. And even then they will unwittingly support our demise by allowing the culture of desperate housewives to weaken any resolve they might muster. A proper understanding is important, but without a movement towards admitting that there is such a thing as objective virtue, and that it has value, we will continue to grow weaker. It won't matter how smart we are, and the Ghost Country is counting on it.
Posted by: John Cooper | July 6, 2008 08:39 AM
This article has some strong points, but the author overdoes the emphasis on Al Qaeda and Wahhabism. The central problem of Islam is that its core theology endorses Arab supremacism and the conquest of the world by force. The criticism of Al Qaeda from Muslims is much more over tactics than over goals. There are moderate Muslims, but Islam is not moderate. I welcome efforts to reform Islam, though I do not think they can succeed. What is important is that the theology and practice of Islam IN GENERAL need to brought front and center to the attention of the non-Muslim part of the world. So also with the vicious persecution of Christians and other religious minorities within predominately Muslim nations.
Posted by: John S. Evans | July 6, 2008 08:55 AM
Hmmm, the Caliphate is comprised of 57 Islamic Nations. I wonder if this was what caused Obama's "Freudian Slip" when he referred to vising all 57 states on his campaign tour!
Posted by: Marlon | July 6, 2008 09:18 AM
If this is what passes for expertise on Islam and terror within our government, it's apparent why we find ourselves in the predicament viz. Islam that we do. Here we read an "expert" on Islam retailing the silly fiction that all the problems which exist between the civilized world and Islam stem from the Wahhabi strand of Islam, and that this conflict only began in the 18th century, and not the 7th. This threadbare analysis does nothing to explain the myriad other strands of Islam at odds with civilization, including the second major branch of Islam; Shi'ism. Shi'ite Islam is just as genocidal, just as intolerant, just as brutal, and just as triumphal as its Sunni counterpart, but you'd never gather that fact from our "expert".
But before we're treated to his fantastic etiology and catastrophic solutions, we're regaled by the author with a long list of the fabled shortcomings of the American people, and their incapacities to comprehend the complexities of our plight. No wonder! The author's exposition of Islam's war against the" infidel", (a perpetual war which has been waged since Islam's inception, and isn't really that complicated), is so convoluted and so filled with wrong-minded distortions that ones eyes glaze over from his droning power point presentation.
Wahhabism is often referred to as a "Salafist" movement. It is only one of many such movements that have roiled within Islam over time. Salafism is a term which refers to the Muslim leaders and thought which prevailed during and immediately after Islam's founding. Wahhabism is therefore not so much a movement minted in the 18th century as a reformation looking back to Islam's original barbaric roots in the 7th and 8th centuries. We are not dealing with an enemy from the 18th century. We are not only menaced by the Wahhabis. And it will be an utter catastrophe if we're enjoined, as this author does, to prop up, protect, defend, and shower treasure upon those exploding Muslim nations which perpetuate the cancer of Islam. I deplore the way the author castigated his fellow Americans for their incapacities to comprehend, and then sets about laying the impossible burden of saving Muslims from their anti-human atrocity of Islam. That is their dilemma to solve. And nearly all of the blame and burden for their innumerable crime of Islam must be laid at their feet.
But if some blame is to be affixed on our side for the steady rape of our civilization by the Muslims, I'd begin first by pointing fingers at the preposterous community of Islamic "experts" that have so thoroughly sold us up the river. They failed to warn us of the gathering storm. They still don't warn of the growing menace posed by Muslims in our midst. Just as bad, they continue to obfuscate our peril, and peddle bankrupt nonsense like that above, all to our grave detriment.
Posted by: Morton Doodslag | July 6, 2008 09:30 AM
so... Osama screwed up the Saudia's long range plans for world domination. Never figuring that President Bush would act.
The Democrats screw everything up and then the Republicans have to come in and get us going on the right track. Then the stupid public puts a Dem/liberal back in office and on it goes.
The only problem with this is...modern weapons.
This is the time to stop that cycle.
Anyone with any sense at all would vote for McCain.
And, Osama is most likely dead or would be soon if the Saudia's could get him!
Posted by: Joan E Plano | July 6, 2008 10:43 AM
A prime lesson of history is that its lessons are forgotten. Regardless of the obvious that we are engaged in the existential war of civilizations the personification of the mind of the American public has essentially been destroyed as a tool for long term rational reasoning even for self preservation.
