Hon. Michael Mukasey speech for the AIFL's Judicial Reception

AMERICA-ISRAEL FRIENDSHIP LEAGUE – 5/14/12 [AS DELIVERED]

By: Michael B. Mukasey

WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT THE NAME OF THIS ORGANIZATION – THE AMERICA-ISRAEL FRIENDSHIP LEAGUE, IT SOUNDS ALMOST QUAINT, A THROWBACK TO ANOTHER ERA.  PROBABLY SINCE ITS FOUNDING IN 1948, IT HAS BEEN PROVERBIAL FOR PEOPLE TO THINK AND BELIEVE THAT ISRAEL NEEDS FRIENDS, SURROUNDED AS IT WAS – AND IS – BY STATES THAT REGARD ITS VERY EXISTENCE AS A DISASTER.  IT HAS ALSO BEEN PROVERBIAL THAT THE UNITED STATES – THE FIRST TO GRANT DE JURE RECOGNITION TO THE NEW STATE – IS THE LEADING FRIEND OF ISRAEL, SHARING AS WE DO A COMMITMENT TO DEMOCRACY, AND TO CIVIL LIBERTIES.

TO SAY THAT IT HAS BEEN PROVERBIAL IS TO SAY THAT IS HAS BEEN ASSUMED, AND I THINK ALL HERE RECOGNIZE THAT WE ARE AT A TIME WHEN ISRAEL CANNOT ASSUME THAT FRIENDSHIP, PARTICULARLY WITH THE UNITED STATES, WILL TAKE ANY TRULY SUPPORTIVE FORM.

ISRAEL IS FACING, FOR PERHAPS THE FOURTH TIME IN ITS SHORT EXISTENCE, AN EXISTENTIAL THREAT TO THAT EIXSTENCE.  THE FIRST, OF COURSE, CAME IN 1948, AND ISRAEL PREVAILED OVER THE COMBINED ARMIES OF SEVEN ARAB COUNTRIES.  THE SECOND CAME IN JUNE OF 1967, WHEN EGYPT CUT OFF ISRAEL’S SOUTHERN PORT OF EILAT AND PROMISED TO LAUNCH AN ATTACK THAT WOULD DESTROY THE JEWISH STATE.  THE THIRD WAS IN 1973 WHEN THE EGYPTIANS CROSSED THE SUEZ CANAL IN FORCE AND THREATENED TO DESTROY THE ISRAELIS IN THE SINAI AND EVENTUALLY IN ISRAEL PROPER.

AND NOW THE FOURTH, WHEN IRAN OPENLY DECLARES ITS INTENT TO DEVELOP A NUCLEAR WEAPON THAT IT INTENDS TO USE TO WIPE ISRAEL OFF THE MAP. 

IN ONE OF THOSE SITUATIONS – IN JUNE 1967 -- IT TURNED OUT THAT ISRAEL DID NOT NEED THE DIRECT SUPPORT OF THE UNITED STATES, ALTHOUGH IT RECEIVED DIPLOMATIC SUPPORT IN THE COMING MONTHS THAT AVERTED A RETURN TO THE PRE-JUNE 1967 BORDERS.

IN BOTH 1948 AND 1973 ISRAEL NEEDED, AND GOT, THE DIRECT SUPPORT OF THE UNITED STATES – IN 1948 IN THE FORM OF DIPLOMATIC RECOGNITION AND IN 1973 IN THE FORM OF VITAL MILITARY SUPPLIES THAT ALLOWED ISRAEL TO HOLD ON DURING THE WEEKS FOLLOWING THE ATTACK AND PROBABLY PREVENTED ITS DESTRUCTION.

HOWEVER, IN ITS CURRENT ENCOUNTER WITH MILITANT ISLAMISM, OF WHICH MORE IN A BIT, ISRAEL APPARENTLY CANNOT COUNT ON THE SUPPORT OF THE UNITED STATES IF IT DECIDES ITS EXISTENCE IS IN GREATER PERIL THAN SOME THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS MAY THINK IT IS. 

I AM WELL AWARE THAT THE PRESIDENT IS ON RECORD AS HAVING SAID AT AN AIPAC CONFERENCE THAT THE UNITED STATES HAS ISRAEL’S BACK.  BUT I AM AWARE ALSO THAT WITHIN A DAY HE SAID THAT THAT EXPRESSION WAS MEANT SIMPLY TO DESCRIBE THE HISTORIC RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE TWO COUNTRIES, AND NOT TO CONTAIN ANY EXPLICIT PROMISE ABOUT THE FUTURE, PARTICULARLY INSOFAR AS IT RELATED TO WHAT ISRAEL MIGHT OR MIGHT NOT DO WITH RESPECT TO THE THREAT FROM IRAN. 

