"Is this country, once
established as a refuge for protecting those fleeing religious persecution,
really still 'the land of the free'? … Many people in
the developing world no longer see the Western way of life as a model. And why
should they, when we doubt our own basic principles?"
Geert Wilders has his big appearance at Ground Zero on
Saturday. The Dutch right-wing populist and hater of Islam is a guest star at
the September 11th demonstrations against the mosque, planned for two blocks
from the attack site [video below]. Thousands will cheer Wilders, when he once
again calls for a ban of the Quran, calls the Prophet Mohammed a child molester
and equates Islam with fascism. Many U.S. citizens agree with the maker of the anti-Islamic
film Fitna. Sixty eight percent want to ban the building
of mosques in New York, and 49 percent, just in principle, have a negative opinion
about Islam.
So it’s hardly surprising
that on Friday, out of fear, many U.S. Muslims put off celebrations for the end
of the fasting month of Ramadan.
Is this country, once established as a refuge for protecting those fleeing religious
persecution, really still the "land of the free"?
In the United States and
throughout the Western world, freedom has gone to ruin in the nine years since
9/11. This will delight the string-pullers behind the brutal attacks on the
World Trade Center. They have managed to destabilize their enemies in the West.
Yes, we are playing along in the clash of cultures they instigated. And even
worse: For sheer fear of terror, we are dismantling the foundations of our
liberal society.
Terrorists are terrorists
because they're too weak to seize power directly. Instead, they carry out
attacks: a calculated move to frighten and provoke people
to panic, setting in motion events that will bring them closer to their goal. Prime
examples are the assassination in 1914 of Austria’s heir to the throne, Franz Ferdinand, by
Serbian nationalist GavriloPrincip. After it
triggered World War I, this led to a sovereign, Serbian-dominated Yugoslavia. Or
the murder of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin by a Jewish extremist in
1995: it was the beginning of the end of the Middle East peace process.
THE
HEADLESS WEST
The mastermind of September
11thhas been remarkably successful. The West has responded
according to expectations: panicked, rash and in a blind rage. The United
States and its allies have become entangled in two costly and bloody wars. The
officially-ended Iraq deployment cost the U.S. at least $1 trillion, the lives
of 4,400 soldiers and above all, its image as a good-natured hedgemon - thanks
to Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo. The Afghanistan war is now shaking the foundations
of NATO, as original allies The Netherlands and Canada jump ship. Others remain
in line only to avoid a further strain on transatlantic ties already shattered
by the Iraq War. For them, all that matters is a face-saving exit strategy. The
alliance won’t soon engage in another such military action.
September 11th inflicted even
deeper wounds on our civil society. We feel threatened by this other culture
and regard it as the enemy. Three out of four Germans are more-or-less worried about
the spread of Islam, as has been conjured up by ThiloSarrazin.
And all of that distorts and mixed with the very necessary debate on
integration.
In and of themselves, some of
these measures may be justified. But together, they attack the core of the
basic law of freedom as determined by the Federal Constitutional Court. At
best, they provide only the illusion of security. Even politicians are guided
primarily by fear - of being accused of not having done everything in their
power after an attack.
There are still myriad
opportunities for attacks. Clearly, al-Qaeda has been weakened and (hopefully) is
no longer capable of a mass murder à la New York. But their twisted
ideas live on. And a homemade bomb in a subway or at a festival can hardly be
prevented - even with the most aggressive snooping.
Posted by WORLDMEETS.US
Osama bin Laden is an idol
for tens of thousands of angry young Muslim men, especially in countries like
Pakistan, Indonesia, Egypt, or Saudi Arabia - all old allies of the United
States. Many people in the developing world no longer see the Western way of
life as a model. And why should they, when we doubt our own basic principles?
For nine long years now, the
West has been dominated by the dark threat of al-Qaeda. Now it’s time to pause,
and ponder what constitutes the essence of what it means to live together.
