No, the U.S. doesn’t fear an Islamic awakening. The U.S. is refusing to acknowledge that an Islamic awakening would be anything it would need to fear. The U.S. is tarring with charges of “bigotry” and “racism” anyone who dares point out that people like Khamenei talk this way, and that Islam has a political and violent character that some (not all) Muslims are pressing forward. How far it will allow the jihadists to go before admitting that these so-called “bigots” and “racists” were right is anybody’s guess: right now both Left and Right are killing any chances moderate Muslims may ever have had (which were slim at best from the outset) by assuming, and commanding others to assume, that the work they would need to do to neutralize violence within Islam has already been done, and that there is already a strong basis in Islam for pluralism, democracy, and freedom of conscience. How long will it be until the force of events make them admit that they were wrong?
From the Tehran Times, with thanks to Designnut:
TEHRAN — Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei on Saturday described U.S. movements in the region as passive positions adopted in response to the awakening of Muslim nations.
In a speech at a mourning ceremony marking the 16th anniversary of the death of the late Imam Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Khamenei stated that Imam Khomeini made a significant contribution to efforts to weaken U.S. dominance over the region.
He said Imam Khomeini’s success in establishing the Islamic Republic in Iran and initiating the awakening movement among Muslim nations had led the United States to take actions to rein in this movement through passive positions.
The U.S. military presence around Iran may appear to indicate its power, but a careful analysis of developments in the region shows that the U.S. has taken passive positions against the Islamic awakening movement, he added.
The Supreme Leader said the failure of the Greater Middle East Initiative is a sign of such positions adopted by the U.S. government to control the struggles of nations fighting against its hegemony.
“The Americans know that they have no future in the Islamic world. For this reason, they have resorted to passive positions to stop the Islamic awakening of nations from becoming revolutionary movements and also to delay the unquestionable triumph of nations,” he told participants at the ceremony held at the mausoleum of Imam Khomeini, located just south of Tehran.
This has been acknowledged in the recent remarks of U.S. officials about the war in Iraq, Ayatollah Khamenei said.
“The Americans have said that if they had not attacked Iraq, the religious Iraqi forces would have toppled Saddam in a short time,” he said to chants of “Death to America”. “This reality shows that their actions in the region are taken out of fear of the consequences of the Islamic awakening.”
Ayatollah Khamenei said another approach that the world powers, particularly Britain, have always adopted to confront the Islamic awakening has been attempting to foment disunity between Shias and Sunnis.
“The invisible hand of the Zionists and other foreigners in the bloody incidents and blasts in mosques and religious sites”¦ is completely active,” he said. “All Muslim nations, particularly the people of Iraq, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, must promote unity and solidarity and be aware of the plots of the enemies of Islam to foment discord among them.”…
An Arab preacher, Abu Mahdi Saleh, praised Imam Khomeini as an exemplary leader who never deviated from the path of Islam despite all obstacles and problems that he had to face.
“The Islamic Revolution led by Imam Khomeini was a gift from God,” he noted.