The author is euphemistic when he describes the typical American mind set. The ramifications of sit-com television, incessant stimulation, celebrity fascination, failed schools, Leftist influence in the media.
Civilizations do die.
But... and this is so disparaged but the core of truth. G-d is active in all affairs of humankind. His prophecies in the Hebrew Scriptures presently being seen. The Holy Writings describe the "labor pains" in what is popularly called end times. For reason, virtually all focus is on the turmoil of Israel. The corruption of the government, of the judiciary, was prophesied.
The most important individual responsibility is to perceive one's responsibility to society, personally prepare for the onset of social disorder, encourage all around to understand that like it or not each of us has responsibility and will individually sustain the consequences of avoiding existential issues.
Posted by: Paul H Goodley | July 6, 2008 11:07 AM
This is a very interesting article with a number of vital points.
However, I think that you have skewed two key concepts:
1. You grossly underestimate the American people. You must be equating newspaper lines and media attention with the awareness and interest level of the American people. That is totally off. The continually dwindling revenues of the mainstream media are indicative that this sub-culture neither serves nor represents the American people. We have a much better idea of what is going on than you, the media or the government realizes.
2. You are minimizing the degree to which the Koran and Islam support, condone and encourage terrorist type activity. The Koran itself demands total global submission to Islam. The fact that most Muslims do not live their lives accordingly is a testament to their innate goodness. Do not mistake the decency and goodwill of most Muslims for the teachings of the Koran. They are not the same.
The American people are not inattentive, dull-witted or impatient. We are working our asses off and only have limited time to attend to world affairs or even our own internal politics. It is that honest hard work, and the products that it generates which have raised the standard of living of the entire world that will win the day.
That is what Ronald Reagan knew and what very few leaders before or since have recognized. We the people will tolerate a lot of nonsense because we believe in our own freedom and in freedom for the other guy as well. But, the minute that any of that nonsense, and this includes Islam, begins to interfere with our ability to produce and to secure the fruits of our own labor, then, the eagle gets pissed. Then will come the smackdown. It will be swift. It will be decisive.
The only reason it may not ever come to that is that other people are bright and decent too. It is not the seductiveness of pop culture that wins over other societies; it is the concept that we the people determine the culture, not the elitists. The elitists, oligarchy, aristocracy, etc. define culture everywhere else. The most brilliant artists are always identified first by the public, then it takes the "elite" at least a generation to figure out what the public saw immediately, brilliance. From Shakespeare, to Scott Joplin, to the Beatles, to Bob Dylan and the Beach Boys, the public recognizes brilliance much more readily than academia or any other elite. We the people decide because we the people have better judgment than the most illustrious of the elite. That understanding is codified in our Constitution. It survives because it is a correct assessment.
Islam is inherently elitist. The liberal left has a lot in agreement with it. We the people do not object to their narcissism , as long as it doesn't interfere with our objectives. I will agree that Europe is on a fast track to submission, the continental feudal mindset has never really been cured. But here in America, it won't happen. I know my Constitution and I know my fellow citizens. We will prevail, we always do because it's what we do. And then we will sit on the porch, have a lemonade, crack a few jokes, watch the sunset and prepare for a new day.
Best regards,
Gail
Posted by: Gail S | July 6, 2008 11:44 AM
Someone inform Mr. Lott that Wahabbism IS the original Islam, and that he needs to read the Islamic scriptures (Qur'an), traditions (ahadith), and the words and deeds of the Prophet (the Sira). Islam is not a religion; it is a cult. "Allah" was Muhammad's sock puppet deity - the psychological device used to sell his enormous narcissistic personality disorder's needs to the gullible criminal underclass of Yathrib (Medina - which incidentally was an overwhelming Jewish community before Muhammad drove them out or killed them). The orthodox and traditional hermeneutic of Islam is that the Qur'an is a divine dictation, which means that Islam is a totally dualistic ideology which sets up reality as subject to the whim of a totally irrational god. Islam is the enemy. That does not mean that every individual Muslim is our enemy, because many Muslims are what we would call "cultural" Muslims: they do not practice the full and true ideology of Muhammad.
Our elites who soften the hard edge of this fact do so for a variety of reasons - some of which I am sure that they fully are aware of. Some are quite unconscious and rest on an abiding intellectual sloth and moral torpor.
