“—When black people are attacked, they call it Racism. When Jewish people are attacked, they call it anti-Semitism. When Women are attacked, they call it Gender Discrimination. When Homosexuals are attacked, they call it Intolerance. When they attack your Country, they call it Counter- Terrorism. When a Religious Sect is attacked, they call it Hate Speech. But when they attack the dignity of the Prophet of Islam, Prophet MUHAMMAD (P.B.U.H), they call it “Freedom of Expression”—.
Samuel Huntington’s “The clash of Civilizations” planted the thought that Christianity and Islam may be headed for a clash. His idea probably was that thinking minds would work to avert such a catastrophic confrontation but unfortunately there were those who considered such a clash desirable and began work to bring it about. These were the Evangelicals who claimed divine guidance—remember former President Bush flabbergasting the French President by talking of ‘Gog and Magog’? Now with hindsight the progression of events that has brought us to the present day violence can be traced without going back into the ancient history of religious rivalries.
911 was a landmark event but why did it happen? Its origin can be traced to the confrontation between the West and Communism. We have recent revelations (from Brezinski and others) that tell us that the West began arming and funding religiously motivated Muslims for insurgent operations in Afghanistan much before the Soviet invasion of that unfortunate country. In fact it was this covert activity that drew the Soviets into Afghanistan. Once the Soviet Union was in Afghanistan the fig leaf that covered the subversion was removed and armed fighters motivated by jihad were recruited, trained and funded to fight in Afghanistan. This was the seed that later germinated into the Taliban. Once the Russians withdrew and the Soviet Union collapsed the US left Afghanistan to its fate thereby planting another seed that was to grow in to Al Qaeda. These were the people who executed the 911 plan as a protest against the policies of the US in Muslim lands and the dictatorships that the US supported—dictatorships that the ‘Arab Spring’ is now uprooting with the US now switching sides by supporting rebels. If the fate of the US Ambassador in Libya is any indication the US will be the eventual target.
The US response to the criminal terrorist act of 911 was a declaration of war against terror and the use of the word ‘crusades’ by the US President left no doubt in anyone’s mind where and how this war would be fought. A war that need never have been if 911 had been identified as a criminal act and the response had been limited to the arrest and prosecution of those responsible. This would have led to an international strangulation of finances and a focused campaign to arrest and prosecute the actual people responsible. The attack into Afghanistan was ostensibly against ‘terror’ but actually to establish bases from where US tries to influence Central and South Asia. Then followed the attack into Iraq on the basis of manufactured intelligence about WMD and links to Al Qaeda—both premises now fully exposed as fabricated. The result is that both Iraqis and Afghans are killing Americans and both the countries are in chaos with the fallout going well beyond their borders.
The covert and overt attempts to create a sectarian divide within Islam has led to much violence but the result is an Iran that feels threatened and reaches out for a nuclear capability and a linkage with Syria, Hezbollah and kurds as well as the movements in Bahrain and elsewhere. The Arab Spring is being slowly taken over by Islamic forces with Egypt as the model. Sensing weakness and an opportunity China and Russia are coming closer and the regional countries are evolving pragmatic policies.
It is in this environment that a film made and shown in the US has stirred anger in the Islamic world and to exploit this anger there is Al Qaeda—in Afghanistan, in Iraq, In the Maghreb , in the Arabian Peninsula and many other places. To brush it off as ‘freedom of expression’ does not help nor do the crazy antics of the mad Koran burning US pastor—is that ‘freedom of action’?
By Jennifer Andrews
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