MUCH OF THE DISCUSSION HAS CENTERED ON WHAT IT MEANS FOR IRAN TO HAVE A NUCLEAR CAPABILITY, OR TO HAVE ACTUALLY DECIDED OR COMMITTED TO BUILD A NUCLEAR WEAPON.

A LOT OF THAT DISCUSSION SEEMS TO ME TO BE, FRANKLY, POINTLESS.  IF YOU LOOK AT THE RECORD, CAN YOU SERIOUSLY ASK WHAT IT MEANS WHEN A COUNTRY BURIES ITS NUCLEAR PROCESSING FACILITIES DEEP IN THE EARTH SO AS TO MAKE THEM IMPERMEABLE TO ATTACK, AND SCATTERS THEM THROUGHOUT THE COUNRY SO AS TO ASSURE THAT EVEN IF ONE FACILITY CAN BE DESTROYED THE NUCLEAR PROGRAM CAN CONTINUE, WHEN IT WILLINGLY ENDURES SANCTIONS THAT PUNISH ITS CITIZENS DAY IN AND DAY OUT RATHER THAN PERMIT INSPECTORS TO HAVE ACCESS TO ITS FACILITIES, THAT IT DEVELOPS ROCKETS DESIGNED TO CARRY A NUCLEAR PAYLOAD, AND THAT IT HAS UNDERGONE AND SUPPORTED ALL THAT IN ORDER TO DEVELOP MEDICAL ISOTOPES?  THE QUESTION ITSELF IS FARCICAL. 

MANY PEOPLE HAVE OFFERED MANY EXPLANATIONS FOR WHY IT IS THAT SOME IN THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT CANNOT OR WILL NOT PERCEIVE THE RISK, AND THERE ARE MANY EXPLANATIONS, RANGING FROM THE FACT THAT PEOPLE IN WASHINGTON LIVE IN PLACES LIKE BETHESDA, MARYLAND AND MCLEAN, VIRGINIA, WHERE IT IS A LOT EASIER TO HAVE A SECURE VIEW OF THE WORLD THAN IT IS FROM JERUSALEM OR TEL AVIV. 

BUT THERE IS A MUCH DEEPER PROBLEM HERE, I THINK, AND IT RELATES TO THE INABILITY OR UNWILLINGNESS OF LEADERS IN THIS COUNTRY TO RECOGNIZE AND DISCUSS WHAT IT IS THAT MOTIVATES ISLAMISTS.

HOW IS IT THAT MORE THAN TEN YEARS AFTER 9/11, AND IN FACT MORE THAN 60 YEARS AFTER ONE OF THE EARLY ISLAMISTS DECLARED THAT OUR SOCIETY WAS INCOMPATIBLE WITH HIS RELIGION, MORE THAN 20 YEARS SINCE THE FIRST ACT OF VIOLENCE IN THIS COUNTRY TRACEABLE TO THAT MOVEMENT, AND MORE THAN 15 YEARS AFTER OSAMA BIN LADEN MADE SPECIFIC WHAT WAS ALREADY APPARENT BY DECLARING THAT HE AND OTHERS LIKE MINDED WERE AT WAR WITH US, WE STILL SEEM TO GRAPPLE WITH WHAT IT IS WE ARE DEALING WITH. 

IN A SENSE, WE ARE CONSTITUTIONALLY ILL-EQUIPPED TO DEAL WITH IT – AND HERE I MEAN CONSTITUTIONALLY IN TWO SENSES -- BOTH OUR WRITTEN CONSTITUTION AND OUR NATIONAL DNA.  PERHAPS BECAUSE OF BITTER EXPERIENCE WITH THE ROLE OF RELIGION IN PUBLIC LIFE IN THE 17^TH AND 18^TH CENTURIES, OUR CONSTITUTION IN ITS VERY BODY – NOT JUST IN THE MUCH CELEBRATED BILL OF RIGHTS – IN ARTICLE VI, BARRED ANY RELIGIOUS  TEST AS A QUALIFICATION FOR ANY PUBLIC OFFICE.  AND THEN OF COURSE THERE IS THE ESTABLISHMENT CLAUSE OF THE FIRST AMENDMENT, WHICH AS CURRENTLY INTERPRETED READS RELIGION OUT OF THE PUBLIC SQUARE TO THE POINT WHERE EVEN A PRAYER AT AN OFFICIAL SCHOOL FUNCTION – BE IT A GRADUATION OR A FOOTBALL GAME – IS FORBIDDEN.  WE TEND TO THINK OF RELIGION, IF WE THINK ABOUT IT AT ALL, AS ONLY ONE ASPECT OF A PERSON’S LIFE, AND A PRIVATE ASPECT AT THAT. 

