WELL, IT LOOKS LIKE THE WORLD IS ON FIRE, AND A LOT OF IT IS
COMING FROM RADICAL ISLAM.
YES, WE STARTED THE IRAQ WAR, THE UNITED STATES DID, THE WEST
HAS DONE A LOT OF THINGS WRONG, BUT RADICAL ISLAM IS ABSOLUTELY
REAL AND IT IS CAUSING GREAT DAMAGE THROUGHOUT THE WORLD.
WHAT IS INTERESTING IS, THE MIDDLE EAST WAS NOT ALWAYS
THIS FUNDAMENTALIST, IT USED TO BE A LOT MORE SECULAR.
IT STRUCK A CORD WITH ME WHEN, MANY YEARS AGO I WAS
LISTENING TO A SALMAN RUSHDIE SPEECH, AND HE SAID WHEN THAT HE WAS
GROWING UP IN A MUSLIM PART OF INDIA, IT WAS FAR MORE SECULAR.
IT STRUCK A CHORD WITH ME BECAUSE I GREW UP IN TURKEY
A LITTLE BIT BEFORE WE MOVED TO NEW JERSEY, AND TURKEY WAS
TOTALLY SECULAR.
NOW, WITH THEIR RIGHT-WING GOVERNMENT, THEY ARE FAR
MORE FUNDAMENTALIST.
IRAQ AND SYRIA WERE NOT AS FUNDAMENTALIST, NOWHERE
NEAR AS FUNDAMENTALIST. SO WHAT IN THE WORLD HAPPENED?
THERE ARE TWO GREAT ARTICLES THAT EXPLAIN THIS, AND IT
HAS A COUPLE OF CAUSES. LET'S BREAK THAT DOWN.
IN THE NEW YORK TIMES THERE IS AN ARTICLE ABOUT THE ROLE
THAT SAUDI ARABIA HAD IN ALL OF THIS, LET'S INVESTIGATE.
WAHHABISM, WHICH IS AN INTERPRETATION OF ISLAM
THAT COMES OUT OF SAUDI ARABIA, IS A MESSIANIC RADICALISM
THAT AROSE IN EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, AND HOPES TO
RESTORE A FANTASIZED CALIPHATE CENTERED ON A DESERT, A
SACRED BOOK, AND TWO HOLY SITES, MECCA AND MEDINA.
YOU HAD SECULAR GOVERNMENTS THROUGHOUT THE MUSLIM COUNTRIES
AND THE MIDDLE EAST, BUT WAHHABI-ISM SPREAD LIKE
WILDFIRE.
IT IS A PARTICULAR IDEOLOGY INSIDE ISLAM.
LET'S SEE HOW THAT HAPPENED.
ìBORN IN MASSACRE AND BLOOD, IT MANIFESTS ITSELF IN A SEVERE
RELATIONSHIP WITH WOMEN,
A PROHIBITION AGAINST NON-MUSLIMS TREADING ON SACRED
TERRITORY, AND FEROCIOUS RELIGIOUS LAWS.
THAT TRANSLATES INTO AN EXCESSIVE
HATRED OF IMAGERY AND REPRESENTATION AND
THEREFORE ART, BUT ALSO OF THE BODY, NAKEDNESS AND FREEDOM.î
IT IS THE SAME IDEOLOGY OF ISIS.
DOWD MAKES A GREAT POINT, SAUDI ARABIA BELIEVES IN THE
EXACT SAME THING. THEY ARE JUST A GOVERNMENT.
THEY ARE GOVERNMENT WE ARE USED TO, AND WE ARE ALLIES WITH.
HE EXPLAINS, "THE WEST'S DENIAL REGARDING SAUDI ARABIA IS
STRIKING: IT SALUTES THE THEOCRACY AS ITS ALLY, BUT
PRETENDS NOT TO NOTICE THAT IT IS THE WORLD'S CHIEF IDEOLOGICAL
SPONSOR OF ISLAMIST CULTURE.
THEY WERE NOT BORN JIHADISTS, THEY WERE SUCKLED IN THE BOSOM
OF ATWAS VALLEY, A KIND OF ISLAMIST VATICAN WITH A VAST
INDUSTRY THAT PRODUCES THEOLOGIANS, RELIGIOUS LAWS,
BOOKS AND AGGRESSIVE EDITORIAL POLICIES AND MEDIA CAMPAIGNS."
I READ THIS AND I THOUGHT, OF COURSE.
THIS FUNDAMENTALISM WAS PUSHED AND FINANCED BY THE SAUDIS.