Posted by: fred | July 6, 2008 11:57 AM
I'm afraid this is merely much erudition about nothing; I think Morton Doodslag is right on.
We do have an Achilles heel, though -- it is our inability to deal with religion. When, in February '06 Ahmadinejud sent a 17-page letter to Bush, he just did not reply.
But he could have -- he could have said "There is no way for you, Ahamadinejud, to know that God talked to Mohammed and that Koran is God's word. In insisting that you can know, you commit idolatry. So you are just an idolater, Ahmadinejud."
But we just cannot do that.
And because we cannot fight an ideological battle -- and terrorism is driven by ideology -- we naturally cannot win; we simply fight with wrong weapons.
Our line should be -- quoting here from www.rootoutterrorism.com --
"Can the problem that is lodged in the mind be solved through social, economic, or military means? How to treat a malady that is rooted in religion?
"Here is one helpful piece of statistics: of the hundreds of millions of people around the world to whom it is obvious that Mohammed had been a prophet and who matter-of-factly rely on Koran as the ultimate record of God's will, only a mere 0% have the actual ability to determine whether this is so, or not. The remaining 100% of self-proclaimed "True Believers" cannot possibly know what they are talking about."
This is what should be pointed out to Iranians, Saudies and their ilk to disabuse them of their terrorist propensities -- but it isn't...
Posted by: vel | July 6, 2008 01:20 PM
Interesting read. I think that islamophobia is a valid state of mind to be in, just as being an Xtianophobe would be appropriate if we still had the witch burnings and inquisition in the church today.
I believe the only non-violent course of action is global prosperity. Unfortunately, with the cost of energy currently, and the risks of providing nuclear power to corrupt islamic regimes being too great at this stage,that's not a viable short term plan.
Decreasing ours (and our allies) dependence on Oil would at least reduce the amount of coins these regimes can fill their coffers with.
Weaning muslims off their religion is to provide them with the ability to enjoying life today, not consoling them with the 72 virgins at the end of their lives.
Skep
Posted by: Skep | July 6, 2008 01:26 PM
The author says: "the enemy is not the religion of Islam, but certain Muslims"
Right and wrong. We are in political war with Totalitarian Islamic Sharia Law, and we are at kinetic war with Islamic Jihadi/Hirabi/Irhabi warriors. True, we are not at war with every Muslim, but it is also true that we are at war with a very significant part of Islam - that part of Islam which is possessed by evil. The same thing was true in World War II; we were not trying to kill every German; but we were at war with Nazi government and law, and with Nazi military, S.S. and Gestapo. German Nazi Law correlates today with Islamic Sharia Law, and German military, S.S. and Gestapo correlates today with Islamic Jihadi/Hirabi/Irhabi warriors.
The author says: "The Wahhabi Sauds are smart enough not to correct the Western misperception that Al Qaeda is the sole Muslim enemy of modern civilization."
What he should have said is the Wahhabi Sauds along with the leaders of Iran, Pakistan, Libya, Egypt Syria, Yemen, Indonesia, etc., etc., are smart enough not to correct the Western misperception that al Qaeda is the sole Muslim enemy of modern civilization, i.e.: The United States of America. What the author has missed, and what Norman Podhoretz has truthfully exposed, is that there is an international Islamo-Fascist Alliance. This alliance is composed of Islamic terror groups and Islamic Fascist Nations. There is a linkage between these two groups, and it is the same thing which links them to the Ottoman Empire (Fourteenth to Twentieth Century) and the initial Islamic Caliphate (Seventh to Fifteenth Century).
The linkage between all of these unjust, supremacist, totalitarian and murdering Islamic nations and groups is the presence of Islamic Sharia Law. Islamic Sharia law is practiced openly and officially in some Islamic Nations; and it is practiced in the background in others, and Sharia Law the ultimate goal of Islamic terrorism. Sharia law is the enemy of sacred human liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and as we are reminded almost daily; Sharia law is regularly the enemy of life its self; and Sharia Law represents unjust government power which is derived without the consent of the governed. Islamic Sharia Law is the very antithesis of the American Declaration of Independence, and therefore the enemy of the United States of America.
The United States Congress should declare war on Islamic Sharia Law, and on the Islamic Jihadi/Hirabi/Irhabi warriors who would impose Sharia Law upon us by force and without our consent.
