By: Tashbih Sayyed, Ph.D.
When we were attacked on September 11, 2001, the whole Muslim World was a buzz with the talks of jihad against the United States of America. Afghanistan was under Taliban, the cradle of civilization, Mesopotamia, was being trampled by a tyrant, Saddam Hussein, and the forces of global jihad under the leadership of Osama bin Laden had achieved a level of authority and confidence from where they could declare a formal jihad against the "epitome of a corrupt culture" - the United States of America.
Anti-Americanism and anti-Semitism had united all shades and forms of Islamists into a comprehensive network of radical Islamists: Taliban represented a very rigid and puritanical version of Islam - Wahhabism.
They had finally succeeded in founding an Islamic state for the Islamists which embodied in itself the religious authority to declare a jihad against the infidels. Saddam Hussein was secular and believed to be either in possession of weapons of mass destruction or having the capability of developing nuclear, radiological and biological weapons.
He had a track record of using such weapons against Iran and on Shiites and Kurds in Southern and Northern Iraq. Osama bin Laden, the Qaid (leader) of Al-Qaeda (The base) symbolized Global Jihad and represented the yearnings of political Islam for a universal Islamic state by conquering all non-Muslim centers of powers.
Pakistan's Islamic bomb, emergence of Islamic Emirate in Afghanistan, encouragement from Saddam Hussein, backing from Damascus, signals coming from Iran and the rising influence of the Islamist organizations in Europe, the United Kingdom and the USA, have all gone to energize the different jihadi cells operating in different parts of the world. The perception that it was the spirit of Islam that had empowered the mujahideen (Islamic holly warriors) to cause the disintegration of the Soviet empire by defeating the Soviet Union in Afghanistan had rejuvenated the spirit of global jihad in a way not seen in the past.
All these happenings were part of daily news bulletins being broadcast, telecast and discussed in the barber shops all over the world. So it was natural for a common person who depended solely on the street sources to assume in the aftermath of the September attacks in the U.S., that if these obvious irritants are removed, the world will once again be safe. But to think that the world's sole super power will also base its conclusions on the headlines without further going into the details was a sure recipe for disaster.
The haste and the lack of planning with which the war on Islamist terrorism was launched is a testimony to the fact that nobody in the U.S. administration tried to look beyond the headlines in order to locate the real reasons for the burgeoning anti-Americanism. The tendency to follow the obvious only prevented them from identifying the ground realities that were facilitating the growth and entrenchment of global jihad. The events that followed September 11, 2001, endorse the view that the tacticians in Washington believed that defeating Islamist terrorism is a very simple and straightforward matter. It neither needed any research nor any in-depth understanding of the causes fueling the Muslim anger.
The U.S. administration, it appears, depended only on tactical planning and ignored totally the vitality of a long term strategy. The decision makers in Washington were misguided by the belief that the flames of global jihad can be extinguished just by demolishing Taliban Emirate in Afghanistan, toppling Saddam Hussein in Iraq and dislodging Al-Qaeda from its bases in the region. And the five years experience has not been able to convince them otherwise. That's why they are never tired of claiming that the U.S. is winning.
We have been declaring victory without first confirming if our boots on the ground can really translate into a sustainable victory. We are refusing to face the question that if the removal of Taliban from Kabul, dismantling of Baathist regime in Baghdad and forcing the Al-Qaeda into Hindu-Kush Mountains is a victory then why is it that the free world today is more insecure than it was on September 11, 2001.
Nobody in the administration, it seems, wants to pause and think that if we are winning then why is it that our influence and image in the Muslim World has declined to new lows. If we have truly won this war on Islamist terror then why is it that the Americans can't walk freely anywhere in the Muslim world as they used to do in the past? Why in the Muslim lands every one of importance who claims to be on the side of the U.S. finds his or her life in mortal danger?
This week as we remember our dead, we owe it to ourselves to try to understand that neither the presence of coalition forces on the ground nor the rules of individuals like General Pervez Musharraf in Pakistan, Ahamd Karzai in Afghanistan, Nuri al-Maliki in Iraq, Husni Mubarak in Egypt, King Abdullah in Saudi Arabia, King Abdullah in Jordan and many other pro-American Muslim rulers translate into victory for the democratic world.
We need to broaden our vision. The problem is not as simple as we want it to be. Let's examine the factors facilitating the expansion of Global jihad. Global jihad is a religious phenomenon but only religious fervor cannot sustain it. Yes there is a Wahhabi fascist ideology that is the perfect formula to create holy warriors, homicide bombers and all other kinds of terrorists. And present day Islamist fascism is the direct result of Wahhabi ideology. So it is not wrong to attack this totalitarian mindset and the institutions that spread this deadly virus. But can we win the war on Islamist fascism without understanding as to what helps and facilitates the Wahhabi recruitment?
We have to understand that Wahhabism knows that all religious Muslims do not subscribe to their ideology. All religious Muslims do not agree with the Al-Qaeda mission. All religious Muslims do not want to become homicide bombers. And all religious Muslims do not hate the West. That's why Wahhabism needs to convince them that whatever it is that is wrong with their world is the doing of the west and can be cured by Wahhabism.
Anger begets terror. And Wahhabism looks for angry Muslims who believe that they have been wronged by the West. There are many historical factors other than the religious ones which irk the Muslims. Here we will not talk about the miss-interpreted Holy Scriptures, manipulated Muslim traditions and created history that have formed the basis of extremism in the Muslim sociology and will only confine ourselves to the historical events that contributed in creating an environment of anger.
When the western powers demolished the Ottoman Empire they created a number of Muslim states in the Middle East which are neither natural nor viable. The individuals, the West appointed as the rulers of these states were corrupt, debauch and arrogant. They ruled with an iron hand and looted and plundered their economies with impunity.
These states, in order to survive, depended solely on selfish policies, international conspiracies and by playing one super power against the other. Super powers on their part indulged in a game of chess that perpetuated a tradition of coup d'état and palace conspiracies that kept these states floating in a never ending river of blood.
The common man on the street remained disenfranchised, sidelined and oppressed and as a result angry. These angry people welcomed any ideology that appeared to be speaking on their behalf. First the Communists and the Socialists came and used them. But they were no better then the others. And finally when everything else had failed Wahhabis stepped in to reap the harvest of discontent.
Wahhabis had a different strategy. They were motivated by their faith - global jihad. They provided what the common man needed. They set up welfare organizations and madrasas for indoctrination. Wahhabism provided them not only with an ideology that promised a "glorious" afterlife by hating the infidels but also took care of their worldly needs; jobs, food, education and health care.
The western created un-natural states also played havoc with a number of ethnic groups and nationalities by depriving them of their rights to a state of their own. Arab Shiites in Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia and many other countries along with the Kurds in Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria topped the list of these wronged nationalities.
Their territories became the hotbed of extremism and terror. Similarly, creating of the unnatural state of Pakistan divided the Pashto speaking population between Afghanistan and Pakistan and Baluchis were forced to live as second class citizens within a country that did not acknowledge their existence.
The unnatural and artificial states will always remain a safe heaven for the fascist forces. Anger based on false notions and radical ideologies such as that of Islamist fascism can only be defeated by removing the causes that provide it with tactical and logistical support, shelters and manpower. The world will remain insecure so long as there are reasons for people to be angry.
Remember that in these times all victories that fail to conquer the hearts and minds of the vanquished remain hollow.
(Tashbih Sayyed is the Editor in Chief of Pakistan Today and The Muslim World Today, President of Council for Democracy and Tolerance, an adjunct fellow of Hudson Institute, and a regular columnist for newspapers across the world.)