WE HAD A ROLE, I'LL GET TO THAT IN A SECOND.
HE EXPLAINS, "ONE HAS TO LIVE IN THE MUSLIM WORLD TO
UNDERSTAND THE IMMENSE TRANSFORMATIVE INFLUENCE OF
RELIGIOUS TELEVISION CHANNELS ON SOCIETY BY ACCESSING ITS
WEAK LINKS: HOUSEHOLD, WOMEN, RURAL AREAS.
ISLAMIC CULTURE IS WIDESPREAD IN MANY COUNTRIES.
THERE ARE THOUSANDS OF ISLAMIST NEWSPAPERS AND CLERGY THAT
IMPOSE A UNITARY VISION OF THE WORLD, TRADITION AND CLOTHING ON
THE PUBLIC SPACE, ON THE WORDING OF THE GOVERNMENT'S LAWS AND ON
THE RITUALS OF THE SOCIETY THEY DEEM TO BE CONTAMINATED."
IF MUSLIMS IN THEIR ENTIRETY ALL BELIEVED THIS, THEY WERE
CONVERTED BEFORE SAUDI ARABIA SPREAD WAHHABI-ISM
THROUGHOUT THE WORLD, BUT THEY DIDN'T.
THIS COUNTRY USED TO BE MORE SECULAR, THAT'S A PROVEN FACT.
THERE IS AN IDEA THAT ISLAM, IN ITS CORE, IS SO BAD THAT IT
IS IRREDEEMABLE.
THAT THEY WILL MURDER ANYONE WHO ISN'T MUSLIM, NO MATTER WHAT.
IF THEY WOULD GET POWER IN THE MIDDLE EAST, THEY WOULD
SLAUGHTER ALL OF THE JEWS AND THE CHRISTIANS.
BUT THEY WERE IN POWER IN THE MIDDLE EAST FOR 1300 YEARS.
MANY TERRIBLE THINGS HAPPENED IN THOSE EMPIRES, BUT THEY DID NOT
SLAUGHTER ALL OF THE JEWS AND ALL THE CHRISTIANS.
THEY WERE EMPIRES, THEY DID TERRIBLE THINGS, BUT THEY
DID NOT KILL THEM ALL.
IT WAS NOT LIKE, WE FINALLY HAVE POWER, WHAT DOES OUR BOOK SAY?
OUR BOOK SAYS KILL THEM ALL, LET'S GO KILL THEM.
AFTER THE WORLD WARS, THEY WERE FAR MORE SECULAR.
IT IS NOT A RELIGION EN MASSE, IT IS A STRAND OF IDEOLOGY
WITHIN THE RELIGION.
IN CHRISTIANITY, THERE ARE NUNS AND PRIESTS WHO GO FEED THE
HUNGRY AND HELP THE NEEDY, AND THEN THERE ARE STRANDS OF
FUNDAMENTALISM WHO LOOK FORWARD TO ARMAGEDDON AND THINK THAT
THE UNITED STATES SHOULD HELP IN THE PROCESS.
THAT IS THE PROBLEM, NOT ALL OF CHRISTIANS, AND NOT ALL OF
CHRISTIANITY.
YES, CHRISTIANITY HAS TERRIBLE THINGS IN ITS TEXT, AND
ISLAM HAS TERRIBLE THINGS IN ITS TEXT.
THE QUESTION IS, WHAT DOES YOUR CULTURE EMPHASIZE?
THE WAHHABI SAID WE SHOULD EMPHASIZE THE TERRIBLE PARTS,
AND THEY SPREAD THAT POISON THROUGHOUT THE MUSLIM WORLD.
DOWD SAYS, "ALL OF WHICH LEAVES ONE SKEPTICAL OF WESTERN
DEMOCRACIES THUNDEROUS DECLARATIONS REGARDING THE
NECESSITY OF FIGHTING TERRORISM.
THEIR WORK CAN ONLY BE MYOPIC,
FOR IT TARGETS THE EFFECT RATHER THAN THE CAUSE."
"SINCE ISIS IS FIRST AND FOREMOST A CULTURE, NOT A MILITIA, HOW DO
YOU PREVENT FUTURE GENERATIONS FROM TURNING TO JIHADISM
WHEN THE IMPLEMENT OF WAHHABI AND ITS CLERICS AND ITS
CULTURE AND ITS IMMENSE EDITORIAL INDUSTRY REMAIN
INTACT?"
HE IS SAYING, YOU CAN KILL ISIS GUYS, AND MORE ISIS GUYS
WILL POP-UP.
