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August 04, 2005
If You Don't Bother Them, They Won't Bother You
The latest al-Qaeda tape is out; and, sure enough, it tells us that the terrorists hate us for our freedom. Oh, wait. It actually says this:
"If you continue your politics against Muslims, you will see, God willing, such horror that you will forget the horrors of Vietnam."
"Didn't Osama bin Laden tell you that you would never dream of peace until we actually live it in Palestine and before all the infidel armies withdraw from the land of Mohammed?
"Instead (of accepting the truce), you spilled rivers of blood in our countries, and we exploded volcanoes of anger in your countries."
"The truth that has been kept from you by (President) Bush, (Secretary of State Condoleezza) Rice and (Defense Secretary Donald) Rumsfeld is that there is no way out of Iraq without immediate withdrawal, and any delay on this means only more dead, more losses.
"If you don't leave today, certainly you will leave tomorrow, and after tens of thousands of dead, and double that figure in disabled and wounded."
Hmm. That doesn't sound like someone who hates freedom to me. In fact, it sounds like someone who's saying, "You leave us alone, and we'll leave you alone. Keep attacking us, and we'll keep attacking you." That makes perfect sense.
Since, however, it contradicts the official line from Washington, it cannot be allowed to stand or to penetrate the skulls of average Americans. Thus we have our Dear Leader's response: "He's saying, you know, 'Leave.'" To which the proper response from everyone else is: "Yes, that's what he's saying, and it's what we should be doing anyway, so leave."
The U.S. president described the ideology of al-Zawahiri and his adherents as "dark, dim, backwards. They don't appreciate women. If you don't agree to their narrow view of a religion, you'll be whipped in the public square."
Their goal, he said, is to spread their point of view throughout the world, starting in the "broader Middle East. And part of their goal is to drive us out of the broader Middle East."
But Bush said the United States would not bend to the threats of al Qaeda or of al-Zawahiri.
"They're terrorists, they're killers and they will kill innocent people trying to get us to withdraw from the world so they can impose their dark vision on the world. That's what they're trying to do, and the comments today by Mr. Zawahiri absolutely reinforce what I have just told you. We will stay the course; we will complete the job in Iraq."
The next time terrorists attack the U.S., we'll know exactly whom to blame: al-Qaeda and the United States government. Come to think of it, that's whom we should blame for the last terrorist attack on the U.S., too.
Posted by Mike Tennant at August 4, 2005 03:46 PM
Comments
Terrorists can have legitimate grievances and complaints about the policies and actions of others. I'm all for reducing foreign intervention to zero and leaving others to deal with their own problems.
However, it can't be ignored that these messages can be designed to work in concert with domestic debates in the countries engaging in the intervention. It isn't hard to read about the various debates online, in print, and on the boob tube and see the positions taken on all sides. It wouldn't be hard to conform your messages to in effect endorse one side's part of the debate in order to hurt the other's advocacy.
It comes down to how honest terrorists are in their communications and I'm as skeptical of terrorist honesty as I am of government honesty.
Posted by: Charles Hueter ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.strike-the-root.com/blog/nav-commenters.gif){kind=small}
at August 4, 2005 05:39 PM
Charles,
I think Mike is correct in his analysis here. Al-Qaida's Islamist ideology is openly "Salafist" (follows salafi principles or "restoration" of the original practice of the Islam and the restoration of the caliphate. The caliphate being an Islamic version of the Holy Roman Empire wherein all Muslim nations are ruled by Muslims and are members of a loosely united confederation.)
Get out of the Middle East and be less accommodating of Isra'el and the terrorism from Islamic radical will diminish greatly, if not disappear. IMHO.
Ali
Posted by: Ali_Massoud at August 5, 2005 02:54 PM
Ali,
Thanks for your comments.
Charles,
Your points are well taken. However, there are two reasons why I think al-Zawahiri is telling the truth here:
1. It's basically the exact same message al-Qaeda has been giving to the West for years now, whether bin Laden, al-Zawahiri, or someone else has been conveying the message: Leave us alone and we'll leave you alone. Stop coddling dictators in Muslim lands, stationing troops on Muslim soil, killing Muslims, and supporting Israel unconditionally.
2. If al-Qaeda perpetrates its acts of violence with definable goals that require a response from others (such as pulling out of Iraq), it makes no sense for them to lie about them. Yes, their words may help bolster domestic opposition to the war, as you say. At the same time, though, if they commit random acts of terror without telling us what they want us to do to end the terrorism, then their acts are essentially pointless.
On the other hand, bin Laden and co. were trained by the CIA, so you may have a point after all . . .
Posted by: Mike Tennant at August 5, 2005 09:03 PM
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