| Subject: Bin Ladin unwise to call this a religious war |
Author:
Mark
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Date Posted: 23:41:03 11/03/01 Sat
It is foolish for Bin Ladin to call for a religious war with "Christians" or for a war "with the West."
The danger is that the West and Christians will agree that is the war. In raw terms, the "West" and "Christians" could completely obliterate the Muslim world in a "real war".
The folly of Bin Ladin is a believe that the West does not have the stomach for war. The history of the West is the history of war, genocidal, massive destructive wars, for thousands of years. Thus, the worse mistake possible would be actually convince either the "Western Christian" world or the Muslim and Middle Eastern world that this is "War".
The reliance of Bin Ladin, of course, is that the West will not REALLY go to war, rather to a police action.
There are a few other foolish mistakes of Bin Ladin and his radical followers. The West is entirely disinterested in "religion" and in general religion is only a minor subset in the view of most Westerns. No Christians want any war over religion, they just don't care that much about it. Again, the Muslim world should be glad that Christians and Jews do not want a religious war. Afterall, Muslims took by war and hold the original sites of Western Christianity (Haga Sopia) and of Jews (the temple). And neither make any attempt to take either back.
Bin Ladin probably could appeal to "Arab" and "Muslim" pride far more successfully, than religious reasons.
The other element of radical Muslims seeking a holy war with the West is to fail to understand the West is highly sophisticated in "war" - dragging it on forever in nearly unfathomably complex mixes of economics, politics, brokering, loans, military machines, covert and overt actions of all kinds - THIS is how the West prevails.
He truly fails to understand that the USA is a mongrel socieity - race and religion - of every imaginable kind, and in many ways proud of it's "melting pot" culture. There in lies the real power of the USA even over the rest of the West. The USA has the strengths (and knowledge) of every culture and every religion - therefore on every level can reach into every part of the world.
Bin Ladin is a dinasaur - calling for a Muslim crusade against the West - a crusade brought to a standstill by the French at the Battle of Tours and then, in the aftermath of WWII was won by the West for reasons of economics - religion irrelevant. The Muslim world can not win a religious war or a war with the West, any more than it can win a war with the whole world.
Bin Ladin talks of unfairness - for which the American motto is "life is unfair, deal with it"... The real problem high profile terrorists cause the Muslim world is it prohibits Muslims from gaining any power outside the Muslim world. There are thousands and thousands of African, Jewish, Asian, European, and South/Central American surnamed government officials, judges, executives and every other position of power in the USA, but virtual none of Arab surnamed - because people just "feel' like they are "foreign" in negative ways.
This keeps the Muslim world from having REAL influence in the West and the USA. So, instead, we bomb terrorists, while breaking the oil cartel in the process, and again become the power broker in the mix of vastly superior military, economic and political power the USA possesses.
Bin Ladin, candidly, also was premature. Apparently he lacked the resources for serious, sustained terrorist attacks - rather just enough to keep the West and USA fired up enough to engage in a war. To understand the difference in "might" between the USA and the Taliban, for example, is to understand that while the Taliban now fights for it's very existence, the "war" is only a topic for discussion for most Americans - little other effect on our lives at all.
The real power of the West in Central Asia and the Middle East is in the perpetual chaos there. With the USA, virtually every Western, Asian, Russia, China, India and Middle East country now in this conflict, the chaos continues.
Finally, this "WE ARE MUSLIMS!!" cry coming from the poorest regions in the world, has much to do with why it remains poor - and poor nations are inherently weak nations.
The Islam religion as practiced (or sold) in the Middle East and Asia has been reduced to a religion of ignorance, bigotry and failure - where in it's glory years it was a religion of tolerance, scientific and economic genious, and study.
Wearing 16th century clothing, following exorbitantly oppressive treatment of women, demanding people follow religion blindly and stupidly as sheep - all block the education and advancement of the culture and society. It is guarenteed failure, poverty and inferior status in the world. Then, such as Bin Ladin, roar angrily that life is unfair because 400 year old social, economic and ideological practices no longer work.
But, on the bottomline, the worst reality for the Muslim world would be if the Christian West decide this really is a war between "Us" and "Arabs". If anyone questions the West will fight a savage war, study our war history. We destroy entire cities in a single day, battles with daily causualties into the thousands, and total war production of weapons at astronomical rates.
And, notably, tonight, an poll showed that 57% of Americans now favor using nuclear weapons against the Taliban, over 60% favor total war against Saddam Hussein, and over 70% favor blocking all Arab visas and visitors to the USA. This is not a defeat of the USA - but a disaster for the Arab Muslim world.
The USA, Russia, China, "the West", are, once again, figuring how they will manipulate and divide up this region of the unstable, dangerous Muslim world to keep it in check in "balances of power" between the factions. Those who follow Bin Ladin's reasoning are just fools.
Bin Ladin and those of his views are the worst enemies Muslim Arabs have.
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