YOU HAVE NOT KILLED THE ROOT CAUSE, YOU HAVE TO GO AFTER
THE CAUSE, NOT THE EFFECT.
SOMEONE USING THEIR MIND, THANK GOD, IRONICALLY.
HE SAYS,
"DAESH HAS A MOTHER: THE INVASION OF IRAQ.
BUT ALSO BY THE FATHER: SAUDI ARABIA AND ITS RELIGIOUS
INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX.
UNTIL THAT POINT IS UNDERSTOOD, BATTLES MAY BE WON, BUT THE
WAR WILL BE LOST.
JIHADISTS WILL BE KILLED, ONLY TO BE REBORN AGAIN IN
FUTURE GENERATIONS AND
RAISED ON THE SAME BOOKS."
OR THE INTERPRETATION OF THOSE BOOKS.
SAUDI ARABIA, WHY ARE WE ALLIES WITH THEM?
WHY DO WE ALLOW THEM TO SPREAD THIS POISON EVERYWHERE?
OIL. IS IT REALLY WORTH IT?
SAUDI ARABIA DOES KEEP ITS END OF THE BARGAIN, LET'S BE FAIR.
THEY HELPED BLOCK OIL EMBARGOES SO THAT OUR OIL IS CHEAPER.
THAT IS TRUE.
SO FOR CHEAP OIL, THIS IS THE PRICE WE PAY.
YOU THINK THIS PRICE HAS BEEN WORTH IT?
LET'S GO TO OUR ROLE IN THIS.
JUST TO BLAME, IN HIS WORDS, THE FATHER, SAUDI ARABIA, IS
ONLY HALF THE EQUATION.
THE OTHER HALF OF THE EQUATION IS THE UNITED STATES AND
THE WESTERN POWERS.
THIS IS WHERE PEOPLE GET IRRATIONAL.
YOU CANíT CRITICIZE AMERICA.
FOR GOD'S SAKE, OPEN YOUR EARS, OPEN YOUR MIND AND LISTEN
TO THE WHOLE STORY.
LET ME SHOW YOU A PICTURE OF THE OVAL OFFICE FROM 1983.
THAT WOULD BE THE LEGEND, RONALD REAGAN, AND HERE HE IS WITH
THE MUJAHEDIN.
WE ALL KNOW THAT REAGAN AND THE U.S.
GOVERNMENT SUPPORTED THE MUJAHEDIN AGAINST THE SOVIET
UNION, I THINK WE ALL KNOW THAT.
THE PART THEY DON'T TELL YOU ABOUT IS, WHO WAS THE
LEADER OF THE MUJAHEDIN AT THE TIME?
THE INDEPENDENT LEADER IN UK RAN A STORY ABOUT THAT IN 1983,
GLORIFYING A CERTAIN LEADER OF THE MUJAHEDIN.
LET'S TAKE A LOOK AT WHO THAT IS.
IT IS OSAMA BIN LADEN.
THE HEADLINE IS, ANTI-SOVIET WARRIOR PUTS HIS ARMY ON THE ROAD TO
PEACE.
ON THE ROAD TO PEACE.
DOES HE LOOK LIKE HE'S ON THE ROAD TO PEACE?
THE INDEPENDENT WRITES, IN GLOWING TERMS, "WHEN THE
HISTORY OF THE AFGHAN RESISTANCE MOVEMENT IS WRITTEN,
MISTER BIN LADEN'S OWN
CONTRIBUTION TO THE MUJAHEDIN MAY TURN OUT TO BE A TURNING
POINT IN THE RECENT HISTORY OF MILITANT FUNDAMENTALISM."
THEY ARE SAYING MILITANT FUNDAMENTALISM IN A
POSITIVE LIGHT.
THE INDEPENDENT WAS NOT THE ONLY ONE TALKING IN GLOWING
TERMS ABOUT THE MUJAHEDIN. LET'S GO TO RONALD REAGAN.
HERE'S WHAT HE SAID, "TO WATCH THE COURAGEOUS AFGHAN FREEDOM
FIGHTERS BATTLE MODERN SOVIET ARSENALS WITH SIMPLE HANDHELD
WEAPONS IS AN INSPIRATION TO THOSE WHO LOVE FREEDOM."
OKAY, WAS AFGHANISTAN THE ONLY PLACE WHERE WE SUPPORTED
MUSLIM FUNDAMENTALISTS?
NO.
