Islam

 

 

From: Oxsan
Date: 19 Mar 2002
Time: 21:34:25

I have prided myself over the last thirty years or so as a result of my travels in the Middle East that I had a deep and accurate knowledge of that region and of Islam as its dominant culture. Tain't so. I am out of date! Things have changed! This morning I listened to George Tenent, Director of CIA, and Admiral Wilson, Director of Defense Intelligence Agency testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee. I found out, if you believe these two, which I do, that most of my opinions about the area are wrong. To wit:

Sunni vs Shi'ia In the Seventies when I traveled in the area these major sects of Islam hated each other and were essentially blood enemies. In fact, it was obvious that they hated each other more than they hated America or the West. This seems to no longer be so. The doctrinal rift between the Sunni and the Shi'ia and even the Sufi seems buried now in their mutual hatred of the West and the U.S.

Relative Power of Heads Of State and Religious Leaders Almost every Muslim country is now and was then run by a despotic leader or oligarchy that is only nominally Islamic in conviction. In the seventies there was no doubt who shaped the policies and relationships - the Heads of State did. Since that time however, the Mullahs and Imams have gained greatly in prestige with the general population and now come much nearer to controlling the countries internally than do the Heads of State. Education in these countries is strictly a religious exercise, and this accounts in large measure for the increase in control of the religious leaders. Nearly every country in the region can be considered on the verge of religious rebellion and seeking a pure theocracy as government.

Prominence of Youth This one surprised me. There is a virtual population explosion in the Muslim world of the Middle East, North Africa, and Sub-Sahara Africa. At this time 44% of the population of that area is under 20 years of age, and the percentage of young people is growing. That segment of the population has been Mullah and Imam trained to hate the west, especially the U.S., and to look upon martyrdom as a glorious way to end their life. Some of that training is going on today in the U.S. and other western nations.

Embedded Zealots For years the Middle Eastern countries from Morocco to Pakistan have been sending emigrants to the U. S. and other Western Nations in large numbers secure in the knowledge that these people would still remain loyal to Islam. To help assure this a large number of radical Islamic clerics have also been sent over. We in the U.S. because of our "open border" policy have no idea how many such potential terrorists continue their training here and plan future terrorist attacks.

Proliferation of Technology Large numbers of Islamic students have been schooled in our colleges and universities in highly technical subjects. These trained people mixed with a seasoning of "out of work" Russian scientists who have drifted into the Middle Eastern countries for big bucks have given the Islamic countries the now capability of building weapons of mass destruction, chemical, biological and nuclear. The only thing lacking in some cases is enriched Plutonium and some of that is missing from world laboratories.

Globalization of Americanism Free trade, the existence of rapid mass transit have caused American products, beliefs, ideas, and ideals to cover the globe. In Islam this is considered as a direct assault on their most cherished religious beliefs and is one of the primary reasons why the religious leaders speak out so violently against us. Our belief in the equal position of women in society is directly against the Koran and Islamic belief and resented deeply. It is this sort of thing that has caused the Imams to characterize the U.S. as the "Great Satan".

You may know all this already but I was a bit surprised that it was as well developed as it is.