Osama bin Laden is dead. But revolutionary Islamism is very much alive and stronger than ever. Thinking that bin Laden is the main problem and his death is the solution is very dangerous indeed and might well intensify the policies that have been leading toward the victory of his cause, though not his specific movement.
It is easy to forget that when bin Laden came on the scene revolutionary Islamism was in retreat. True, Iran was ruled by a revolutionary Islamist regime but that government had failed to extend the revolution overseas very much despite its best efforts. Another such regime, the Taliban, came to power in remote Afghanistan.
But by the end of the 1990s, revolutionary Islamism wasn’t doing so well. The reason was that its strategy was to overthrow Arab governments from within. There had been civil wars in Algeria, Egypt, Lebanon, and to a lesser extent in other places. The existing dictatorships, however, had repressed them.
So bin Laden came along with a different approach. If direct attacks on non-Islamist governments in Muslim-majority countries didn’t work, he proposed an international movement that would raise revolutionary enthusiasm by attacking the West.
One doesn’t have to isolate a single reason for this targeting. The West represented democracy and modernity, a licentious freedom and secularism that bin Laden and his comrades detested. They also hated Western policies, especially the support of Middle Eastern regimes to which these Islamists attributed their own inability to win.
While Israel was one of these countries, prior to September 11, bin Laden’s movement was more concerned about Saudi Arabia and Egypt. It also spoke a great deal about an alleged genocide in Iraq due to sanctions. And finally, it wanted to hit the West to show that it was a paper tiger and could be defeated. And an overarching factor was that the Islamists did not want the West to serve as role model for the future of their own societies though they feared that this was precisely what was happening.
So bin Laden formed al-Qaeda and took the road to September 11. It is important to understand that al-Qaeda failed as a movement but succeeded in the broadest sense as an idea. Since al-Qaeda was relatively small and eschewed political action and base building for the sole tactic of terrorism, it was relatively easy to repress, though not to eliminate entirely.
The U.S.-led attack on Afghanistan drove it from its home base and killed or captured many of its leaders. Al-Qaeda scattered but that was not such a great disadvantage given its strategy. From Morocco to Somalia, from Indonesia to Western Europe, it continued to stage scattered, but sometimes very bloody attacks. Yet that was the most it could do. In revolutionary terms, al-Qaeda was equivalent to the terrorists of late nineteenth century Europe, the assassins and bomb throwers of anarchism and Russian social revolutionary tradition.
Ah, but who, then, is the Lenin of our day? Just as the anarchist bomb-throwers were a sideshow — however horrific, bloody, and needing to be repressed— the same is true of today.
Al-Qaeda stages individual acts of terrorism. Hamas, Hizballah, the AKP in Turkey, and the Muslim Brotherhoods seize state power. And they do so with the help of Iran and Syria.
That’s power, that’s a threat far exceeding the blowing up of a café or embassy. To take control over the lives of millions of people, to hold assets amounting to billions of dollars, to rule over whole territories and launch full-scale wars, that is power. That is a threat to Western interests, to world stability.
What has happened since September 11, 2001? We can list the terrorist attacks by al-Qaeda and the casualties. And we can list the following not by al-Qaeda:
Read this:
http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=218821&R=R3
Hamas condemns killing of ‘holy warrior’ bin Laden
Hamas condemns ‘assassination’ of ‘holy warrior’ bin Laden
http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=218821
All of a sudden a golden opportunity has presented itself to our political leaders and they should seize the moment NOW. Hamas has allied itself with Al Qaeda and shot itself in the foot . However ignorant the word is,
they cannot ignore that the Palestinian state they are planning to create will be populated by people who support Al Qaeda. Don’t we now have an air tight case against the creation of such a state? It should be clear to our political leaders that we have the moral duty to resist the formation of an Al Qaeda sympathizing state whose religious duty would be to destroy us.
