Donald Luskin call your office. Andrew Sullivan points out this interview article in the Asia Times Online "the central general secretary of the Jamaat-i-Islami Pakistan (JI), Syed Munawar Hasan".
While he makes some understandable points over western hypocricy in failing to live up with its liberal reputation (in agreement with President Bush, in fact) the article is rife with factual errors that are not challenged by the interviewer.
Misconception:
"For instance, al-Qaeda. I have never heard [the US use] this name before September 11, nor anybody else. But after the Twin Tower [September 11] incident took place, the US projected this name and associated so many myths with this organization."
Truth:
Al Queda has been on terror watch lists long before September 11. The bombings of the Cole and the embassy bombings in africa drove the organization's name into common currency but even back in the Iran-Contra days, one of the sub-scandals was Col. Oliver North's publicly provided security system. Why was he granted such an extravagent expense? There was a man called Osama Bin Laden who had directly threatened him.
Update: Hat tip to Anthony Garcia for pointing out that I'd swallowed an urban legend with the Oliver North quote. He pointed to Snopes to set me straight. The larger point that Osama Bin Laden was recognized as a terrorist before 9/11 remains undisturbed.
Misconception:
"It is openly demanded by Israeli Prime Minister [Ariel Sharon] that an elected representative of the Palestinians, Yasser Arafat, be overthrown and sent into exile."
Truth:
There is a limit past which you lose your democratic credentials and that's generally when your electoral mandate ends and you don't hold new elections. While Arafat's original election was democratic, he certainly has stayed past the original terms of his mandate and has repeatedly put off elections. Some of the greatest tyrants of the world were elected in real elections but then abolished the democratic system to keep themselves in power. The most famous example in the West was Adolph Hitler's Nazi Germany but the tactic is widespread across all manner of tyrants of all races and ideologies.
Misconception:
"Palestinian fighters struggling for freedom are termed by the West as terrorists, not the Israelis."
Truth:
Jewish terrorists exist and when found on US soil are prosecuted in accordance with the same laws used to prosecute. If responsible muslim leaders reacted in the same way the ADL does when such horrible things occur, moderate muslim groups would gain as much credibility in US society as the ADL has.
Israeli settlers who cross the line into terrorism are arrested in Israel and any preferential treatment they might receive above what a similarly offending muslim might get is internationally costly for Israel.
Misconception:
"So, these are all concepts defined by West. I ask them to please define the word 'terror'. If merely using militancy in the course of a freedom struggle can be termed terror, what about George Washington, whom England termed a terrorist for using militant means?"
Truth:
Militancy is not some undifferentiated term that has no gradations and there have been developments in these gradations since the time of George Washington. Little children strike out at each other with all their force but are so weak that it does not really matter. They are generally incapable of permanent damage. As we grow up, we all come to the realization that we can seriously injure and even kill so we must control ourselves, adopting rules even when we fight. The Geneva Accords on the laws of warfare are good examples of international rules differentiating between acceptable and unacceptable militancy. If these rules of war are stacked against legitimate resistance movements, the proper response is to have them adjusted, not to ignore them. If there were a project by the world's "have-nots" of righting the balance of the rules of war to properly balance the needs of insurgents in exchange for better compliance with those rules of war by insurgents, this would have a great deal of support in places that might surprise islamists.
Misconception:
"Have you read the so-called road map for peace in the Middle East? In such a lengthy paper many things are discussed, but you will not find words such as 'human rights' and 'international law' because it is international law which says that if any population is forced to leave its houses, they will be helped and rehabilitated."
Truth:
While it is true that palestinian refugees have not been treated as other refugees (such as the post WW II refugees of Europe), it is not true in the sense the speaker implies. Other refugees are helped to settle in the country where they flee. The germans who fled Poland and the Konigsberg enclave (now Kaliningrad in Russia) are now German citizens and have no 'right of return' issues to raise with the Polish or Russian governments. If Palestinian refugees had been "helped and rehabilitated" as others, there would be no refugees left and the Palestinian side would not be raising a right of return roadblock that has become a major stumbling block for any settlement.
Misconception:
"In the 26 months after September 11, not a single Christian has been declared a terrorist. In Western societies, one has to be a Muslim before one can be declared a terrorist."
Truth:
The 2002 State Department documentn "Patterns of Global Terrorism is here. You will find plenty of muslim names and groups listed there but also plenty of non-muslim ones. The idea that islam is the only movement that produces terrorists is a straw man that nobody believes in the west.
But the threat of muslim terror is elevated because their effectiveness is elevated. I was in the WTC a few days before they were attacked. It's the most bloody terrorist attack in the history of the US. What is so surprising that muslim terrorists are the foremost threat in the public's mind?
Misconception:
"And take the case of Timothy [McVeigh, executed on June 11, 2001 for bombing the Oklahoma City federal building in which 168 people died]. Initially that incident was blamed on Muslims. Before he was sentenced to death, when the judge asked him to condemn his act of terror, Timothy repeatedly insisted that what he did was against the tyrannical system of the US, and that if he had another chance he would do so again. These kind of non-Muslim element in US society is never projected."
Truth:
The evisceration of the militia movement, the accusation of right wing talk radio being complicit with McVeigh by their use of intemeperate language, the hurt and pain of a nation were things that had little international component past the first week. They were deeply felt here in the US though and a lot of news outlets that nobody in Pakistan ever heard of were covering the domestic terrorism story for a very long time. The key here is domestic terrorism is domestic. International news outlets emphasize and project news stories that have a significant international impact. The debate over whether threats against government officials in the Klamath River Basin project are terroristic is just not going to get much play in the Asia Times Online and rightfully so.
As the Internet extends its reach into the Muslim world, will a muslim generation of Donald Luskins relentlessly embarass the Islamists to sticking to the truth? I certainly hope so. It would enhance our chances of avoiding the catastrophe of total war.
Posted by TMLutas at December 4, 2003 01:08 PM