The problem - What is wrong with the Islamic world?
After 9/11,
when thousands of American innocents
were killed by Islamic extremists
for no reason,
the central question
is not: "Why do they hate us?".
The central question is not:
"What is wrong with American foreign policy?"
The central question is:
What is wrong with the Islamic world,
and how will it reform?
The basic problem is very clear.
It is that millions of people
in the Islamic world do not
believe in free speech, freedom of religion,
democracy, a secular state, free enterprise and human rights.
Millions of Muslims also have a hatred for Israel and America
that has no rational basis.
-
Who is our enemy?,
by Steven Den Beste,
has a hard time defining who exactly is the west's enemy,
but correctly points out it is not just
a small group of terrorists.
Much of the Islamic world
- and almost all of the Arab Islamic world
- must change.
- "This war will continue until the traditional crippled Arab culture is shattered.
It won't end until they embrace reform
or have it forced on them.
Until a year ago, we were willing to be patient and let them embrace it slowly.
Now we have no choice: we have to force them to reform because we cannot be safe until they do."
- "what we have to do is to take the 14th century culture of our enemies
and bring it into the 17th century. Once we've done that, then we can work on bringing
them into the 21st century
...
But they've got to accept their own failure, personally and nationally and culturally.
That is the essential first step. They've got to accept that the cause of their failure
is their own culture
...
And they've got to accept that the only way to succeed is to change.
That will be a difficult fight, and it's going to take decades.
Along the way it's going to be necessary to remove many governments
which come to power and yet again try to embrace the past"
- The war will last decades:
"This war will end when they change, but not before."
- We (the west)
don't want to do this.
We would far prefer to let them stay in their own failed societies.
Who on earth would volunteer for the job of reforming the Middle East?
What a pain that after finally winning the Cold War,
and entering what we hoped was a new era of peace and prosperity,
the west now has to sign up
for this endless exhausting job.
- We don't want to do this.
We (the west) have to do this.
Because they threaten us.
Because they will destroy one of our cities with nuclear weapons
as soon as they get a chance.
So we have to reform them.
They have forced us to.
- House of War
captures how annoying it is that we have to deal with these people (the Islamists).
It is almost embarrassing that these medieval savages
are the future we have to deal with.
He notes that despite having a centuries-out-of-date medieval philosophy,
they do know how to fight
a 21st century media war against soft democracies:
"The future is armed to the teeth and is highly motivated, it is dispersed across an ever wider landscape, and
it is not waiting for us to arrive: it has begun its relentless assault regardless, chanting the ancient slogans of religious bigotry and blood for a vengeful god. Unless we step into it and learn to fight the future war more effectively than our enemies, we have already lost."
If you want a 5 minute summary of what is wrong with the Islamic world, here it is.
Freedom House
rank countries' political freedoms and civil liberties as
"Free", "Partly Free" and "Not Free".
Here is their 2006 ranking for the main belt of Islamic countries:
Or, more graphically,
here's their "map of world freedom":
Map of world freedom 2006,
based on rankings of
Freedom House.
Green - "Free".
Yellow - "Partly Free".
Purple - "Not Free".
See full size:
Close-up of Islamic world.
Green - "Free".
Yellow - "Partly Free".
Purple - "Not Free".
See full size:
That's it, in a nutshell.
That's the problem.
The root cause of the September 11th attacks
is a sick, fascist movement within Islam.
It is an expansionist fascist movement that aims to rule
much of the third world.
It is at war with everyone
who is not an Islamic fundamentalist fascist.
It has killed vast numbers of Muslims.
- The correct response to the bombers is total war
-
This War We're In
by Paul Marshall
- points out that the largest death tolls from Islamist extremism do not occur
in America or the West, or even Israel,
but rather the worst killing is
in places in the third world
where Islam interfaces with non-Islam,
or where radical Islam interfaces with moderate Islam
- Sudan, Nigeria, Algeria, Indonesia, Bangladesh.
Here is where the Islamofascist killing is the most intense.
And it's got nothing to do with America or Israel.
- The Religion of Peace
- Ongoing list of killings for Islam around the world.
