by Bruce S. Thornton<\/p>\n
Private Papers<\/em><\/p>\n T<\/span>he website of the\u00a0Director of National Intelligence<\/a>\u00a0just published\u00a0a letter<\/a>from Al Qaeda\u2019s number two leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the head-terrorist in Iraq. This document repays careful reading, for it explodes much of the received wisdom many people rely on in making sense of jihadist terror.<\/p>\n According to this standard interpretation, Islamic terror is the handiwork of a fanatic minority that has \u201chighjacked\u201d and distorted Islamic doctrine. These medieval throwbacks gain traction from the political autocracy and oppression that dominate the Muslim governments in the Middle East, regimes that cannot provide the freedom and prosperity that would eliminate the frustration and despair breeding terrorist violence. The leftist variation of this analysis lays the blame on Israeli oppression of the Palestinians, and Western, particularly American, imperialist and colonialist misdeeds in the region. Either way, the underlying assumption is that jihadist terror is a sort of cultural neurosis arising in reaction to political or material circumstances. Thus the cure for the terrorist \u201cdisease\u201d must be found in improving those circumstances: installing democratic governments or compelling Israel to surrender Judea and Samaria (aka the \u201coccupied West Bank\u201d) so that a Palestinian state can be created.<\/p>\n Zawahiri\u2019s letter, however, offers little that squares with this received wisdom. Its shrewd analysis and careful argument are the signs not of a wild-eyed religious fanatic but of a thinker shaped by his religion\u2019s history and spiritual imperatives. Indeed, Zawahiri is very clear about the traditional jihadist motivation, one that is\u00a0not<\/i>\u00a0a mere reaction to Western misdeeds or a distortion of Islam, but rather squarely in its history and traditional values: the eventual triumph of the true faith over \u201catheism\u201d and \u201cpolytheism,\u201d the latter term code for Christianity. Thus the struggle in Iraq is the site of \u201cthe greatest battle of Islam in this era,\u201d another in a long series of \u201cepic battles between Islam and atheism.\u201d However, in Zawahiri\u2019s analysis, \u201cthe victory of Islam will never take place until a Muslim state is established in the manner of the Prophet in the heart of the Islamic world.\u201d For only then can the caliphate ultimately be reestablished: \u201cThe goal in this age,\u201d Zawahiri writes, \u201cis the establishment of a caliphate in the manner of the Prophet.\u201d The terror of the insurgents in Iraq is a \u201clarge step directly towards that goal.\u201d<\/p>\n Rather than a localized response to American-Zionist imperial adventurism, then, the insurgency in Iraq according to Zawahiri is merely the means to achieving the first of several \u201cincremental goals\u201d aimed at the eventual establishment of the caliphate throughout the \u201cheart of the Islamic world,\u201d that is the whole Middle East. The first \u201cgoal\u201d is to \u201cexpel the Americans from Iraq\u201d as a necessary precondition to creating \u201can Islamic authority or amirate [province],\u201d one that will have no truck with infidel Western notions of secular democracy or human rights. Note well: the insurgents are murdering and maiming\u00a0not<\/i>\u00a0in reaction to Abu Graib,\u00a0not<\/i>\u00a0to forestall Western control over oil reserves,\u00a0not<\/i>\u00a0out of frustration with Israel\u2019s defensive wall,\u00a0not<\/i>\u00a0for any of the reasons we in the West cook up out of our own materialist prejudices, but for a spiritual goal: the fulfillment of Allah\u2019s will that the traditional lands once conquered by his armies and subjected to Islam be restored to rule by adherents of the true faith.<\/p>\n After this goal is achieved, the \u201cthird stage\u201d will involve expanding \u201cthe jihad wave to the secular countries neighboring Iraq.\u201d And then will come the final stage: \u201cthe clash with Israel.\u201d Zawahiri\u2019s references to Israel are significant, and make clear that despite years of propaganda in which Palestinian frustrated \u201cnationalist aspirations\u201d are trotted out as excuses for murder, it is Israel\u2019s very existence, no matter what it does, that makes its elimination necessary. As Zawahiri puts it, Palestine is the \u201cheart\u201d of a \u201cbird\u201d whose wings are Syria and Egypt. The Western powers understood the strategic importance of this location for destroying the unity of the Muslim-Arab world; hence, \u201cthey did not establish Israel in this triangle surrounded by Egypt and Syria and overlooking the Hijaz [western Saudi Arabia containing Mecca and Medina] except for their own interests.\u201d<\/p>\n In other words, Israel is simply a weapon in the war of the infidel against Islam, an outpost of the West as much as were the medieval Crusader kingdoms, a state \u201cestablished only to challenge any new Islamic entity.