Newsletter January 2007 #67

Table of Contents:

Editor's Remarks

This December, following a Ditchley House conference in the UK, I took the opportunity to swing over to Belgium for a number of reasons — professional and personal. Part of the personal agenda involved making what used to be called a pilgrimage to Ypres.

Ypres was the epicentre of the First World War. About a third of all British/Dominion casualties fell around the city, including some 21,000 Canadians who died defending the last Belgian city to remain out of German hands during the war. There were five major campaigns in four years around it, and many smaller battles. About a third of those who died have no known graves — including a great uncle; a number of members of my old student fraternity (including Fred Fisher, who won the first of Canada’s 70 WWI Victoria Crosses), and many of the men of my old Regiment.

The somber and deeply moving sites like the Menin Gate in the city and the many cemeteries — Commonwealth, German, French and Belgian — that dot the area are what one can expect. What seems unexpected is the living and healthy memorial which is Ypres itself and its citizens.

The remains of the Great War are easy to find around Ypres, as it was a vast field of rubble in the middle of a brutally scarred landscape in November 1918. But the people of the area filled in the trenches and craters in their fields and rebuilt their once beautiful city almost exactly as it had been before. There are few communities anywhere that seem as wholesome and kindly as this one; which perhaps is the best memorial of all.

-- JT

Iraq: What Went Wrong?

The US-led 2003 invasion of Iraq had several promised benefits: Three of which were easily achieved. The dictatorial strongman Saddam Hussein was rapidly ousted from power in an invasion which also show-cased American military prowess pour encourager les autres. His development projects to produce weapons of mass destruction were finally ended as well; this last being especially easy to accomplish as these were in severe disarray and Saddam’s scientists had been lying about the status of their programs to protect their own skins.

The other benefit promised by President George W. Bush was the transformation of Iraq into a more democratic and prosperous nation — making it an example that could transform one of the world’s most repressive and backward neighbourhoods. This hasn’t worked.

Instead, the United States is now mired in the sort of conflict its citizens hate the most — a protracted and complex melee with various guerrillas and terrorists, but with no end in sight; the adjacent nation of Iran is rapidly completing its nuclear weapons programs and has tested its delivery systems; and most of the Middle East remains as surly, truculent and regressive as ever. Additionally, they have a brand new grievance -- the effrontery of a Western nation trying to transform an Arab land -- to clutch as close to their hearts as the rest of their long list of querulous complaints. This additional ‘humiliation’ is aiding considerably with recruitment for the great Jihad.

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The Pope and Islam:
Misinterpretation and Anger

-- D. Johnson — November 2006

The bulk of media coverage in recent months has been concerned with violence in the Middle East (primarily Iraq). Some of this violence has been fueled by remarks made by Pope Benedict. The pope’s larger message, which concerned faith and reason, was drowned out by one line about Islam being a violent religion. In an ironic response, the Muslim world reacted with violence and anger. Many churches were firebombed and Christians in the Middle East were on guard for their lives. The outcome of this speech not only shows a potential problem in the realm of politics and culture, but also the increasing issue of religious conflicts. This article will address the context of the Pope’s comments, the Islamic reaction and issues on the horizon for Western nations.

Context of the Pope’s Speech

The context of the Pope’s speech surrounds faith and reason. He uses examples from the Christian era to point out that faith and reason should work in harmony to fulfill the overall purpose of God. The inclusion of the comments made by Manuel II Paleogous was in order to illustrate that faith and violence do not go together. These were taken from a dialogue between Manuel II Paleogous "and an educated Persian on the subject of Christianity and Islam." The following is a section of the Pope’s speech;

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An Initial Lexicon of Islamic and Jihadist Terminology

Trying to understand the workings of the Jihadist threat that now confronts us, and distinguish between what is inoffensive and what is threatening in the Muslim communities inside the West has been difficult. However, there are words and phrases that all of us must learn to understand.

What should be of particular concern to most of us are the followers of the Wahhabi, Salafist and Deobandist traditions in Islam — all of which are recent and highly militant. The frequent notes in the following Lexicon should explain why…

Al-muwahhidun: The unitarians or monotheists, this is the Wahhabi/Salafist description of themselves.

Al-Qaeda: ‘The [military] base’; the name for Osama bin Laden’s coalition of terrorists and their supporters.

Amir/Emir: Variously used to describe a military leader, a governor or a local leader. The Caliph (when one exists) is sometimes described as Amir ul-Momineen — the commander of the faithful. An emirate is a subordinate part of the caliphate.

Bidat: This, according to Wahhabis, is the sin of innovation — primarily in terms of religious practice and belief. However, Wahhabis have proven quite innovative themselves when it comes to propaganda techniques, communications technology, and new terrorist tactics, etc.

Burqa: This is the full-overall covering and veil worn by many Muslim women, particularly at the insistence of Wahhabis and other extremists. More liberal Muslims are content with a headscarf alone.

Calipha/Khalifa: A deputy to Mohammed himself, thus the ultimate political/religious authority for all Muslims. No man has held the title of Caliph or Khalif since the office was abolished with the end of the Ottoman Empire by Kemal Attaturk in 1922. Many extremist Muslims believe the restoration of the Caliphate is an essential step to unifying all Islam and as a prelude to a program of global dominance.

An Initial Lexicon of Islamic and Jihadist Terminology

Alexander Mackenzie’s Bookshelf

Sniffing the Roots of Jihadist Terrorism

Charles Allen is a much published historian of the old British Raj, and one might think that a man focused on the history of Britain in India couldn’t have much to contribute to understanding today’s Global Jihad — which would be an entirely erroneous assumption. His book God’s Terrorists: The Wahhabi Cult and the Hidden Roots of Modern Jihad (Little, Brown; London; 2006) is an impressive study of the early origins of the problem.

Allen researched the early history of the Saudi-based Wahhabi sect and found that they had made many inroads into the Muslim communities of what is now India and Pakistan back in the early 19^th Century. Moreover, these Wahhabis of the Raj (who eventually formed the Deoband School) then had a long history of violence, subversion and clandestine behaviours that frequently caused considerable trouble for the many local rulers and the British. Of particular interest was the attraction of Wahhabi Islam to the Pashtun peoples of Pakistan and India, and the subsequent effect on the old Northwest Frontier of the Raj.

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"We are at war and those who warn of its dangers are being systematically silenced by our enemies who demand that nothing get in the way of complacency with our own destruction."

-- Caroline Glick, The Jerusalem Post, November 20^th, 2006.

-- Mark Steyn, America Alone

"A trenchant (or truncheon?) observation:

-- Jeff Marder

The Mackenzie Institute

The Institute was formed in 1986 to provide research and comment on such diverse subjects as terrorism, organized crime, political extremism, propaganda, conflict and other such matters. It does not shy away from controversy.

The Institute holds to the proposition that our democratic institutions need to be defended and enhanced, and works to do what it can to protect the stability of Canadian society.

Those who support its purposes are invited to become Friends of the Institute, and those who contribute $60 (or more) to it, receive its publications for the next twelve months.

John Thompson is President of the Mackenzie Institute which studies political instability and terrorism. He can be reached at: mackenzieinstitute@bellnet.ca