If you put this protoplasmic cretin’s death into perspective, we have taken out the guy at the top of the list of high valued targets and now, al Zawahiri has taken his place. At least I hope he has. The emotional release for people is understandable and I am sure cathartic for many of those who lost loved ones on 9/11 and for those whose loved ones gave their last full measure of devotion. I, too, shed tears when reading the stories of those who died that tragic day and prayed that “our God” would smite this evil man down and asked God how could anyone believe in such evil and think they were doing the work of “their God.” But, as time passed, I began to realize how Osama and his gang of misogynistic followers were changing us and how many little freedoms we have lost and how much our world has changed because of one man’s ideology and ability to inspire others to follow his vision. President Bush pulled no punches as he counseled the nation in a series of speeches before hostilities began as he told us that this war was going to last a long time and possibly for more than 20 years. Personally, I think this war is going to go on for generations. We are in a “War of Civilizations” and OBL’s death is our biggest victory thus far against this fanatical cult of death but, this war is far from over. We have won a battle, more symbolic than strategic when set it against the backdrop of a global clash of civilizations. I pray that I live to see the day when I read the headline declaring Western Civilization the victor against the Islamofascists. Until then, let’s try and keep this wonderful achievement in perspective and stay focused on the real prize – our many freedoms and way of life.
No one in the Obama administration seems to understand that the war on terror is a war against the political culture of the middle east.
Sooner or later the public will.
Put a feather in his cap and call it macaroni.
My God. We have just been treated to a presser by John “al Quds” Brennan where he takes great pains to stress repeatedly the efforts that were taken to provide UBL “a burial consistent with Islamic Law”. In short, this operation was Sharia compliant, brought to you by US intelligence.
Even more nauseating than this treacly Muslim-appeasing jackass, was the fact that the press remained basically incurious about why anyone in the US government, from the president on down, is so concerned about the sensibilities of Muslim terrorists and their abettors. I thought UBL was a profound perverter of Islam. As such, was he really entitled to the sanctities and deference involved in a Sharia funeral. And how just is it to force US servicemen to observe the religious Sharia practices of our barbaric, evil Islamic enemy?
Now that rings the bell!!!
Well said,Morton. I can’t understand why anyone in the U.S. government should have even the slightest concern about the conditions of OBL’s burial.
Victory over the Infidel is a great recruiting tool. Having your visionary leader fed to the fish, not so much.
“What has happened since September 11, 2001?”
We’ve beaten the tar out of two state sponsors of terrorism, are currently bombing a third and we’ve sent thousands of terrorists and their backers straight to hell, or to Gitmo, where they’ve been rotting for years.
The death of Bin Laden, which rid the world of one of its most evil and barbaric men, is cause for celebration. I am upset that anyone in our government and military should care in the slightest whether or not Bin Laden’s lifeless corpse was desposed of according to ritual Islamic burial practices or not. Bin Laden deserved an infidel’s burial in an unmarked grave filled with pig entrails.
It has long been rumored that OBL was near death from renal failure. He may have welcomed the chance to go out fighting as a martyr. The Marines have a useful saying. “A jihadist wants to meet Allah; it is our job to arrange the meeting.” Indeed it is. One is compelled to wonder: why was OBL killed at such an opportune political moment for Obama. Chance? Maybe, maybe not. Time will tell.
Bin Laden’s death is not the end, nor even the end of the beginning of the end of the long twilight struggle against Islam. Madrasas all around the Islamic world are turning out young shahids (believers) by the hundreds of thousands. These schools do not teach math, science, or any other subject useful in the modern world, but teach only Muslim religious law, the Koran, and hatred of the infidel. In short, they are jihad factories.
Killing violent jihadists is one step in the process of defeating the Islamic hordes attacking western civilization. Another is to turn the Islamic world back upon itself, isolating it much as one might quarantine an outbreak of the plague. America and the rest of the nations of the developed, non-Islamic world need to begin speaking softly and carrying a big stick – end immigration from Muslim countries, deport Muslims known to support sharia, and form a cartel controlling sales of food and other necessities that the Islamic states cannot make or supply themselves in sufficient amounts. The barbaric Arab states that support jihad may have lots of oil, but they can’t eat it. Another strategy we need is to unmask Islam as a mere religion, when it is in fact a comprehensive and totalitarian ideology and political system masquerading as a religion. Our traditions and laws compel us to respect privately-practiced religion, but not an enemy ideology not all that dissimilar to Nazism. The non-Muslim world holds some very good cards, and it is high time that we start playing them.
