Monday, December 20, 2004

Column:

Here is an extremely important yet overlooked news item:

The chief Shiite leader in Iran, The Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (not to be confused with the leader of the Iranian Revolution, The Ayatollah Khomeni) said, on, Sunday, December 19th, that Israel and the United States and England are the parties truly responsible for the recent murderous terror attacks that claimed over 60 innocent lives in the Iraqi holy cities of Karbalah and Najaf.

It is essential to dissect this comment carefully and learn our lessons from this statement made by the supreme Shiite leader.

It is essential that we truly understand what the Iranians are saying and doing.

This is a sine qua non for preparing strategy and foreign policy and dealing effectively and appropriately with radical Muslims.

The Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was speaking to pilgrims traveling to Mecca when he delivered this message - to them, to us, to the world. His address was aired on Iranian State TV. Its purpose was clear and explicit. He needed to explain how and why these murders were taking place in holy sites in Iraq. Actually, he needed to explain them away.

"I am sure Israeli and American spy services were behind these events. This is a plot which aims at keeping the Iraqis so busy that they will miss the exceptional chance to participate in the January 30 elections." Quote, unquote.

This is a classic Muslim perception, one that permeates most Muslim societies and can be seen nearly world over. Put succinctly it goes like this: the problems that exist within our midst are not instigated and generated internally, but by external forces and therefore, we are not to blame or be held responsible.

The equation is clear.
If there were no Israel there would be no problems in the Muslim world.
If there were no US intervention there would be no violence in the Arab world or in Iraq today.

That is stage one of the analysis, the problems.

Stage two focuses on those who create the problems, strangers in our midst. It is the strangers who agitate and organize expressly to create unrest in Iraq, specifically, and in the rest of the Arab world.

Instability is caused by outside agitators not, Allah forbid, by inside, internal, corruption, oppression or injustice, acquiescence, inaction and fear. Local authorities cannot possibly be held responsible for terror and the murder of our own innocent people.

These heavily promulgated and fostered myths within the Muslim world are sent out to prove to Muslims that Muslims do not murder other innocent Muslims. That's what Israelis do. It's what the Americans do.

Heretics and heathens kill innocent Iraqi civilians, not good upstanding Muslim believers.

This is much more than a simple conspiracy theory about Israel and the West. This attitude deflects all responsibility from local leaders and places it instead squarely on the shoulders of the strangers and outsiders. Read the Arab press, you'll see more and more of this finger-pointing line-of-thinking screaming across the headlines.

It is any wonder that progress towards democratization of the Muslim world is so slow? Can we be surprised that liberalization of these societies is just not happening? Do we really expect a leadership that so deftly deflects responsibility to clean up corruption?

This leadership is avowedly anti-democratic. Liberalization will only bring about their death and downfall. They are the true corrupters. They have no interest in having their citizens, their followers, see things for what they really are. Were that to ever happen, they would be thoroughly seen through.

It is always easier to blame problems away. That's the Muslim way.