SO IN A SENSE IT IS NATURAL FOR PEOPLE WHO LIVE IN SUCH AN ATMOSPHERE NOT TO BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR ATTACK FROM OTHERS TO WHOM RELIGION IS NOT SIMPLY A PART OF LIFE, OR EVEN A WAY OF LIFE, BUT IS LIFE ITSELF, AND LIFE IN WHICH RELIGION HAS A HEAVY POLITICAL COMPONENT.  BUT THAT IS WHERE THE ATTACK IS COMING FROM, AND 9/11 CERTAINLY WAS NOT THE BEGINNING. 

ACTUALLY, AS A MATTER OF HISTORY, ISLAMISM, INSOFAR AS IT HOLDS THIS COUNTRY IN A WEIRD COMBINATION OF AWE AND CONTEMPT, HAS BEEN INCUBATING FOR ABOUT AS LONG AS WE KNEW ABOUT THE OTHER TWO ISMS THAT WE SUCCESSFULLY BEAT BACK IN THE LAST CENTURY – FASCISM AND COMMUNISM. 

AS A MOVEMENT DISTINCT FROM THE RELIGION OF ISLAM ITSELF – AND THAT IS VERY MUCH HOW I AM USING IT IN THESE REMARKS -- ISLAMISM TRACES BACK TO EGYPT IN THE 1920’S WHEN THE LOOSELY ORGANIZED MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD WAS ESTABLISHED BY A MAN NAMED HASSAN AL-BANNA, A PRIMARY SCHOOL TEACHER.  AL BANNA FOUNDED THE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD AS A REACTION TO THE MODERNIZING INFLUENCE OF KEMAL ATATURK, WHO HAD DISMANTLED THE SHELL OF WHAT WAS LEFT OF THE MUSLIM CALIPHATE IN TURKEY, BANNED FEZ’S AND HEADSCARVES, AND DRAGGED HIS COUNTRY BY THE LAPELS – AND IT HAD TO BE THE LAPELS BECAUSE HE WANTED MEN WEARING SUITS NOT ROBES – INTO THE 20^TH CENTURY. 

AL-BANNA’S PRINCIPAL DISCIPLE WAS ALSO AN EDUCATOR -- A BUREAUCRAT IN THE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF THE EGYPTIAN GOVERNMENT NAMED SAYYID QUTB, WHO CAUSED ENOUGH TROUBLE IN EGYPT TO GET HIMSELF AWARDED A TRAVELING FELLOWSHIP IN 1948, THE YEAR AL-BANNA WAS KILLED IN VIOLENCE GENERATED BY THE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD.  THAT FELLOWSHIP WAS INTENDED TO HAVE THE BENIGN EFFECT OF GETTING HIM OUT OF THE COUNTRY. 

IT DID HAVE THAT EFFECT, BUT REGRETTABLY FOR US, HE CHOSE TO TRAVEL TO THE UNITED STATES, AND IN PARTICULAR TO GREELEY, COLORADO.  NOW I THINK IT WOULD BE HARD TO IMAGINE A MORE SEDATE PLACE THAN POST-WORLD-WAR-II GREELEY COLORADO, BUT FOR SAYID QUTB IT WAS SODOM AND GOMORRAH.  HE HATED EVERYTHING HE SAW – AMERICAN HAIRCUTS, ENTHUSIASM FOR SPORTS, JAZZ, WHAT HE CALLED THE “ANIMAL-LIKE MIXING OF THE SEXES” EVEN IN CHURCH.  HIS CONCLUSION WAS THAT AMERICANS WERE, AS HE PUT IT, “NUMB TO FAITH IN ART, FAITH IN RELIGION, AND FAITH IN SPIRITUAL VALUES ALTOGETHER.”

QUTB WENT BACK TO EGYPT, QUIT THE CIVIL SERVICE, AND JOINED HASSAN AL-BANNA’S MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD.  . 