Posted by: Johnny Appleseed | July 6, 2008 02:37 PM
Congratulations, Jack Lott, on a measured, comprehensive, and learned article. Your critics above are a strange and philistine bunch, but the worst of them is Morton Doodslag, so hell-bent on starting a holy war against Islam in general that he utterly ignores the extra-Islamic factor of oil in converting one special branch of Islam into today's potent threat, and the embarassing (for him) fact that it was this specific, concrete, Saudi threat -- not "the cancer of Islam" -- that took 3000 American lives on 9/11. Shame on him for a frothing and insulting post. Congratulations to you for seeing so clearly through the mud of obfuscation so prevalent today.
Posted by: Tom A. Milstein | July 6, 2008 03:53 PM
"Second, the enemy is not the religion of Islam, but certain Muslims".
Time and again we read this sentence ad nauseam. Of course it is the "religion of Islam". Please read the Qur'an, the Sira (translated by Alfred Guillaume), the Hadiths. Please read Raymond Ibrahim's book on the central motivation of al Qaida. There is no such thing as a moderate Islam. There's only one true Islam, the concoction of Muhammad ibn Abdullah (570-632).
Posted by: Alf Janszoon | July 6, 2008 04:11 PM
The enemy is Islam and its Koran because there can be no reformation of Islam unless the Koran is substantially altered. Since this will never happen, Muslims will always be at enmity against Jews, Christians, Hindus, et al because the Koran provides the mandate for their jihad against us. Nice article, but the core of it, addressed in this comment, is flawed.
Posted by: Helen | July 6, 2008 08:23 PM
Mr. Lott's article proves the old adage ... those who can, do; those who can't, teach.
He presents a very narrow view of the war against the west ... limited to Al Qaeda.
Mr. Lott, the problem is Islam.
Posted by: Dan B | July 6, 2008 11:28 PM
Limbaugh Wisdom
http://youtube.com/watch?v=KUE65Lea6kQ
Posted by: Matthew Dickinson | July 7, 2008 03:40 AM
There was a much wiser article on this subject posted by American Thinker sometime ago. It was entitled "The Real Jihad", and it called a spade a shovel. In this article by Lott there is too much obfuscation, apologia and obliqueness.
The real equation is this:
Islam + Oil + = Downfall of Western Civilization = World Muslim Rule
The Mullahs of Islam became aware of the possibility of world domination after oil was developed in Saudi Arabia, the UAE and other Muslim Arab countries. They want their own Muslim Vatican with world ambassadors and all the symbols and levers of a world superpower.
Proof of the above design ? Three, for starters:
1. No Muslim mullah, anywhere, has ever protested or condemned the Muslim terrorist war against the West and Israel. None, zero, before or after 9/11.
2. Currently, we are savoring a taste of things to come: the boundless power and control that can be exercised by the Mullahs every time we pay over $4.oo /gallon of gas.
3. There is no real reason for the sudden increase in the cost of oil. .Nothing has changed in the last years in the costs of oil production. It seems, that the mullahs objective, by torturing consumers at the gas pumps, is to get them to vote against Republicans. Come November, gas may surpass $6.00 /gallon. The Mullahs. apparently, want Barak Hussein (Madrasa trained) to be elected; and the U.S out of the Middle East.
That, is the Real Jihad
The Real Jihad II
There was a much wiser article on this subject posted by American Thinker sometime ago. It was entitled "The Real Jihad", and it called a spade a shovel. In this article by Lott there is too much obfuscation, apologia and obliqueness.
The real equation is this:
Islam + Oil + = Downfall of Western Civilization = World Muslim Rule
The Mullahs of Islam became aware of the possibility of world domination after oil was developed in Saudi Arabia, the UAE and other Muslim Arab countries. They want their own Muslim Vatican with world ambassadors and all the symbols and levers of a world superpower.
Proof of the above design ? Three, for starters:
1. No Muslim mullah, anywhere, has ever protested or condemned the Muslim terrorist war against the West and Israel. None, zero, before or after 9/11.
2. Currently, we are savoring a taste of things to come: the boundless power and control that can be exercised by the Mullahs every time we pay over $4.oo /gallon of gas.