-
This lists the non-stop killing by Islamists
of
Christians, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, atheists, animists, moderate Muslims
and others,
in
Algeria, Pakistan, Thailand, India, Indonesia, Philippines, Bangladesh, Sudan, Somalia, Nigeria
and other places in the third world.
This killing has been going on since the origin of Islam.
And it has nothing to do with America or Israel.
-
93 percent of the world's conflicts involve Muslims,
according to
Amir Taheri.
To be precise, of the 30 active conflicts in the world today,
28 involve Muslims.
Also here.
He also notes that:
- Nearly two-thirds of the world's poorest, those who live on under $2 a day, are Muslim.
- Two-thirds of political prisoners are held in Muslim countries.
- Muslims account for nearly 80% of the world's refugees.
- All but one of the world's last military regimes are in the Muslim world.
The Islamic world must change, not the West.
-
The "Global Peace Index", May 2007, is a (very) flawed list of the world's most "violent" countries.
But despite its flaws, it still is a powerful indictment of
the violence of Islamism.
-
OK so it's a
nutty left wing list
- your score is knocked down by
possessing WMD, engaging in wars abroad,
and having high military expenditure,
so any country that defends the West scores badly
- and it's full of arbitrary subjective scores
(see scores for the
US
and
Israel).
-
And the index is endorsed
by people like
Jimmy Carter,
Desmond Tutu
and
Queen Noor of Jordan
(whose husband, the unelected dictator
King Hussein,
exterminated
10,000 civilians
and
tried to carry out a Holocaust
of the Jews of Israel).
-
But having said all that,
it is interesting to see what this index ranks as the
top most violent countries,
because
it can immediately be seen
(though of course the index itself does not see)
that
Islamism
is the cause of the violence in most of them:
|
Position
|
Country
|
Cause of the violence
|
|
No.1 most violent country
|
Iraq
|
Islamism
|
|
No.2
|
Sudan
|
Islamism
|
|
No.3
|
Israel
|
Islamism
|
|
No.4
|
Russia
|
Communism (destroyed civil society)
|
|
No.5
|
Nigeria
|
Islamism
|
|
No.6
|
Colombia
|
Communism (rebels),
Drug Prohibition
|
|
No.7
|
Pakistan
|
Islamism
|
|
No.8
|
Lebanon
|
Islamism
|
-
Our World-Historical Gamble,
by Lee Harris,
argues that much of the unhealthy mindset in the
Arab world comes from the fact that their wealth has
come by lottery
rather than by hard work (i.e. they happen to sit on oil).
Our liberal respect for sovereignty
recognises their ownership of resources
they did nothing to create.
So we pay them for doing nothing,
and as a result many have become decadent,
and have lost touch with reality
like spoilt adolescents.
- "What Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein have in common
is that they became rich because the West paid them for natural
resources that the West could simply have taken from them at will,
and without so much as a Thank You, if the West had been
inclined to do so. They were, by one of the bitter paradoxes
of history, the pre-eminent beneficiaries of the Western
liberalism that they have pledged themselves to destroy."
- So "the quite unintended consequence of the West's conduct"
is: "the prodigious funding of fantasists".
- Daniel Pipes commentary on this
- Harris attacks the idea of
sovereignty
and self-determination
- "The principle of self-determination in a world of perpetual peace may not in fact be the panacea for mankind's ills, but rather a means for prolonging these ills"
- Another person angry with sovereignty
is Ralph Peters.
- Harris argues that if we do not abandon sovereignty
and adopt new policies of pre-emptive attack,
then nuclear attack on the west will come soon.
He argues for an uncompromising assault on "fantasy" Islamism
in order to force it to see reality. -
"it is .. critical that we are not misled into trying to win the hearts
and minds of the Islamic fantasists. We must not set about trying to convert
them in believing in our principles and accepting our values,
.. Nor must we be seduced into believing that we are in a popularity contest"
- Instead we must re-shape their entire world against their will.
-
The triumph of American values
by
Mark Steyn
- The root cause of Sept 11th - "U.S. foreign policy" and "Israel"
- The left, of course, has a different answer to what is the
root cause of Sept 11th:
U.S. foreign policy
and
Israel.