QUTB AND THE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD CONTINUED TO AGITATE FOR A RETURN TO FUNDAMENTALIST ISLAM.  THEY WELCOMED NASSER’S COUP AGAINST KING FAROUK IN 1952, BUT THEN BECAME DISILLUSIONED WHEN NASSER FAILED TO INSTITUTE SHARIAH LAW OR EVEN BAN ALCOHOL.  QUTB WAS ARRESTED AND TORTURED.  BUT HE CONTINUED TO AGITATE FOR ISLAM AND AGAINST WESTERN CIVILIZATION, PARTICULARLY AGAINST JEWS, WHOM HE BLAMED FOR ATHEISTIC MATERIALISM AND SAID WERE TO BE CONSIDERED THE WORST ENEMIES OF MUSLIMS.  HE WAS RELEASED FOR A TIME, BUT EVENTUALLY WAS RE-ARRESTED, TRIED FOR CONSPIRACY AGAINST THE GOVERNMENT AND HANGED IN EGYPT IN 1966. 

AT THAT TIME, MANY MEMBERS OF THE BROTHERHOOD FLED TO SAUDI ARABIA, WHERE THEY FOUND REFUGE AND IDEOLOGICAL SUSTENANCE.  QUTB’S BROTHER WAS AMONG THOSE WHO FLED AND TAUGHT THE DOCTRINE IN SAUDI ARABIA.  AMONG HIS STUDENTS WERE AYMAN AL-ZAWAHIRI, AN EGYPTIAN WHO WOULD BECOME A LEADING AL QAEDA IDEOLOGIST AND NOW HEADS THE ORGANIZATION, AND A THEN OBSCURE OSAMA BIN LADEN, THE PAMPERED CHILD OF ONE OF THE RICHEST CONSTRUCTION FAMILIES IN THE COUNTRY.  AND THE REST, AS THEY SAY IS HISTORY. 

THAT HISTORY DID NOT COME TO THESE SHORES ON SEPTEMBER 11, 2001, OR EVEN ON FEBRUARY 26, 1993, WHEN A TRUCK BOMB WENT OFF IN THE BASEMENT OF THE WORLD TRADE CENTER, KILLING SIX PEOPLE, WOUNDING HUNDREDS, AND CAUSING MILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN DAMAGE IN WHAT WOULD EVENTUALLY COME TO BE KNOWN AS THE FIRST WORLD TRADE CENTER BOMBING.  RATHER, IT CAME AT THE LATEST IN THE 1980’S, WHEN A COUPLE OF FBI AGENTS SPOTTED A GROUP OF MEN TAKING WHAT LOOKED LIKE PARTICULARLY AGGRESSIVE TARGET PRACTICE AT A SHOOTING RANGE IN CALVERTON, LONG ISLAND. 

WHEN THE AGENTS APPROACHED THEY WERE ACCUSED OF WHAT WE NOW CALL RACIAL PROFILING AND BACKED OFF.  IN NOVEMBER 1990, ONE OF THOSE MEN PARTICIPATING IN THE TARGET PRACTICE, EL-SAYID NOSAIR, WOULD ASSASSINATE A RIGHT-WING ISRAELI POLITICIAN NAMED MEIR KAHANE, AFTER KAHANE FINISHED DELIVERING A SPEECH IN THE BALLROOM OF A MANHATTAN HOTEL.  THE CASE WAS TREATED BY THE MANHATTAN DA AS THE LONE ACT OF A LONE GUNMAN.

WHEN THE 1993 WORLD TRADE CENTER BOMBERS DEMANDED FREEING NOSAIR FROM JAIL, IT BECAME APPARENT THAT THE KAHANE ASSASSINATION WAS NOT THE LONE ACT OF A LONE GUNMAN.  IN FACT, WHEN AUTHORITIES REVIEWED THE AMATEUR VIDEO OF KAHANE’S SPEECH THE NIGHT HE WAS KILLED THEY DISCOVERED THAT ONE OF THOSE 1993 BOMBERS HAD BEEN IN THE HALL WHEN KAHANE WAS SHOT IN 1990, AND FURTHER INVESTIGATION DISCLOSED THAT ANOTHER WAS DRIVING WHAT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE NOSAIR’S GET-AWAY VEHICLE.  AND WHEN THEY RETRIEVED FROM A WAREHOUSE MATERIALS THAT HAD BEEN SEIZED FROM NOSAIR’S APARTMENT BUT HAD GONE UNEXAMINED, THEY SAW THAT IT INCLUDED DOCUMENTS THAT CALLED FOR THE DESTRUCTION OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION BY TOPPLING TALL BUILDINGS.

