Jerusalem Cloakroom #201

Root Causes of Anti-US Islamic Terrorism
(3^rd part in a series)

by Yoram Ettinger
yoramtex@netvision.net.il

January 21, 2007

 While the US and European foreign policy establishments have contended that the core of the 13-century-old Islamic terrorism and Middle East violence is the less-than-a-century-old Palestinian issue...

1. Islamic terrorism has been a Mideast fixture since the seventh century, when three of the first four Caliphs, succeeding the Prophet Muhammad, were murdered by political rivals: Umar ibn Abd al-Khattab (644AD), Uthman Ibn Affan (656AD) and Ali ibn Abi Talib (661AD). It has afflicted the Arab Mideast regionally and domestically. Prof. P.J. Vatikiotis, London University, who was a world renowned authority on Mideast history: “One cannot separate, in the Mideast, international terrorism from domestic terrorism. One cannot condemn the one without condemning the other, nor can one combat the one without combating the other.” (Terrorism: How The West Can Win, 1986, p. 83).
    

2. Anti-Western Islamic terrorism dates back to the basic Muslim legal/theological view of the struggle between the Abode of Islam (Dar A-Salam) against the Abode of War-Sword-Infidels (Dar al-Kharb). It aims at bringing the globe under Islamic dominion. In October 732 AD, the Muslim forces of Abd Al-Rahman fought - and lost to Charles Martel, “The Hammer” – 200 miles south of Paris, in an attempt to realize the goal of Islam. Today, Arab/Muslim societies invoke Qur`anic verses and Islamic history precedents as guidelines for daily (especially national) conduct. Contemporary rogue Muslim regimes pursue Islam’s historical goal through terrorism, via the acquisition of nuclear and other non-conventional capabilities and by demographic expansion in western democracies of Dar al-Kharb.
    

3. The USA is perceived as the “Big Satan” by Mideast Arab regimes due to its role as the leader of the Western infidel world, Dar al-Kharb. The US is the most effective hurdle, which has tackled Islamic terrorism and expansionist aspirations by rogue Muslim regimes (Iran, Syria, Iraq, Libya, etc.). US democracy of Life-Liberty- Pursuit of Happiness, free minds/markets, tolerance and freedom of expression/religion/ association/media constitute a clear and present danger to all Arab/ Muslim regimes (Turkey excepted). They would be replaced, summarily, once US democracy is implemented in their midst.
    

4. Scapegoatism has targeted the USA, the West and the Jewish state as scapegoats for Arab/Muslim frustration, humiliation and rage over the failure to reclaim the splendor of ancient Islamic dominance.
    

5. Israel is depicted, by Arab/Muslim establishments as a dagger of the West, as an outpost of the US, “an agent of US imperialism”, as the “Little Satan”.
    

6. “A nihilistic cult of death are traits that Nazis, fascists and Islamists share completely in common. The morbid addiction to destruction and revenge drives them to paint the world red with blood in their mad rush to introduce utopia in the here-and-now... Whether millions die in the attempt is irrelevant... Arab unity would remain a dream without sacrifice, conflict martyrdom and bloodshed...” (Prof. Wistrich of the Hebrew University, National Interest, Summer 2003).
    

7. Irrespective of Israel’s existence and the Palestinian issue, Islamic terrorism has recently plagued Australia, Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, Russia, Lebanon, Egypt, Sudan, Somalia, Mauritania, Nigeria, Turkey, Scandinavia, Holland, France, England, Spain, the US, etc.
    

8. Independent of Israel’s policies and the Arab-Israeli conflict, Muslim terrorists were arrested in England before blowing up civilian aircraft over the Atlantic (Aug. 2006), 3 Muslim terrorists were seized for planning to blow up two German trains (Aug. 2006), Muslim terrorists murdered 209 Indians in Mumbai (July 2006), Muslim terrorists were apprehended in Canada for attempting to blow up major Toronto buildings (June 2006), Muslim terrorists were jailed for trying to blow up an Australian nuclear power station (Nov. 2005), 65 Indians murdered in New Delhi (Oct. 2005), etc.
    

9. A Message to the State Department from Prof. Fouad Ajami, of Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies: “No American diplomatic scheme would spare America the fury of those bent upon eradicating its presence in the region. It is a false reading of a large civilization to say that the terror springs from the impasse between Israelis and Palestinians... It springs from deeper social, economic and political pressures within Mideast society, from the traumas of dislocated newly urbanized youth...Some of it is hatched by merciless men for whom terror is a profession that pays... It does not advance peace between Israelis and Palestinians to pretend that it would solve a problem much larger than their conflict...” (The New York Times, April 17, 1986).