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Exposing the role that Islamic jihad theology and ideology play in the modern global conflicts

Europe hasn’t faced up to “new terror”

Nov 25, 2003 7:49 am By Robert Spencer

Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew says that “Al-Qaeda is not like other terror groups Europeans are familiar with . . . its reach to fanatical Muslims is unique.”

This is, as I have pointed out many times, because of its appeal to traditional Islamic concepts of jihad and martyrdom — although political correctness compels most observers to ignore the evidence of this.

The report says that “Europeans have got it wrong in thinking the terrorist threat can be contained by taking a localised, kid-gloved approach. What the world is grappling with now is a new, globalised menace, one that has to be fought jointly by developed countries and moderate Muslims, Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew said in an interview with Newsweek.”

According to Lee Kuan Yew: “The Europeans underestimate the problem of Al-Qaeda-style terrorism. They compare it to their own many experiences with terror – the IRA, the Red Brigade, the Baader-Meinhof, ETA. But they are wrong.”

One reason why is because of radical Islam’s global reach: “Describing Al-Qaeda-style terrorism as ‘new and unique’, he noted that an event in faraway Morocco was capable of provoking extremist groups in Indonesia. ‘There is a shared fanatical zealousness among these different extremists around the world. Many Europeans think they can finesse the problem, that if they don’t upset Muslim countries and treat Muslims well, the terrorists won’t target them.'”

That is indeed a widespread view, not only among Europeans, but here in America as well. “But that is a fallacy, he said, bringing up the terror threat in South-east Asia as a case in point: ‘Muslims have prospered here. But still, Muslim terrorism and militancy have infected them.'”

Hmmm. Isn’t Islamic terrorism supposed to be a byproduct of poverty and desperation? It’s good to see that Lee Kuan Yew knows better.

“He told Newsweek that both Singapore and Thailand had been targeted in recent years, even though neither had mistreated its Muslims.

“The more forceful American approach had its shortcomings too. ‘You must use force. But force will only deal with the tip of the problem. In killing the terrorists, you will only kill the worker bees.’

“What is needed, he said, is to get at the ‘queen bees’ – the clerics who spread their twisted ideas of Islam, poisoning the minds of the young.

“SM Lee contrasted the case of Amrozi Nurhasyim – sentenced to death for plotting the Bali bombing – with that of cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, the spiritual head of Jemaah Islamiah, who was given four years for relatively minor offences.

“‘Men like Bashir are the real force behind the terror,’ he said. ‘It is Bashir who churns out these kinds of people.'” Indeed it is.

“To win the war against terrorism, he said, the United States and its allies must give full backing, with their resources and other forms of support, to moderate, modernising Muslims. ‘Only Muslims can win this struggle,’ he said.

“‘Moderate, modernising Muslims, political, religious, civic leaders together have to make the case against the fundamentalists.

“‘America can’t do it alone,’ he explained.

“‘You can’t go into the mosques, Islamic centres and madrasahs. We don’t have any standing as non-Muslims. Barging in will create havoc.'”

This is just what I have been arguing for years: that this conflict will not end until Muslims as a whole or in large part renounce the theology and ideology of violent jihad that underlies them. Sure, that’s a remote possibility, but it has a much better chance of succeeding in the long run than some political solution, or any other kind, that is imposed from without.

Says Lee Kuan Yew of Iraq: “It is related to the larger struggle. You must put in place moderates who can create a modern society. If you walk away from Iraq, the jihadis will follow you wherever you go. You may think you’ve left them behind, but they will pursue you.” (Thanks to LGF.)

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Filed Under: Eurabia, Jihad doctrine, Jihad in the West, Singapore


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