{"id":1020,"date":"2010-12-21T22:50:17","date_gmt":"2010-12-21T22:50:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/victorhanson.com.108-166-28-151.mdgnetworks.com\/wordpress\/?p=1020"},"modified":"2013-03-04T22:51:10","modified_gmt":"2013-03-04T22:51:10","slug":"swedish-jihad-revelations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/swedish-jihad-revelations\/","title":{"rendered":"Swedish Jihad Revelations"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Raymond Ibrahim<\/p>\n

Hudson New York<\/p>\n

Back in 2004, in one of his most recognized messages to America,\u00a0Osama bin Laden<\/a>, responding to then President George Bush Jr.’s claims that\u00a0al Qaeda hates freedom<\/a>, rhetorically asked, “If so [if al Qaeda hates freedom], let him [Bush] explain to us why we have not attacked Sweden, for example.”<\/p>\n

Days ago, on December 11, an\u00a0al Qaeda<\/a>\u00a0affiliated suicide bomber attacked Sweden \u2014 the first terrorist attack in Sweden in three decades, and its first ever suicide attack. The attempt largely failed (only the bomber died, two Swedes were injured). Even so, it “could have been truly catastrophic,” said one official.<\/p>\n

So much for Sweden epitomizing al Qaeda’s “respect” for freedom. Why the change in policy? In fact, according to an\u00a0audio-recording<\/a>\u00a0issued by the terrorists minutes before the attack, the vitriol is such that “all mujahadeen [jihadists] in Europe and Sweden” are to prepare for action: “Now is the time to strike, don’t wait any longer.”<\/p>\n

Would-be future jihadists were further advised to attack with “whatever you have, even if it is a knife” \u2014 a bag of nails was found near the body of the suicide bomber \u2014 indicating that the jihadists may have been taking lessons from al Qaeda’s popular online magazine,\u00a0Inspire<\/em><\/a>, which, among other things, offers creative tips on how to transform household items into lethal weapons.<\/p>\n

As for motives, according to the audio-recording, there are three: Sweden will be a target of the jihad “as long as you do not [1] end your war against Islam and [2] humiliation of the Prophet and [3] your stupid support for the pig Vilks.”<\/p>\n

The first point \u2014 “war against Islam” \u2014 appears to be a reference to Sweden’s 500 troop presence in Afghanistan. Yet Sweden is only one of nearly fifty\u00a0countries<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 including Muslim ones \u2014 to have a presence in Afghanistan; Turkey alone has contributed nearly four times as many troops. And most of these nations have not (yet) been targeted. Moreover, Sweden has been a\u00a0troop contributing nation<\/a>\u00a0since July 24, 2003 \u2014 well over a year before Osama portrayed it as a neutral country, undeserving of attack. (Perhaps he meant Switzerland, which is known for its neutrality, and is often conflated with Sweden by Middle Easterners?)<\/p>\n

The second and third reasons cited \u2014 “humiliation of the Prophet” and “support for Vilks” \u2014 are one and the same and, in fact, the immediate reason behind the attack. Context: back in 2007, Swedish artist Lars Vilks drew unflattering caricatures of the Muslim prophet Muhammad. Since then,\u00a0al Qaeda<\/a>\u00a0has set a bounty on him (the reward increases if he is “slaughtered like a lamb”); he has already been physically assaulted and his house nearly burned down.<\/p>\n

Swedish freedom of speech and expression, then, is what prompted the attack. In fact, eliminating Western freedoms \u2014 or at least conforming them to the dictates of sharia law, which, among other things, forbid mockery of Muhammad \u2014 is a longstanding Islamist goal. Nor is it limited to violence; rather, the West’s very legal system is being exploited, through Islamist “lawfare” designed to censor free speech concerning Islam (prompting countermeasures such as the Middle East Forum’s\u00a0Legal Project<\/a>).<\/p>\n

More generally speaking, when assessing why jihadists attack this or that country, there are other factors to consider, such as capability and timing (“Now is the time to strike, don’t wait any longer,” said the recording). The fact is, from an Islamist point of view, Sweden has long been deserving of attack, simply for contributing the 500 troops to Afghanistan \u2014 just as the nearly fifty contributing nations are all fair game.<\/p>\n

More to the point, even the most neutral country that has no dealings with Islam is a potential target; if and when it gets attacked is based on if and when the Islamic world resurrects the caliphate \u2014 again, capability and timing being the ultimate determinants. Once a militarily capable caliphate is established,offensive jihad<\/a>\u00a0to subject the world to Islamic dominion becomes no less obligatory than stifling mockery of Muhammad. In short, it is not about what this or that country does; Islamist animosity for infidels is intrinsic, kept at bay only by circumstance.<\/p>\n

And so, to respond to Osama bin Laden’s 2004 question “why we [al Qaeda] have not attacked Sweden,” the answer is \u2014 because the time was not quite right then.<\/p>\n

\u00a92010 Raymond Ibrahim<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Raymond Ibrahim Hudson New York Back in 2004, in one of his most recognized messages to America,\u00a0Osama bin Laden, responding to then President George Bush Jr.’s claims that\u00a0al Qaeda hates freedom, rhetorically asked, “If so [if al Qaeda hates freedom], let him [Bush] explain to us why we have not attacked Sweden, for example.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[227,470],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p466Sb-gs","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3249,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/al-qaeda-and-the-election\/","url_meta":{"origin":1020,"position":0},"title":"Al Qaeda and the Election","author":"victorhanson","date":"October 31, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond Ibrahim The American Thinker Is al Qaeda trying to influence the American presidential election? 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After describing al Qaeda's recent attacks in the Middle East (Yemen, Pakistan), Clarke stated that these strikes may have been\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Raymond Ibrahim"","block_context":{"text":"Raymond Ibrahim","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/our-contributors\/raymond-ibrahim\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6324,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/al-qaeda-flag-flies-high-above-christian-churches\/","url_meta":{"origin":1020,"position":1},"title":"Al Qaeda Flag Flies High Above Christian Churches","author":"victorhanson","date":"August 9, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond Ibrahim \/\/\u00a0Gatestone Institute \u00a0 Days ago, al-Qaeda\u2019s Egyptian leader, Ayman Zawahiri,\u00a0portrayed\u00a0\u00a0the overthrow of Muhammad Morsi and the Brotherhood as a \u201cCrusader\u201d campaign led by Coptic Pope Tawadros II who, according to Zawahiri and other terrorists, is trying to create a Coptic state in Egypt. 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A\u00a0new article\u00a0by Thomas Hegghammer in the\u00a0Times Literary Supplement, entitled \u201cJihadi studies: the obstacles to understanding radical Islam and the opportunities to know it better,\u201d lives up to its title \u2014 not so much by\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Raymond Ibrahim"","block_context":{"text":"Raymond Ibrahim","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/our-contributors\/raymond-ibrahim\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3075,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/bin-laden-and-the-eternal-hydra-of-war\/","url_meta":{"origin":1020,"position":5},"title":"Bin Laden and the Eternal Hydra of War","author":"victorhanson","date":"May 20, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond Ibrahim Hudson New York As we ponder the significance of Osama bin Laden's death, it is well to reflect that Islamists are not the\u00a0cause\u00a0of hostilities; they are but\u00a0symptoms\u00a0of a much greater cause. 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