The hope seems to be that if "we" (Americans, Israelis, westerners)
change our behaviour, then "they" (Arabs, Islamists, third worlders)
will be alright, and will live with us in peace.
- Sadly, this is fantasy.
The sad fact is that "they" must change.
The entire Arab Islamic world must abandon
tyranny, totalitarianism, theocracy, religious hatred
and anti-semitism,
and they must embrace freedom of religion, free speech and democracy.
-
A World Without Israel
by Josef Joffe
- If Israel vanished, the Arab Islamic world's problems would remain.
"Moderate" Islam - Opinion Polls in the Islamic world
Apologists for Islam say Islam means "peace"
and the fundamentalist killers are a tiny minority.
This is not true.
Opinion polls show that they represent mainstream opinion in the Islamic world
(large minority, and often majority):
- "Moderate" Islam in the west
- The Pew Research Center
has done a number of surveys of the appalling opinions of the Islamic world.
- Terror Free Tomorrow
polls of the Islamic world.
- Supporting the killing of Jewish civilians
-
The majority of Palestinians
support suicide bombings
(also here
and here).
-
The majority of Palestinians
support the
killing of Jewish civilians, including Jewish children
(also here
and here).
-
The majority of Palestinians
do not accept Israel's right to exist.
-
Poll: Decrease in Palestinian support of terror,
Dec. 8, 2004.
After Arafat's death,
a majority of Palestinians, for the first time,
now oppose the intifada.
Albeit this would be for strategic reasons - because the intifada is not working
- not because they have suddenly discovered that killing civilians is wrong.
But still, it's a start.
-
It didn't last:
Poll, Feb 2006
- 56 percent of Palestinians support
suicide bombing of Israeli civilians.
- Poll, July 2006
- 60 percent of Palestinians support
rocket attacks on Israeli civilians.
67 percent support
kidnapping and murdering Israeli civilians.
-
Survey, July 2007:
70 percent of Palestinians support suicide bombing of civilians.
-
Poll of Palestinians, Mar 2008. 84 percent of Palestinians support killing Jewish civilians.
-
Poll of Palestinians, Apr 2008. 51 percent of Palestinians support killing Jewish civilians.
65 percent support in Gaza.
- Pew survey, May 2003,
reported in International Herald Tribune,
June 3, 2003
(here and
here).
-
The majority in
Morocco, Jordan, the Palestinian Authority, Kuwait, Lebanon,
Indonesia and
Pakistan
want to end the state of Israel.
-
What the World Thinks in 2002
- survey, December 4, 2002
- The majority of
Lebanese
support suicide bombing.
- The majority of
Nigerians who expressed an opinion
support suicide bombing.
- The majority of
Bangladeshis who expressed an opinion
support suicide bombing.
- 47 percent of Jordanians who expressed an opinion support suicide bombing.
- 43 percent of Pakistanis who expressed an opinion support suicide bombing.
- A Year After Iraq War
- survey, March 16, 2004
- The majority in Jordan support suicide bombing of Jews.
- The majority in Morocco support suicide bombing of Jews.
- The majority who expressed an opinion
in Pakistan support suicide bombing of Jews.
- Supporting the killing of American and western civilians
-
The majority of Palestinians
support the Sept 11th killings.
- Poll of Islamic world, Feb 2002
- The majority (61 percent) of Muslims worldwide
believe Arabs did not carry out 9/11.
Only 18 percent believe they did.
- The majority (77 percent) of Muslims worldwide
oppose the liberation of Afghanistan.
-
Poll of Egyptians, September 2002
- The majority (52 percent) of Egyptians
support the Sept 11th killings.
- Only 19 percent think Islamists did it,
despite the fact the operation was led by an Egyptian!
39 percent think Israel did it!
- Pew survey, May 2003,
reported in International Herald Tribune,
June 3, 2003
(here and
here).
-
The majority in
Indonesia, Jordan,
Morocco, Pakistan and the Palestinian Authority
express some support for the mass killer of
thousands of innocent men, women and children,
Osama bin
Laden.
