By: Tashbih Sayyed
The failed state of Post Soviet Afghanistan proved to be a heaven for the radical Islamists. They consolidated their advances made during the "Jihad" against Communist infidels and prepared for a long war against the non-Wahhabi world. The jihad in Afghanistan had also contributed in the Palestinization of the Muslim world. The Arabs under the command of Osama bin Laden used the gathering of international jihadists to spread their anti-Semitism. By the time Soviets decided to leave Afghanistan, a unique nation of jihadi Islamists was ready to fight Judeo-Christian world any where in the world. What they needed now was the cover and safety of a "sovereign" state. They found their answer in the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, which was founded by Taliban with the help of Pakistan's Islamic army.
Taliban's Islamist state in Afghanistan provided an ideal base for radical Islam to wage its wars against democratic societies and export it's Fascist religious ideology to other regions. Al-Qaeda tried to use the authority of this independent and sovereign state as a cover to translate its dream of establishing a universal Khilafah into reality. Since an Islamist Khilafah can only be established by destroying non-Wahhabi societies, Osama bin Laden, needed an army of "Muslims," devoted to the cause of "Islam," driven by the conviction that they will be victorious in the end and burning with a desire to achieve martyrdom.
The perception that it was the power of their faith and the spirit of Jihad and nothing else that destroyed the Soviet Empire provided the needed impetus. It armed the Islamists with the conviction that Allah wanted them to be the rulers of the world. The only obstacle left was the United States of America. The jehadis were told that if the path of Wahhabism is followed faithfully, even the American Empire can be destroyed. Osama bin Laden, in order to further convince the Muslims of the power of Wahhabism, wanted to show that the American Empire is not invincible and can be attacked right in its home. He knew that if he succeeded in hurting the US on its own soil, the recruitment of holly warriors will become much easier. To achieve this objective he turned Afghanistan into a training camp for the Mujahedeen (holly warriors). And the graduates of Al-Qaeda camps achieved the goal to world's horror on September 11, 2001.
Black Tuesday proved at least three things. One, Taliban and Al-Qaeda happened because radical Islamists found a failed state where they could organize themselves and become a power to be reckoned with. Two, a state in the hands of radical Islamists will have no other objective but to destroy the democratic world. And, three, the civilized world cannot afford to allow a Muslim state to fail as it will invariably become a heaven for terrorists.
Islamists too learned a lesson from the defeat of Taliban regime in Afghanistan. They realized that they can fight a super power only if they become invisible. This war to establish a Khilafah, had to be an asymmetrical war. They also recognized the fact that a state that is easily identified with radical Islam will not be allowed to function by the civilized world. Their experience in chaotic Lebanon, in Somalia controlled by war lords and in post Taliban Afghanistan without a central authority told them that a failed state suits them the best. Therefore, at least for the time being, they will have to defer their plans to take over governments. Failed Muslim states became their destination.
When President George W. Bush announced his plans to launch operation free Iraq, radical Islamists launched their jihad to keep the people of Iraq bonded and enslaved. They recognized that their plans to wage the "final jihad" to establish Khilafah will never materialize, if the U.S. succeeded in establishing a free, stable, prosperous and democratic Iraq. So they made sure that even after Saddam Hussein is ousted, US can never have the needed authority to stabilize the country. The only way to make operation Iraqi freedom to fail was to ensure that the people of Iraq, under US administration, do not have a single minute of peace in their lives. And they succeeded in doing exactly that.
They launched a vicious campaign of sabotage. From power generation to health provision and from food production to fuel distribution, everything was destroyed. The result was that the man on the street lost the basic sense of security. Soon enough, every Iraqi found the life much more miserable than it was under the Saddam regime. Coalition forces, instead of being looked up to as liberators were finding themselves as being looked down upon as occupiers, as anti-Islam and as anti-Iraq.
Islamists want the people of Iraq to suffer because when people suffer they do not want to investigate the real causes of their miseries. They just want to blame someone. Islamists have learned to exploit such situation. Gaza and West bank are the best example of this exploitation. Islamists know that by casting their political designs as religious struggle - a holy war to save Islam - they can easily win the hearts and minds of the Muslim street. In Iraq, like in Palestine and Afghanistan, Islamists are working hard to paint US's war against Islamist terrorism as a war against Islam. Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, founder of the Islamist terrorist group Hamas, denounced President Bush's speech to the United Nations as a declaration of war on Islam. "Today Bush declares war on Islam under the pretext of terrorism and ideologies that feed terrorism. Bush views Islam as terrorism," he, told reporters at a mosque in the Gaza Strip.
Being anti-Semitic, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, like any other Islamist cleric, is trained to arouse jihadi sentiments. He is sworn to the destruction of Israel, Washington's closest Middle East ally. His sermons have caused the killings of hundreds of Israelis in homicide attacks. He said, "Bush must understand that religious people do not fear threats. Islam is stronger than Bush's regime, stronger than Bush and stronger than his state and Islam will win." Sheikh Ahmed Yassin reacted to Bush's assertion that the Palestinian cause was being "betrayed by leaders who cling to power by feeding old hatreds." He said that Bush "will be defeated, in Afghanistan, in Iraq, in Palestine and in all the Muslim land."
This explains why the U. S. is finding it so difficult to establish order in Iraq. The Baathists, Islamists, Al-Qaeda sympathizers, anti-Semites, anarchists and criminals all want US to fail. US's failure in Iraq will be a boon for all the Fascist elements in the world. A failed Iraq in the West and a failed Afghanistan in the East will sandwich Saudi Arabia and Egypt, increasing pressure on pro U. S. countries like Turkey and Pakistan. In my view, if Iraq is allowed to become a failed state, Saudi Arabia and Egypt will also fail and the US will face an enemy that it has not faced in the past. That's why it is a wrong time to talk of leaving Iraq.
The world must understand that what is at stake in Iraq is not just U. S. interests but the future of the whole civilization. President Jacques Chirac of France is wrong in insisting on a "realistic timetable" for returning sovereignty to the Iraqi people. Islamists know that the West wants to see things infinite terms. It wants to have a definite starting point, a definite climax and a definite ending point. It wants to know how each and every project will cost in terms of money, material and human lives. Islamists on the other hand, believe in infinite campaigns. They live in a perpetual state of war. Their war had started ever since the ideology of radical Islam was first preached. The ideology's aim is to destroy the non-Wahhabi societies as represented by democratic way of life. So long as a single non-Wahhabi state is alive jihad will continue. This jehadist mentality is the root of all the conflicts this world is involved in. And the Middle East is the center of this state of mind.
The only hope for the civilization to survive is to somehow eradicate this Fascist state of mind. And the introduction of democratic values in the Middle East is the beginning. But it will take time. It cannot be done in a hurry. It is imperative for the democratic world to unite and support President Bush's campaign of introducing democratic order in the Middle East. Forcing US to leave Baghdad without establishing a democratic frame of mind that recognizes the merit of an open society is as saying that war against Nazism was wrong and defeating Hitler was unjust.
(The writer is editor-in-chief of Pakistan Today, a California-based weekly newspaper, and president of Council for Democracy and Tolerance.)