3. There is no real reason for the sudden increase in the cost of oil. .Nothing has changed in the last years in the costs of oil production. It seems, that the mullahs objective, by torturing consumers at the gas pumps, is to get them to vote against Republicans. Come November, gas may surpass $6.00 /gallon. The Mullahs. apparently, want Barak Hussein (Madrasa trained) to be elected; and the U.S out of the Middle East.
That, is the Real Jihad
.
.
Posted by: Anonymous | July 7, 2008 06:50 PM
Heck of a job Lott!
I submitted this to you on this blog before Bertha even became an official hurricane:
"
"Civilized" Big Oil makes Big Bertha in the Alaska Tank Farm neighborhood with the Port Allen air quality monitors were conveniently off-line
The civilized spawn of extremist Republicans and Christians controlling 2 or more branches of the US government bestowed freedoms, free, and dumbs to ExxonMobil to export "alpine air" and "spring water" of global warming for the last 28 years. Thus, current Hurricane Bertha will either hit Palm Beach - South Carolina or Nova Scotia as a category 3+ and dump 4" - 24" of rainfall. Directly downwind of ExxonMobil's "spa" on Scenic Highway in Baton Rouge direct to people longing to be civilized, "Havana´s International Convention Center ... Esteban Lazo praised the debates of the congress ... also mentioned some of the biggest threats facing today's world, such as climate change, global warming, air pollution and the contamination of rivers, along with soaring food prices" ("President Raul Castro Characterized Journalists Congress as Excellent"; RHC-ACN; radionuevitas.co.cu, 7/5/08)."
Posted by: Ozonator | July 7, 2008 07:28 PM
Islam is the enemy. Imagine if during the crusades the rest of the world would have adapted the same view of Christians that many of the posters here have regarding Islam. There would be no Christians left to have invaded the Americas and started this society that I personally feel is the greatest on Earth. The document that all Christian religions deem as the true word of God is filled with similiar hate speech and calls for the spreading of the ideals of Christianity/Judaism. Many authors over the years have called for the total obliteration of other than Christian religions (even some Christian religions). There are many peace loving Islamic peoples who do not condone what the radical Islamists are for. With the line of thinking of several of the posters here, it gives the terrorists legitimacy. We do not need to aid them in their ideals by being the same, just on the opposite side of the arguement.
Ozonator- please share what you got with the rest of us. I need a good buzz every now and then.
Posted by: big rob in ky | July 8, 2008 10:43 AM
Now how can extremist media outlets stay fresh if you don't post my intellectual property for them to loot in a tmely manner?
For example:
"big rob in ky" must be one of those talk radio DJs in a small "Mr. Mic" market as LABI Limbaugh fails once more to blame Islam for even his pilonidal cyst and T-Rex fails to blame Islam for his supporters f environmental rape and pillage.
Over a billion dollars to pay for the wages of sin based on the "science" of used car sales. Sith Emperor of Gassholes, "Exxon Mobil's CEO ... Rex Tillerson ... the U.S. public mood was moving toward allowing drilling in areas currently off limits to the oil majors due to environmental concerns ... outdated environmental attitudes were the reason for opposition to drilling in areas ... "The American people are kind of sick and tired of these prices"" ("UPDATE 1-Oil producers can solve supply woes - Exxon"; By Tom Bergin, Reuters; guardian.co.uk/, 7/1/08). "RUSH ... the gigantic, wasteful carbon footprint that the Democrats are going to make putting on their convention in Denver ... fires in California, a carbon footprint that dwarfs whatever automobiles out there are emitting ... baloney is in the global warming hoax ... It is excrement ... there is no manmade global warming, and they can't prove it at all ... plenty of scientists on the financial take ... They can't earn money on their own like I do ... There are no experts! There is no science ... don't even have a rudimentary second grade understanding of things from this guy from Philadelphia ... He is to be defeated. And people like him ... who are his credentialed leaders? Algore? (laughing)" ("Why Do the Global Warming Hoaxers Have Any Credibility Left?"; Mr. Rush "Chemical LABI" Limbaugh of Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity - Persian Barbie dolls - extremist Republican and Christian corporate lap dancers - downer cow media outlets of ESSO plagiarism; prison escapees from Planet-Star Wormwoody Jenkins; rushlimbaugh.com, 7/7/08).
Posted by: Ozonator | July 8, 2008 07:09 PM