Tuesday, September 12, 2006

9/11 + 5

Five years ago the title of this piece would have been considered a test of arithmetic, now it has it own calculus. Everyone recognizes that the world changed on that day, after Muslim radicals attacked the US in what amounted to a declaration of war and killed over 3,000 Americans on US soil. What has happened since then are various acts in the ongoing War against Islamic Terror.
While this is not a war against Islam, it is sometimes difficult for people to distinguish between the majority of peaceful Muslims and the radical fringe. But, make no mistake, this radical fringe is not a small minority, maybe 20% of Muslims agree with the use of force against Americans, and support the program of al Qaeda and other violent groups. This has been discovered in polls at various times throughout the world from Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Iraq, and among Muslims in the UK, France and the US. While a large proportion of Muslims don't agree with the use of suicide bombers, they do agree with the aims of the radicals, mainly because they feel that they are victimized by the West and are aggrieved as Muslims.
The biggest lie that is being promulgated today by many Western liberals as well as Muslim "moderates" is that the reaction of the West to the 9/11 attacks and the subsequent invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, are now the CAUSE of the current continuing violence. On the contrary, they still are the reaction to it. It is as if the action of 9/11 and subsequent attacks in London (7/7), Madrid, Bali, Casablanca, Karachi, etc. are readily discounted. The letter sent by a group of prominent Muslims in the UK to PM Blair, opposing his policies and threatening him if he does not change them, and the hateful public reaction to Blair's visit to Lebanon exemplify these attitudes. PM Siniora, in response to the protest from an Irish journalist at the press conference, said essentially (in Arabic) "I thank those who protest, but we can get something from this guy so that's why I invited him." Just as Arafat always said to the Israelis, either change your policies and accept mine or you will suffer (from terroism of others). This is politics by intimidation, or as Daniel Pipes called it "Piggybacking on terror," (www.danielpipes.org/article/3914).
And the attacks have not stopped, but they have been more successfully prevented, for example the train bombings in Germany, and the massive plan to blow up planes en route to the US over the Atlantic. This was a major success of Western intelligence and positive action that would have been inconceivable before 9/11 jolted us all to recognise the reality of the situation. Also, the suicide bombings in Israel have all but been prevented by a combination of targeted killings and arrests, the Security Barrier, and improved intelligence (notably lacking in the war against Hizbollah).
A recent poll has shown that now 63% of Palestinians support direct attacks against Israelis, i.e. suicide bombing. But, this is down from a high of over 85% when the second intifada started in 2001. Can we call this progress? On the other hand a large majority (75%) of Palestinians support the formation of a National Unity Government between Pres. Abbas' Fatah and PM Haniyeh's Hamas. This is mainly because they are suffering from the lack of Western funding. Now the reports are that such a National Unity Government may be formed in the PA. But, this may bode ill for the future since it would provide a cloak of legitimacy for Hamas, and put Abbas forward as the moderate with whom Israel and the West can deal, while he has no real power.
Nevertheless Blair, our friend, in order to blunt the criticism that has all but cost him his job, puts out the falsehood that the Israel-Palestine conflict is the fundamental cause of instability in the Middle East. That is simply not true, the fundamental cause of the instability and violence is the expansionist ideology of radical Islam. Those who killed themselves and others on London Underground trains do not do so for the Palestinians, but in order to overthrow the infidel governments of the West. Ayman al Zawahiri in his latest video tape for 9/11 + 5, warns Israel and significantly the Gulf States that they are next on the list for attacks. What do theGulf States have in common with Israel? Only that they are more and more adopting a Western culture and lifestyle. Doha is being developed as the new Miami on the Gulf, luring Western tourists and investment. I predict that since Israel and the US are harder nuts to crack for al Qaeda, that the Gulf States and particularly Doha will be an easier soft target. Expect another "killing" there, I wouldn't visit there if I were you.

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