Canadian Politics from Canada's Centre

Wednesday, June 07, 2006

Why Some Muslims HATE Western Civilization: Explaining Islamic Terrorism Via Case Study

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The Martyr's Oath, a book by Stewart Bell, explains why some Muslims hate, loathe, detest, despise and generally are fanatically against Western Civilization. Bell is a terrorism and national security expert who writes for The National Post newspaper, and in his most recent book (he also published Cold Terror, about how Canada is a base for terrorists (non-affiliate link to Amazon)), Bell recounts the true story of Mohammed Mansour Jabarah, a Canadian-Koweiti who became a high-ranking member of al-Qaeda.

The interest in Bell's book is threefold. First, it exposes how an otherwise normal youth is recruited into the ranks of a terrorist organization. Second, it shows what actually is the cause of some Muslims' hatred of the West. Finally, the writing is excellent, the research is thorough, which all makes the book a compelling read. Furthermore, while Bell narrates the story of Mohammed Mansour Jabarah's indoctrination and recruitment, he simultaneously gives the story context with discussion of Canadian national security.

Mohammed Mansour Jabarah emigrated with his family to Canada after the Iraq-Koweit war. Living in the suburb of St-Catharines Ontario, he grew up living a generally normal, Canadian life. Bell notes that his father was religious and possibly a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, an extremist group of which the terrorists of Hamas are a branch.

Each year, Mohammed and a brother of his were given a trip back to Koweit, where they spent the summer. His childhood friend, Anas-al-Kandari, who had remained in Koweit after the Jabarahs had moved, was becoming increasingly religious, and the two fell increasingly under the nefarious influence of extremist preacher Suleyman Abu Gaith.

Abu Gaith kept repeating his message that the West was oppressing Arabs and Muslims. He showed Mohammed and Anas videos of jihadis and other materials to this effect. (Now's a good moment for you to drop by my post on Al-Jazeera and why bloggers should remove their links to it.) As with any other propaganda, with repetition comes belief, and so the followers of Abu Gaith came to share his views on the supposed "vile oppression" of Muslims by the West.

I won't go any further into the story, because The Martyr's Oath is really a book that needs to be read by every Canadian who takes national security seriously. Besides, as I wrote above, it's a very enjoyable read that is absorbing and really quite difficult to put down, not to mentiont that you'll be amazed by some of the research Bell has done, which includes interviews with actual al-Qaeda members. You can buy The Martyr's Oath (non-affiliate) or get it from your local library.

Getting back to why some Muslims loathe us, forget what Bush and Harper say about 'they hate us for our values'. That's secondary (though Iranian President Ahmadinejad recently spoke out against liberal values, which include free speech). The revelation of The Martyr's Oath is that some Muslims - Muslim youths are particularly targeted - are brainwashed through repetitive propaganda to believe that the West is leading a Crusade against them. Ludicrous as the anti-Muslim conspiracy theories might sound, the brainwashed accept these theories as perfectly logical.

I'd like to digress, again, to just note something for my fellow members of Western civilization. As Westerners, it is important for us to remember that we must not give credibility to the ridiculous assertions, as some of us do, that the West is really responsible for the terrorism perpetrated against it. Our justice system is founded upon the truth that people are responsible for their own actions. Terrorists are responsible for terrorism.

Ben-Laden and his ilk want to establish Islam as the world's only religion (Dar-al-Islam), and they see jihad as the way to achieve this. They claim that the West is attacking Muslims in order to entice otherwise rational people into joining terrorist groups, because such an argument is more compelling than telling people that you are out to establish world Islamic hegemony.

From believing that Western civilization is out to oppress Muslims, it's only a small logical step to hating the West. From there, it is again a small logical to step to conclude that there is a need to defend Muslims, and at that point we can explain how Muslims can come to terrorism.
(I'm going to digress again for a moment to send you over to my post on Father Richard Neuhaus. He says America's Catholics are under attack, and draws conclusions unsurprisingly similar [to al-Qaeda's conclusions for Muslims] as to what Catholics should do.)

