Can there be any doubt that the real threat that is facing us is an extremist Islamic Supremacy movement? After each attack against us we have a period of soul searching in which some seek to understand the underlying reasons for bombing attacks. Poverty, oppression and our unbridled support of Israel are frequently referred to as the reason for the continued campaign against us. Occupation of the holy land, foreign troops and women having been in proximity to the holy cities in Saudi Arabia and any other grievances real or imagined are conjured up to explain the situation. None of these things really have anything to do with this.
The American people are woefully under educated as to the reasons for this conflict and it is the American press who is to blame. Were we to spend as many column inches in the national print media on Osama Bin Laden’s resume and writings as we have to the Karl Rove/Valery Plame non story we would all be far better off. Put Osama Bin Laden’s Fatwa in a Google search and compare it to Karl Rove leak and by the results you would think that the American media thinks Karl is a bigger threat to the country’s well being.
Instead of devoting all that space to a media invented crisis why not take a few minutes and have a translated version of one of the Al Qaeda recruiting videos that are making their way around Europe and the Middle East play on the evening news or run in the New York Times. Or perhaps we might hear more of the comments made by Mohammed Bouyeri who is on trial for the murder of Theo Van Gogh. Perhaps a spine chilling "prayer time" sermon from one of the more fiery British clerics might be in order. Maybe then the American people would get a real understanding of just what is going on here. In our culture we are taught to turn the other cheek, while are foes are learning the cutting off of our heads.
Bin Laden’s brand of supremacy is the focal point of a movement that is finding adherents in Islamic life. It is a clarion call of sorts that an individual with real or imagined grievances can identify with. In the course of human history, the Muslim world in Bin Laden’s eyes has seen itself become abused and corrupted by both the infidels as well as its own corrupt and decadent leadership. Bin Laden seeks to end all of that by imposing his brand of Islamic supremacy on the re-united Islamic nation and eventually the world all for the benefit of and as a servant to Allah. Anybody who doesn’t see it that way is subject to destruction.
The success of the mujahideen against the Soviets in the Afgham War has been a key element in Bin Laden’s recruitment efforts. Bin Laden proved that the Soviets were less than a super power and if one pretender to greatness could be humiliated in battle why then couldn’t the “soft, decadent and cowardly Americans” be next. America’s less than aggressive response to attacks against us prior to 9/11 buttressed his point and emboldened him and his supporters.
In this picture there is no room for multiculturalism, pluralism, polytheism, democracy or anything else that does not mesh with Bin Laden’s and his followers interpretation of the Quran. In fact there is no room for any interpretation of the Quran except the Sunni Wahabbi brand of Islam. This perhaps explains why Bin Laden did not conduct any “operations” against the biggest killer of Muslims in contemporary times. Saddam Hussein was killing and maiming Shiite Muslims for decades. The Sunni’s, although a minority controlled Iraq and that was just fine with Bin Laden since the Shia brand of Islam is not to his liking.
We are no strangers to supremacists in world history. Those who exploit a religion or race or color have a long, sordid and murderous history.
We should have learned long ago not to apologize for it but to confront it with all our might and crush it.