Yes, I think we are all aware that Islamism goes marching on. Allow us our little moment of schadenfreude over the death of the serial mass murderer mastermind of 9/11 (and all the previous atrocities). What bin Laden’s death represents, however, is the recognition that American power is not yet dead or even fatally weakened, and that we have just as much patient determination as those who proclaimed that the world-wide caliphate would triumph if it took a thousand years. We are strong, and it takes a moment like this to remind ourselves of that fact.
What RebeccaH said. I’ll second. And third and forth. Bin Laden was a symbol. And so are we. We won that little war. We aren’t the “weak horse” anymore. And, as she is, I’m enjoying my “little moment of schadenfreude.” As should you all.
I, too am enjoying whatever that ‘German Looking’ word means. I just want to point out that our military hasn’t been weak, but trying to maintain a bit of morality in our battles against our enemies. I think we could mutilate our enemies without nukes, even, however we do have to maintain our moral standings in the eyes of the world. Boots on the ground made yesterday a good one!
It is a grave mistake to think that the assassination of a foreign leader will bring an end to the hostility he evidenced toward the United States. Osama bin Laden was effectively beutralized long before his assassination. Killing him was an expedient solution. The President did not want a continuing debate about what to do with Osama if he had been captured. He wanted a trophy. Unfortunately he will not have the head of Osama mounted on a plaque for the mantel over his fireplace.
Those who believed in Osama are many and they will plan to avenge his death. The President cannot cover all the possibilities. Americans will pay the price for The President’s macho.
Alas, the concept that the war against terror is not just limited to Al-Qaeda seems to be beyond Obama’s super-genius.
Stating the obvious, Barry?
In all fairness, Dr. Rubin, the assassination of Osama bin Laden was a worthwhile and effective achievement, one of the highest order.
Most importantly, Osama bin Laden was a mature, experienced, credible, and charismatic leader who will be hard to replace. No doubt someone will replace him and he too should be killed as soon as possible.
And this is the real lesson of the bin Laden killing, terrorist and rogue leaders, Islamic, Latin American, Iranian, Palestinian, or whatever should be targets for assassination at all times. Many of these leaders are certainly replaceable and thus the same solution should be applied to those who dare to take their place.
Israel has learned the hard way that experienced, mature, charismatic, and credible terrorist leaders are relatively hard to come by and the more the Israelis kill, the fewer are left. And better yet, the more of these terrorist and rogue leaders are killed, the clearer the message is to their wannabe replacements, that is, take over and you too will die.
Osama bin Laden’s followers trusted him completely and knew that whatever he did, or ordered them to do, or asked them to do, was for the “Cause” and not for his personal gain or glory. Thus Osama bin Laden could and did demand that they sacrifice their lives for the “Cause” like on 9/11 and they did. Anyone who takes Osama bin Laden’s place will need to either have proven himself in the past or will have to prove himself now. And bin Laden’s replacement will never have the reputation or the total faith that he, bin Laden, enjoyed.
Now if only the West will learn the proper lesson from the assassination of Osama bin Laden, the way to win the war on terror is to kill the top guys.
I only disagree with you slightly, Ken. Instead of just kill(ing) the top guys, I believe ALL of them need to be killed. There is no other way to destroy the ‘idea’ they serve without going the whole way.
Obama and the Dims are already changing their story.
W.H. modifies bin Laden account
By: Josh Gerstein
May 2, 2011 11:37 PM EDT
The White House backed away Monday evening from key details in its narrative about the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, including claims by senior U.S. officials that the Al Qaeda leader had a weapon and may have fired it during a gun battle with U.S. forces.
Officials also retreated from claims that one of bin Laden’s wives was killed in the raid and that bin Laden was using her as a human shield before she was shot by U.S. forces.