THROUGHOUT THE 1980S, THE CIA, THROUGH THE PAKISTANI GOVERNMENT
ñ MORE SPECIFICALLY, PAKISTANIS
INTERSERVICE INTELLIGENCE, SUPPORTED AND ARMED THE
MUJAHEDIN IN AFGHANISTAN IN THEIR FIGHT AGAINST THE SOVIET
UNION, IN WHAT WAS DUBBED OPERATION CYCLONE.
AND THEN THEY TOOK THAT TO OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD.
I WANT TO QUOTE A GREAT SCHOLAR, HIS NAME IS AKBAR AHMED, AND HE
IS A CLERICAL SCIENTIST AND A HISTORIAN BUT THAT HE GAVE A
SPEECH AT THE UNIVERSITY DISTRICT OF COLORADO IN 1998,
THREE YEARS BEFORE 9/11.
LISTEN TO THE WARNING HE GAVE US.
"IN ISLAMIC HISTORY, JIHAD IS AN INTERNATIONAL VIOLENT
PHENOMENON HAD DISAPPEARED IN THE LAST 400
YEARS FOR ALL PRACTICAL PURPOSES.
IT WAS REVIVED SUDDENLY WITH AMERICAN HELP IN THE 1980S.
WHEN THE SOVIET UNION
INTERVENED IN AFGHANISTAN,
THE U.S. ñ BACKED MILITARY DICTATOR OF PAKISTAN, WHICH BORDERS ON
AFGHANISTAN, SAW AN OPPORTUNITY AND LAUNCHED A JIHAD
AGAINST GODLESS COMMUNISM.
AND THE U.S. SAW A GOD SENT OPPORTUNITY TO MOBILIZE
ONE BILLION MUSLIMS AGAINST WHAT REAGAN CALLED THE EVIL EMPIRE."
THAT WAS A REALLY ENLIGHTENING MOMENT, BECAUSE I GOT IT,
IT'S LOGICAL.
HOW ARE WE GOING TO GET MUSLIMS TO BE ON OUR SIDE AGAINST
THE GODLESS SOVIET UNION?
I GOT IT, WE WILL ACTIVATE THEIR RELIGION.
GO FIGHT THOSE NO GOOD ATHEIST COMMUNISTS.
GO MORE TOWARDS RELIGION, GO MORE TOWARDS FUNDAMENTALISM.
NOW YOU NEED TO FIGHT THEM, SO I MAY GIVE YOU WEAPONS,
AND POINT YOU TOWARDS MILITANT FUNDAMENTALISM.
"MONEY STARTED POURING IN.
CIA AGENTS STARTED GOING ALL OVER THE MUSLIM WORLD RECRUITING
PEOPLE TO FIGHT IN THE GREAT JIHAD.
BIN LADEN WAS ONE OF THE EARLY PRIZE RECRUITS.
HE WAS AN ARAB AND A SAUDI, AND ALSO A MULTIMILLIONAIRE,
WILLING TO PUT HIS OWN MONEY INTO THE MATTER.
BIN LADEN WENT AROUND RECRUITING PEOPLE FOR THE JIHAD
AGAINST COMMUNISM."
REMEMBER,
THIS IS THREE YEARS BEFORE 9/11 THAT HE IS EXPLAINING THIS.
HE CONTINUES.
BIN LADEN, AFTER WE WENT TO PROTECT SAUDI ARABIA AND PUT
GROUND TROOPS IN SAUDI ARABIA, BUT THEN WE DID NOT LEAVE.
SO HE SAYS, "BIN LADEN THOUGHT THAT AMERICA HAS BROKEN HIS
WORD.
THE LOYAL FRIEND HAS BETRAYED.
THE ONE TO WHOM YOU SWORE BLOOD LOYALTY HAS THE TRADE YOU.
THEY'RE GOING TO GO FOR YOU.
ARE GOING TO DO A LOT MORE.
THESE ARE THE CHICKENS OF THE AFGHANISTAN WAR COMING HOME
TO ROOST."
THIS SCHOLAR IS WARNING US, THIS IS HOW BIN LADEN IS THINKING.
THIS IS HOW THE MILITANT FUNDAMENTALISM YOU HELPED
TO CREATE AND WEAPONIZED THINKS.
HE IS SAYING, THREE YEARS BEFORE 9/11,
WATCH OUT, THEY ARE COMING. BUT WE DID NOT LISTEN.
BEN NORTON SAYS, "THERE ARE EXTREMISTS IN EVERY
RELIGION, BUT THEY TEND TO BE FEW IN NUMBER, WEAK AND ISOLATED.