I'm boiling down what Bell has written, though. There's more detail in the book as to the mechanics of al-Qaeda and other extremists' brainwashing of potential recruits in the recruitment process, as well as on the functioning of al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups, such as the Jemaah Islamiyah.

The Martyr's Oath by Stewart Bell is an excellent read that will help anyone understand why some Muslims hate the West, and how this leads them to commit terrorist acts.

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posted by lecentre @ 2:19 p.m.

1 Comments:

At 11:37 a.m., Canadian Politico Anonymous Anonymous said:

I woke up this morning to see video on MSNBC showing rampaging Muslims around the world . In Europe, the Middle East, the Pacific Rim, Muslim Mobs spreading mayhem. It seems that these mighty mad Muslims are rioting and firing their ever-present AK-47s into the air because of cartoons. Yup ... this latest epidemic of Muslim outrage comes to us because some newspapers in Norway and Denmark published some cartoons depicting Mohammed. In fact ... it is one of my favorites!

Admit it, this turban/bomb thing could be the next big fashion hit on the Muslim street!

Muslim outrage huh. OK ... let's do a little historical review. Just
some lowlights:

Muslims fly commercial airliners into buildings in New York City. No Muslim outrage. Muslim officials block the exit where school girls are trying to escape burning building because their faces were exposed. No Muslim outrage.

Muslims cut off the heads of three teen aged girls on their way to
school in Indonesia. A Christian school. No Muslim outrage.

Muslims murder teachers trying to teach Muslim children in Iraq. No Muslim outrage.

Muslims murder over 80 tourists with car bombs outside cafés and hotels in Egypt. No Muslim outrage.

A Muslim attacks a missionary children's school in India. Kills six.
No Muslim outrage.

Muslims slaughter hundreds of children and teachers in Beslan, Russia. Muslims shoot children in the back. No Muslim outrage.

Let's go way back. Muslims kidnap and kill athletes at the Munich
Summer Olympics. No Muslim outrage.

Muslims fire rocket-propelled grenades into schools full of children in Israel. No Muslim outrage.

Muslims murder more than 50 commuters in attacks on London subways and busses. Over 700 are injured. No Muslim outrage.

Muslims massacre dozens of innocents at a Passover Seder. No Muslim outrage.

Muslims murder innocent vacationers in Bali. No Muslim outrage.

Muslim newspapers publish anti-Semitic cartoons. No Muslim outrage

Muslims are involved, on one side or the other, in almost every one of the 125+ shooting wars around the world. No Muslim outrage.

Muslims beat the charred bodies of Western civilians with their shoes, then hang them from a bridge. No Muslim outrage.

Newspapers in Denmark and Norway publish cartoons depicting Mohammed. Muslims are outraged.

Dead children. Dead tourists. Dead teachers. Dead doctors and nurses. Death, destruction and mayhem around the world at the hands of Muslims ..no Muslim outrage ... but publish a cartoon depicting Mohammed with a bomb in his turban and all hell breaks loose.

Come on, is this really about cartoons? They're rampaging and burning flags. They're looking for Europeans to kidnap. They're threatening innkeepers and generally raising holy Muslim hell not because of any outrage over a cartoon. They're outraged because it is part of the Islamic jihadist culture to be outraged. You don't really need a reason. You just need an excuse. Wandering around, destroying property, murdering children, firing guns into the air and feigning outrage over the slightest perceived insult is to a jihadist what tailgating is to a Steeler's fan.

I know and understand that these bloodthirsty murderers do not represent the majority of the world's Muslims. When, though, do they become outraged? When do they take to the streets to express their outrage at the radicals who are making their religion the object of worldwide hatred and ridicule? Islamic writer Salman Rushdie wrote of these silent Muslims in a New York
Times article three years ago. "As their ancient, deeply civilized culture of love, art and philosophical reflection is hijacked by paranoiacs, racists, liars, male supremacists, tyrants, fanatics and violence junkies, why are they not screaming?"

Indeed. Why not?

 

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