At a televised White House briefing Monday afternoon, Deputy National Security Adviser John Brennan said bin Laden joined in the fight that several residents of the Abbottabad, Pakistan, compound put up against the Navy SEALs during the 40-minute operation.
“He [bin Laden] was engaged in a firefight with those that entered the area of the house he was in. And whether or not he got off any rounds, I quite frankly don’t know,” Brennan said.
At a Pentagon briefing earlier in the day, a senior defense official said bin Laden used a woman as a human shield so he could fire shots. “He was firing behind her,” the official said.
In another background briefing early Monday morning, a senior administration official also said bin Laden put up a fight. “He did resist the assault force. And he was killed in a firefight,” the official said.
However, during a background, off-camera briefing for television reporters later Monday, a senior White House official said bin Laden was not armed when he was killed, apparently by the U.S. raid team.
Another White House official familiar with the TV briefing confirmed the change to POLITICO, adding, “I’m not aware of him having a weapon.”
“The bottom line is the team that entered that room was met with resistance and took appropriate action,” said a third American official.
The White House on Monday night declined to elaborate on the nature of the resistance bin Laden allegedly put up. However, an official confirmed that the Al Qaeda founder was shot twice, once in the head and once in the chest.
At the Monday evening briefing for TV reporters, a senior official also corrected what Brennan described earlier as “my understanding” that the woman who acted as a shield for bin Laden was one of his wives and was killed.
“A different guy’s wife was killed,” a different official familiar with the briefing for TV reporters said Monday night. Bin Laden’s wife was “injured but not killed,” the official said.
Another official familiar with the operation said it did not appear that any woman was used as a human shield, but that the woman killed and the one injured were hurt in the crossfire. The official said he believed Brennan had mixed up the episode involving bin Laden’s wife with another encounter elsewhere in the compound.
“Two women were shot here. It sounds like their fates were mixed up,” said the U.S. official. “This is hours old and the full facts are still being ascertained as those involved are debriefed.”
In another discrepancy, Brennan said during his on-the-record briefing that bin Laden’s son Khalid was killed in the attack. However, the official White House transcript had the counterterrorism adviser saying it was another son, Hamza, who perished in the raid.
The White House didn’t offer a reason for any of the changes. However, Brennan noted during his televised briefing that his information came from reports from the scene as well as live video feeds of the raid. “I wasn’t there,” he said.
Barry Rubin is closer to the truth than he realizes as he opens with remarks about the Bolshevik bomb throwers. The Muslim jihadist has taken the focus off this Bolshevik violence which is its second nature.
I have been tracking this for a long time and can reach much further back through my grandfather. The Bolshevik has always been violent and assassination is one of their favorite tools of attack. Agree with me or get your throat cut. Check out the history of political violence and you will find it coming from the Bolshevik rather than the Muslim. This continued up to the time President Reagan brought down the Berlin wall. The USSR crashed but the Communist dived underground and the Muslim sprouted. Coincidence? Maybe but far more likely strategy. This spirit had been at work diligently to cast the European colonist out of Africa and they worked through the Muslims just as they have worked to subvert our own liberties in this country. They have no loyalty to our Constitution, which is the power of America. Today they are running our government and doing all in their power to nullify our Constitution.
The Muslim jihad was perfect to take the heat off their own spirit. This does not justify the Islamic violence but gave it purpose and direction which it had lacked in the past There are a lot of minuscule facts to support what I say here but no real hard evidence. This didn’t “just happen” but is part of their strategy. It has shown up in their revolutions whether Russian, Cuban or elsewhere. There is good reason to seek relief from the existing government and they encourage and support the revolution while conserving their own energy for the takeover fight after the war.
We have both Korea and Germany as an example of how this works. Communism and Islamism may appear symbiotic but the Communist have no intention of coming under Islamic rule. The information is out there, usually well camouflaged and misrepresented so that it must be determined by inference rather than demonstrable fact. Don’t let that discourage you from searching out the truth.