SALAFISM, IN ITS MODERN MILITARIZED FORM, HAS ITS
ORIGINS IN THE 1920S AND EVEN BEFORE.
FOR DECADES, THIS MOVEMENT REMAINED WEAK AND ISOLATED.
YET IN THE 1970'S AND 80'S, WESTERN CAPITALIST
GOVERNMENTS, PARTICULARLY THE UNITED STATES, CAME UP WITH
A NEW COLD WAR STRATEGY: SUPPORTING THESE FRIENDS IN
ISLAMIC GROUPS AS A BULWARK AGAINST SOCIALISM."
THE SOCIALISTS WERE SECULAR, AND WE CANNOT HAVE IT.
CAPITALISM HAD TO WIN.
"THE U.S. WAS BY NO MEANS THE ONLY ONES TO PURSUE SUCH A STRATEGY.
ECHOING THE U.S.
POLICY IN AFGHANISTAN, ISRAEL IN FACT SUPPORTED HAMAS, NOW
IT'S SWORN ARCHENEMY, WHEN THE ISLAMIST GROUP WAS FIRST
FORMING IN THE 1980S.
ISRAEL BACKED THE HAMAS MILITANT FOUNDER
ORDER TO UNDERMINE THE SECULAR SOCIALIST RESISTANCE OF THE
PALESTINE LIBERATION ORGANIZATION."
WE STARTED THE FIRE, AND WE DID IT TO FIGHT GODLESS COMMUNISM.
AND NOW THAT FIRE HAS ENGULFED US ALL, AND WE TURN AROUND AND
BLAME MUSLIMS IN GENERAL, AND
MORE IMPORTANTLY THINK THAT MILITARY IS THE ANSWER.
IF WE BOMB THEM ENOUGH, OR GIVE WEAPONS TO THE "GOOD GUY"
MILITARY FUNDAMENTALISTS, THAT ARE ON OUR SIDE, INCLUDING
SAUDI ARABIA, THAT WILL BE THE ANSWER.
ONE FINAL QUOTE, "THIS COLD WAR STRATEGY ENDED UP BEING
SUCCESSFUL: AFTER THE FALL OF THE USSR, THE SECULAR
SOCIALIST GROUPS THAT DOMINATED THE RESISTANCE MOVEMENTS OF
THE MIDDLE EAST WERE REPLACED BY ISLAMIC EXTREMISTS, ONES
THAT HAD PREVIOUSLY BEEN SUPPORTED BY THE WEST."
I GUESS WE SHOULD HANG A ëMISSION ACCOMPLISHEDí BANNER UP.
IT IS NOT A COMPLETELY SIMPLE ANSWER, IT IS NOT AN EASY
SOLUTION LIKE, IT IS THE MUSLIMS, OR BOMB THEM.
IT IS ALSO NOT, U.S. IS BAD AND THEY DID IT ON PURPOSE.
SAUDI ARABIA HAS RESPONSIBILITY.
EVERYONE HAS RESPONSIBILITY, WHO TOOK PART IN THIS.
BUT DID WE ENCOURAGE THIS FOR CHEAP OIL?
YES WE DID.
DID WE FUND ISLAMIC FUNDAMENTALISM IN AN EFFORT TO
GET RID OF COMMUNISM? YES, UNFORTUNATELY WE DID.
CAN WE, FOR EVERYBODY'S SAKE, BE A LITTLE BIT MORE RATIONAL.
STOP USING THE WRONG STRATEGY, AND PERHAPS YOU
GO FIGHT THAT CULTURE.
YOU DON'T FIGHT IT WITH BOMBS, YOU FIGHT WITH IDEAS AND REASON.
YOU FIGHT WITH LOGIC AND EDUCATION.
YOU FIGHT IT WITH SECULARISM.
THEY WERE ON THE RIGHT PATH UNTIL WE DERAILED THEM.
THAT IS NOT SAYING THEY WERE ALL GOING TO BE WONDERFUL UNTIL
WE STEPPED IN.
I TOLD YOU, WAHHABI-ISM STARTED IN THE LATE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
WE RECOGNIZE THAT, IT EXISTED, BUT WE HELPED IT.
WE PUT FUEL ON THE FIRE.
LET'S STOP POURING THE FUEL ON IT.
LET'S START TO EXTINGUISH IT WITH BETTER IDEAS. IN ORDER TO
SOLVE THE PROBLEM, GET TO A BETTER PLACE, FOR ALL OF US, YOU
DO HAVE TO DO NUANCE, AND YOU HAVE TO HAVE A SMARTER STRATEGY.