\u201d That is why Israel must go, not because it has prevented the Palestinians from creating a state. Indeed, Zawahiri implicitly rejects the \u201cnationalist\u201d interpretation of the struggle against Israel: \u201cIt is strange that the Arab nationalists also have, despite their avoidance of Islamic practice, come to comprehend the great importance of this province [Palestine] . . . They have come to comprehend the goal of planting Israel in this region, and they are not misled in this, rather they have admitted their ignorance of the religious nature of this conflict.\u201d<\/p>\n Nor is this interpretation the idiosyncratic obsession of a crank, as the existence of numerous Palestinian jihadist terror organizations attests. The West\u2019s failure to recognize that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is an episode in the centuries-long spiritual struggle between Islam and the \u201cinfidels\u201d continues to this day, as we see with the vast hopes pinned on Mahmoud Abbas and democratic elections, all the while organizations like Hamas, committed like Zawahiri to the destruction of Israel, continue to enjoy significant support among Palestinian Arabs and to function as an autonomous state-within-a-state. The creation of a Palestinian state, then, is merely a stage towards that eventual \u201cclash with Israel\u201d Zawahiri speaks of. Until we recognize this spiritual motivation and compel the presumed \u201cmoderates\u201d who sincerely reject it to act on their beliefs \u2013\u2013 more bluntly, to destroy the armed terrorists\u2013\u2013 there will be no solution to that crisis that does not leave Israel vulnerable.<\/p>\n Z<\/span>awahiri understands that the pursuit of this traditional Islamic goal must take place in a modern world in which the infidels have an overwhelming military superiority. This means that the struggle must be carried on at the psychological and perceptual level as well. He understands that \u201chalf of this battle is taking place in the battlefield of the media\u201d in a \u201crace for the hearts and minds of our Umma [the whole Muslim community].\u201d Suicide attacks on Shiites in Iraq, then, are condemned not on moral or religious grounds, but as tactical errors in the battle for \u201chearts and minds.\u201d Why a gory beheading when \u201cwe can kill the captives by a bullet. That would achieve that which is sought after without exposing ourselves to the questions and answering to doubts.\u201d As we have seen repeatedly in Israel, terrorist murder is condemned on tactical, not moral, grounds. Always the larger goal, the restoration of Islamic dominance, is the only standard by which to judge any action.<\/p>\n Finally, Zawahiri makes it clear that the Islamic arrogant assurance of its spiritual superiority and righteousness is validated by the corresponding spiritual dysfunction of an American society that puts material comfort and security ahead of everything else. Zawahiri\u2019s confidence that the \u201cAmericans will exit soon,\u201d as he puts it, and so planning should commence for the political order that will arise upon their departure, is confirmed for him historically by Vietnam: \u201cThe aftermath of the collapse of American power in Vietnam \u2013\u2013 and how they ran and left their agents \u2013\u2013 is noteworthy.\u201d Indeed it is, but not for the false \u201cquagmire\u201d analogy trotted out periodically by those opposed to the war in Iraq. Rather, the significance of Vietnam lies in how the United States, as a South Vietnamese defense minister put it, \u201csnatched defeat from the jaws of victory.\u201d<\/p>\n In other words, military power may have succeeded in turning back the North Vietnamese, but political and moral weakness undid all the gains earned by the sacrifice of 60,000 American lives and millions of Vietnamese. As Zawahiri indicates, the lesson was learned by our enemies: make enough Americans uncomfortable, disturb their leisure and sensibilities with enough grisly images helpfully broadcast by their own media, and eventually they will cut and run. And indeed, if we were to abandon Iraq after suffering there about the same number of deaths as we did in two months in Vietnam, such abandonment would confirm for the jihadists their estimation of our spiritual corruption.<\/p>\n Over and over the jihadist enemy tells us why he wants to kill us, and over and over we dismiss his words or reduce them to our own categories. Paralyzed by our fear of being \u201cinsensitive\u201d to cultural differences, and deluded by our materialist preconceptions that reduce religion to an expression of some more \u201creal\u201d cause, we refuse to name clearly the enemy: an Islamic faith that for centuries has killed, enslaved, plundered, ravaged, and conquered in the service of its arrogant assurance of its spiritual superiority.<\/p>\n \u00a92005 Bruce Thornton<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Zawahiri boasts strategy for “victory of Islam.” by Bruce S. Thornton Private Papers The website of the\u00a0Director of National Intelligence\u00a0just published\u00a0a letterfrom Al Qaeda\u2019s number two leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the head-terrorist in Iraq.