- A Year After Iraq War
- survey, March 16, 2004
- The majority in Pakistan and Jordan have a favourable view of
Osama bin Laden.
- The majority who expressed an opinion in Morocco
have a favourable view of
Osama bin Laden.
- Supporting Saddam Hussein
- Pew survey, May 2003,
reported in International Herald Tribune,
June 3, 2003
(here and
here).
-
The majority in
Turkey,
Indonesia, Pakistan, Jordan
and the Palestinian Authority
said the Iraqis were worse off
without the genocidal tyrant Saddam Hussein.
-
The majority in
Turkey, Indonesia, Pakistan, Lebanon, Jordan,
Morocco and the Palestinian Authority
were disappointed that Iraq did not put up
more of a fight.
- Supporting the Iraqi fascist "resistance"
- A Year After Iraq War
- survey, March 16, 2004
- The majority in Jordan support suicide bombing of
the American liberators of Iraq.
- The majority in Morocco support suicide bombing of
the American liberators of Iraq.
- The majority who expressed an opinion
in Pakistan support suicide bombing of
the American liberators of Iraq.
-
40 percent of Indonesian Muslims
would use violence against those blaspheming Islam.
- Poll in Egypt, think 2006
- Which country do you most hate? Top answer - USA.
- In which country would you most like to live? Top answer - USA.
-
Decrease in Islamic support for terror, 2005.
Far from "inflaming" the Islamic world,
America and Israel's responses to 9/11 and the intifada
have caused reduced support for terror, not increased.
This is really good news.
The left was wrong again.
- There are some problems with the survey.
The survey only asked about suicide attacks on civilians in general.
If it asked about suicide attacks on Jews,
or on American civilians, I'm sure the numbers would have been
much higher.
- The majority in Jordan support
suicide bombing and other violence against civilians.
- The majority in Morocco support
suicide bombing in Iraq.
- The majority in Pakistan and Jordan support Osama bin Laden.
- The responses are slightly confused.
How can you support bin Laden
or the Iraqi resistance if you don't support attacks on civilians?
Perhaps the explanation is that support for the jihad against foreign infidels is still high,
but Muslims are starting to get
worried about terrorism coming close to home.
The neo-con plan for the Iraq War
- to fight the war in the Middle East rather than in the streets
and shopping malls of America
- seems to be working.
- The survey also needs to cover Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Sudan to get the full picture.
I'm sure the numbers in Saudi Arabia in particular would be
much higher.
- In summary, a more detailed survey needs to be carried out.
But even based on these questions, it looks like a downwards trend.
- The bombings in Jordan, 2005
- A lot of Palestinians died in the
Islamofascist bombings in Jordan, 2005.
And all of a sudden,
Palestinians expressed outrage over suicide attacks aimed at civilians.
Incredible.
But of course by "civilians" they mean Muslims.
-
No, scratch that.
These same Islamofascist bombers have been killing Iraqi Muslims by the thousand,
to Palestinian applause.
By "civilians" they mean Palestinian Muslims.
-
Palestinians Taste Their Own Medicine
- Daniel Pipes
on the Jordan bombings.
"And, guess what: they did not like it.
...
Will the Palestinians' shameful love affair with suicide killings and "martyrdom"
diminish after the atrocity in Amman? Might a taste of their own medicine teach them
that what goes around comes around? That barbarism ultimately visits the barbarians too?"
-
Survey of Egypt, Morocco, Pakistan and Indonesia, Apr 2007
- 91 percent in Egypt support attacks on US troops in Iraq.
- 91 percent in Egypt support attacks on US troops in Afghanistan.
- 68 percent in Morocco support attacks on US troops in Iraq.
- 61 percent in Morocco support attacks on US troops in Afghanistan.
- 25 percent in Egypt support Al Qaeda attacks.
A further 31 percent say they oppose its methods
but agree with Al Qaeda's attitudes.
- 40 percent of Egyptians have "positive" feelings towards Bin Laden.
- Only 2 percent in Pakistan say Al Qaeda carried out 9/11.
27 percent say the U.S. government did it.
