Islamic terrorism has been part of the American story, since the first (1801-1805) and the second (1815) US wars against Libya, Tunisia and Algeria-based Muslim pirates. Anti-US Islamic terrorism has been fueled by Islam's imperialistic vision, inflamed by core American values - irrespective of American national security policy - systematically and deliberately targeting innocent Americans in the US and abroad.
Premeditated Islamic terrorism, accompanied by "We are all bin Laden" chanting, marked the 11th anniversary of 9/11 in Libya and Egypt. It erupted irrespective of the crucial role played by the US in the toppling of Qaddafi and Mubarak, the rough US pressure on Israel and the financial and political US support of the Palestinian Authority. The US Ambassador to Libya and his three staff members were murdered, and rocket propelled grenades destroyed the Consulate in Benghazi. The US Embassies in Cairo and Sana'a were stormed, and US flags were burned in Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen, Gaza, etc. Libyan, Egyptian and Yemenite security forces were alerted, but did not prevent the assault.
So much for the delusions of "the Arab Spring," "the New Middle East," "the March of Democracy," and "painful Israeli concessions for peace...."
Islamic terrorism has targeted the US in spite of President Carter's support of Khomeini's rise to power; despite President Reagan's critical military and financial support of the Mujahedeen which terminated the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan; notwithstanding President Clinton's bombing of Serbia which led to the establishment of Moslem-dominated Bosnia and Kosovo; and regardless of President Obama's policy of engaging-- rather than confronting -- rogue Moslem entities.
Islamic terrorism has focused on the US in defiance of President Obama's instruction to delete any reference to Islam from training literature employed by the FBI, CIA, military and other counter-terrorism agencies.
Islamic terrorism has focused on the US although the Obama Administration denies the existence of global Islamic/Jihadist terrorism, referring to terrorism as "man-caused disasters," "workplace violence," and "isolated extremism."
Terrorists bite the hands that feed them.
For example, the murder of nearly 3,000 persons on 9/11 was planned while President Clinton extended his hand to the Muslim World, in general, and to the Palestinians, in particular. The October 12, 2000 murder of seventeen USS Cole sailors occurred when Clinton brokered unprecedented Israeli concessions to the Palestinian. The August 27, 1998 murder of 257 persons at the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania took place while Clinton brutally pressured Prime Minister Netanyahu. The 1995/6 murder of 19 US soldiers in Riyadh and Khobar Towers was carried out while Clinton courted Arafat. The December 21, 1988 murder of 270 PanAm-103 passengers took place a few months following the groundbreaking recognition of the PLO by Reagan. The April/October 1983 murder of 300 Marines at the US Embassy and the Marines headquarters in Beirut occurred while Reagan interfered with Israel's hot pursuit of the PLO, blasting Israel for its war on PLO terrorism.
The last two years of the stormy "Arab Winter" have highlighted the 1,400 year old inherent intra-Muslim violence, hatred, treachery and terrorism, which have also afflicted non-Muslims in general and the US in particular. 1,400 years of no intra-Muslim comprehensive peace and no intra-Muslim compliance with most intra-Muslim agreements.
Rogue Muslim regimes consider the exceptional US military, economic and diplomatic capabilities their chief adversary.
The US and its core values have been targeted by Quran and Sharia-driven dictatorial Muslim regimes/elites. They consider US values the most lethal, clear and present danger. They dread US civil liberties, such as freedom of religion, association, expression, movement, economy and the Internet and equality for women.
The root cause of Islamic terrorism has been the nature of Islam. In contrast to Western democracy, Islam is supremacist, aiming to bring "believers" and "infidels" to total spiritual and physical submission. Henceforth, the centrality of hate-education (toward "the other") is forging the national state of mind; hence, the intolerant, violent, anti-doubt, anti-choice, anti-criticism and anti-individualistic nature of Islam. Therefore, Islam's call for Jihad (Holy War), execution of apostates, "honor killing" of women by their own relatives, genital mutilation of young women, Shuhada (suicide bombing), etc.
Anti-Western Islamic authoritarian-imperialism represents the predominant worldview of Moslem societies, which have been indoctrinated by their religious, political, ideological, educational and military elites since the 7th century. According to the tenets of mainstream Islam, any criticism of Islam in general and, especially its Prophet, Muhammad, warrants severe retribution, including death.
Oversimplification and wishful-thinking in the battle against global Islamic terrorism, and in the pursuit of peace, have been crashed against the rocks of reality. The delusion of the "Arab Spring" has been brutally exposed by the tectonic and stormy "Arab Winter" which is gaining momentum. Ideological and operational ambiguity ("man-caused disasters") must yield to ideological and operational clarity, identifying the clear and present danger to peace and to the survival of Western democracies -- global Islamic terrorism.
Ambassador (ret.) Yoram Ettinger
The Ettinger Report
"Second Thought: A US-Israel Initiative"
First published in "Israel Hayom", September 14, 2012