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","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":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[22,784],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p466Sb-1m3","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6321,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-return-of-al-qaeda-and-jihad\/","url_meta":{"origin":5211,"position":0},"title":"The Return of Al Qaeda and Jihad","author":"victorhanson","date":"August 9, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond Ibrahim \/\/\u00a0FrontPage Magazine With the ousting of Muhammad Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, al-Qaeda has been vindicated and the terror-jihad exonerated, in the opinion of many Islamists, that is. According to the\u00a0Associated Press, in a new video, al-Qaeda leader Ayman Zawahiri \u201csaid the military coup that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Muslim Brotherhood"","block_context":{"text":"Muslim Brotherhood","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/the-world\/the-middle-east\/muslim-brotherhood\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3088,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-fellow-travelers-of-jihadism\/","url_meta":{"origin":5211,"position":1},"title":"The Fellow Travelers of Jihadism","author":"victorhanson","date":"May 17, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bruce S. Thornton Advancing a Free Society The post-mortem revelations of Osama bin Laden\u2019s daily habits have confirmed the orthodox narrative about the al-Qaeda chief. Rather than a traditionalist conservative Muslim, bin Laden has been caricatured as a mentally unstable fringe figure, a narcissistic megalomaniac who \u201chighjacked\u201d Islamic doctrine\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Bruce S. Thornton"","block_context":{"text":"Bruce S. Thornton","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/our-contributors\/bruce-s-thornton\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1358,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-dangers-of-democracy\/","url_meta":{"origin":5211,"position":2},"title":"The Dangers of Democracy","author":"victorhanson","date":"December 1, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bruce S. Thornton FrontPage Magazine The parliamentary elections that have begun in Egypt will impress only the most starry-eyed of democracy champions. These are the people who, like Senator Joe Lieberman, think that the \u201cArab Spring\u201d is all about people \u201cdemanding lives of democracy, dignity, economic opportunity, and involvement\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Muslim Brotherhood"","block_context":{"text":"Muslim Brotherhood","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/the-world\/the-middle-east\/muslim-brotherhood\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2532,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/al-qaedas-zawahiri-bigger-threat-than-osama\/","url_meta":{"origin":5211,"position":3},"title":"Al Qaeda’s Zawahiri, Bigger Threat Than Osama?","author":"victorhanson","date":"July 17, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond Ibrahim Bloomberg Now that Ayman Zawahiri has assumed leadership of al Qaeda, it is important to end the widespread perception that he is a dour intellectual who is disconnected from young, would-be jihadists. The fact is, Zawahiri is a wily,dangerous\u00a0and imposing leader who should be considered no less\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Egypt"","block_context":{"text":"Egypt","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/the-world\/the-middle-east\/egypt\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8530,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-presidents-looking-glass-islamic-world\/","url_meta":{"origin":5211,"position":4},"title":"THE PRESIDENT\u2019S LOOKING-GLASS ISLAMIC WORLD","author":"victorhanson","date":"July 13, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Obama may have forgotten about \u201cwar with Islam,\u201d but war with Islam has not forgotten about him. by Bruce S. Thornton \/\/ FrontPage Magazine President Obama recently gave a speech at the Pentagon about our efforts against ISIS that confirmed he has little awareness of the real world our enemies\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Religion"","block_context":{"text":"Religion","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/religion\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"rfr","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/rfr-500x281.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6973,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/al-qaeda-the-defender-of-christians\/","url_meta":{"origin":5211,"position":5},"title":"Al Qaeda: The Defender of Christians?","author":"victorhanson","date":"February 4, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond Ibrahim \/\/\u00a0RaymondIbrahim.com\u00a0 Muslim persecution of Christians is the \u201cAchilles Heel\u201d of the global Islamic movement\u2019s image\u2014the surest way of exposing its supremacist and intolerant elements and one of the main reasons the major media and establishment rarely report or address it. 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