7 percent say Israel did it.
- 29 percent of Egyptians say Israel carried out 9/11.
- 79 percent in Pakistan agree "strongly" or "somewhat"
that there should be strict sharia in all Muslim countries.
- 76 percent in Morocco agree "strongly" or "somewhat"
that there should be strict sharia in all Muslim countries.
- 74 percent in Egypt agree "strongly" or "somewhat"
that there should be strict sharia in all Muslim countries.
- There are some positive things in the above survey too.
I have just highlighted the most disturbing findings.
The Islamic world clearly has a long way to go.
-
Pew Survey of Muslim countries, July 2007.
This is good news. The tide is turning against Bin Laden and his Islamic fascists.
Their revolution will never happen. The jihadis are dying for nothing.
Muslim societies continue, it is true,
to have large numbers of supporters of Islamic terror.
But the civilized Muslims are slowly winning the argument.
- Back in 2002:
- 74 percent of Lebanese supported suicide bombing of civilians.
- 47 percent of Nigerians supported suicide bombing of civilians.
- 44 percent in Bangladesh supported suicide bombing of civilians.
- 43 percent of Jordanians supported suicide bombing of civilians.
- 33 percent of Pakistanis supported suicide bombing of civilians.
- Now in 2007:
- 42 percent of Nigerians support suicide bombing of civilians.
- 34 percent of Lebanese support suicide bombing of civilians.
- 23 percent of Jordanians support suicide bombing of civilians.
- 20 percent in Bangladesh support suicide bombing of civilians.
- 9 percent of Pakistanis support suicide bombing of civilians.
- 8 percent of Egyptians support suicide bombing of civilians.
- Back in 2003:
- 72 percent of Palestinians supported Bin Laden.
- 59 percent of Indonesians supported Bin Laden.
- 56 percent of Jordanians supported Bin Laden.
- 46 percent of Pakistanis supported Bin Laden.
- 20 percent of Lebanese supported Bin Laden.
- Now in 2007:
- 57 percent of Palestinians support Bin Laden.
- 41 percent of Indonesians support Bin Laden.
- 38 percent of Pakistanis support Bin Laden.
- 20 percent of Jordanians support Bin Laden.
- 1 percent of Lebanese support Bin Laden.
- As I said, all over the world, ordinary people
have disgusting and sick political opinions.
That's the way
the world is.
That's the way
it's always been.
That's why history is such a bloodbath.
- Remember that despite the disgusting opinions
of their fellow Muslims, who did nothing to help them
and everything to stop them being helped,
most Iraqis support the war on Iraq
and are grateful to America for ignoring the
ignorant voices of the Islamic world.
- Opinion Polls in Iraq
show a new type of Muslim emerging in the Middle East
- one who rejects the failed ideas of Islamist fascism
and Arab nationalist fascism,
and wants democracy instead.
Palestinians dance in the streets to
celebrate the 9/11 killings
of thousands of innocent American civilians
-
3000 men, women and children age from 2 to 85.
Unknown picture credits.
I am using these pictures
of a non-repeatable historical event
for the purposes of illustrative comment and criticism
on a personal, non-profit, political commentary site.
Many other political blogs do the same.
I am not sure if this
constitutes
fair use.
If not, please contact me
and I will remove them.
This is a crisis caused by the Islamic world.
It is not the fault of the West.
One of the most depressing aspects of this crisis
has been how little soul-searching there has been
in Islam since September 11th.
There has been depressingly little discussion
among Muslims
of what is wrong
with the Islamic world
to have: (a) produced these evil butchers,
and: (b) to have so many poor and unfree countries.
Apart from a couple of days pause,
there has been just the same old Islamic arrogance,
as if it's the West that has to apologise
for being rich and free.
-
Identifying Moderate Muslims
by Daniel Pipes
-
Muslims against Islamofascism
(and here)
- The crackpot sites of Harun Yahya
illustrate clearly the state of denial
of so much of the Islamic world:
- Abd al-Hamid al-Ansari
of Qatar
(and here)
-
Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy
- A Memo to American Muslims
(and discussion)
by Muqtedar Khan
- "Muslims love to live in the U.S. but also love to hate it. Many openly claim that the U.S. is a terrorist state
but they continue to live in it. Their decision to live here is testimony that they would rather live here than
anywhere else. As an Indian Muslim, I know for sure that nowhere on earth, including India, will I get the
same sense of dignity and respect that I have received in the U.S."
- "It is time that we acknowledge that the freedoms we enjoy in the US are more desirable to us than superficial solidarity with the Muslim World. If you disagree
than prove it by packing your bags and going to whichever Muslim country you identify with."
-
What Muslims should have done since 9/11
- "Imagine that a sect of fanatical Jews blew up three American buildings,
killing thousands. Imagine that this sect of Jews issued a declaration of holy war
on the United States, in the name of Judaism."
- "What do you think would have been the response of the rest of the Jews in America
and around the world? Our ears would have been deafened by the roar of Jews' moral outrage,
their resounding support for America, and their demands for the destruction
of the radical sect. You wouldn't be able to turn around in NYC or any urban center
without seeing Jews wearing some insignia to show their love for America
and hatred for the sect. There would be endless TV spots sponsored by Jewish organizations,
there would be T-shirts with "Those killers aren't Jews,"
there would be multitudes of young Jews volunteering to go into the military
to fight the sect."
- Why didn't Muslims do this?
The solution
- The Islamic world must change.
America and the
West must assert themselves.
It is sad, given its current state,
to think that
the Middle East was once
the greatest place on earth
- the centre of human civilization,
the heart of all human knowledge.
Will it ever be a great place again?
Only if it changes its entire present culture,
which may not involve abandoning Islam,
but will certainly involve becoming more secular.
The Great Pyramid of Giza, Egypt.
For nearly 4,000 years
this was the
world's tallest building
(from c.2570 BC to c.1300 AD).
Photo 2005 by Nina Aldin Thune.
See terms of use.
Egypt's lost glory:
Egypt
was once the greatest country on earth,
at the vanguard of humanity's glorious civilization.
And then the torch passed to other places,
and Egyptians adopted ideas of little importance to human progress.
It is sad to consider Egypt now,
compared with what it once was.
Even the discovery of Egypt's glorious past
was done by westerners
-
not by Egyptians, who were largely uninterested in the topic.
Let us hope that some day Egypt and other Middle Eastern countries
are again at the frontier of human thought.
For that ever to happen, they must change, and abandon the culture
of their ancestors.
"Helping construct a stable democracy after decades of dictatorship is a
massive undertaking. Yet we have a great advantage. Whenever people are
given a choice in the matter, they prefer lives of freedom to lives of fear.
Our enemies in Iraq are good at filling hospitals, but they do not build any.
They can incite men to murder and suicide, but they cannot inspire men to
live, and hope, and add to the progress of their country. The terrorists' only influence is violence, and their only agenda is death.
Our agenda, in contrast, is freedom and independence, security and prosperity for the Iraqi people.
...
Our coalition has a clear goal, understood by all
- to see the Iraqi people in charge of Iraq for the first time in generations.
Like every nation that has
made the journey to democracy, Iraqis will raise up a government that reflects their own culture and values. I sent American
troops to Iraq to defend our security, not to stay as an occupying power. I sent American troops to Iraq to make its people free,
not to make them American. Iraqis will write their own history, and find their own way. As they do, Iraqis can be certain, a free
Iraq will always have a friend in the United States of America.
We believe that when all Middle Eastern peoples are finally allowed to live and think and work and
worship as free men and women, they will reclaim the greatness of their own heritage. And when that day comes, the bitterness
and burning hatreds that feed terrorism will fade and die away. America and all the world will be safer when hope has returned to
the Middle East."
-
George W. Bush, May 2004,
on Iraq.
Such incredible generosity in saying
"Iraq will always have a friend in the United States of America" -
after Iraq had threatened the USA and its allies
for so many years.
America is fast to forgive, once a country changes.
If the Arab Middle East can only change
and adopt
democracy, everyone can be free, rich allies of America.
Heaven on earth
is there for the taking.
Return to Islamic Fascism page.