THE MAN WHO SERVED AS THE SPIRITUAL ADVISOR TO NOSAIR, AND TO THE 1993 TRADE CENTER BOMBERS, AND WHO HAD ISSUED THE FATWA THAT RESULTED IN THE ASSASSINATION IN 1981 OF ANWAR SADAT, OMAR ABDEL RAHMAN, THE SO-CALLED BLIND SHEIKH – WHO LATER WOULD ISSUE FROM JAIL THE FATWA THAT AUTHORIZED THE 9/11 ATTACK – WAS TRIED BEFORE ME, ALONG WITH NOSAIR AND SEVERAL OTHERS, AND CONVICTED FOR PARTICIPATING IN A CONSPIRACY TO CONDUCT A WAR OF URBAN TERROR AGAINST THIS COUNTRY THAT INCLUDED THE KAHANE MURDER, THE FIRST TRADE CENTER BOMBING, AND A PLOT TO BLOW UP OTHER LANDMARKS AROUND NEW YORK, AND TO ASSASSINATE HOSNI MUBARAK WHEN HE VISITED THE UNITED NATIONS.  THE LIST OF UNINDICTED CO-CONSPIRATORS IN THAT CASE INCLUDED OSAMA BIN LADEN, THE PAMPERED RICH KID WHO HAD STUDIED AT THE KNEE OF SAYID QUTB’S BROTHER IN SAUDI ARABIA. 

THE FIRST TRADE CENTER BOMBING AND THE KAHANE MURDER WERE TREATED AS A SERIES OF CRIMES – UNCONVENTIONAL CRIMES, MAYBE, BUT MERELY CRIMES.  IN 1996 AND AGAIN IN 1998, OSAMA BIN LADEN DECLARED THAT HE AND HIS COHORTS WERE AT WAR WITH THE UNITED STATES, A DECLARATION THAT GOT LITTLE SERIOUS ATTENTION. 

IN 1998, OUR EMBASSIES IN NAIROBI, KENYA AND DAR ES SALAAM, TANZANIA, WERE ALMOST SIMULTANEOUSLY BOMBED, AND AGAIN THE CRIMINAL LAW WAS INVOKED WITH THE USUAL MANTRA OF BRING THEM TO JUSTICE, THIS TIME IN AN INDICTMENT THAT ACTUALLY NAMED BIN LADEN AS A DEFENDANT.

APPARENTLY HE WAS UNIMPRESSED, OR AT LEAST UNDETERRED, BECAUSE IN 2000 HIS GROUP, AL QAEDA, BOMBED THE USS COLE IN ADEN, YEMEN, KILLING 16 U-S SAILORS, AND WOULD HAVE CARRIED OUT THE BOMBING OF ANOTHER NAVAL VESSEL, THE USS THE SULLIVANS, BUT FOR THE FACT THAT THE BARGE CARRYING THE EXPLOSIVES WAS OVER-LOADED AND SANK. 

AND THEN OF COURSE CAME SEPTEMBER 11, 2001, AND TO THE CALL BRING THEM TO JUSTICE WAS ADDED THE CALL BRING JUSTICE TO THEM, AND WE WERE TOLD, FINALLY, THAT WE WERE AT WAR, WHICH WAS MORE THAN 50 YEARS AFTER SAYID QUTB DETERMINED THAT ISLAMISTS WOULD HAVE TO MAKE WAR ON US, ABOUT 15 YEARS AFTER ISLAMISTS HAD MADE IT CLEAR THAT THEY WERE TRAINING FOR WAR WITH US, AND FIVE YEARS AFTER OSAMA BIN LADEN MADE IT OFFICIAL WITH A DECLARATION OF WAR.

IF ISLAMISM WERE SIMPLY ABOUT FOLKS WHO WANT TO BLOW UP THINGS AND KILL PEOPLE THAT WOULD BE BAD ENOUGH, BUT IT MIGHT BE SOMETHING WE COULD DEAL WITH; AFTER ALL, WE HAVE AN INTELLIGENCE NETWORK THAT SOMETIMES ALTHOUGH NOT ALWAYS DETECTS OUR ENEMIES, AND A ROBUST MILITARY.  BUT THE VIOLENCE IS NOT THE ULTIMATE END, BUT SIMPLY A MEANS TO THAT END.  THE END IS THE IMPOSITION OF SHARIAH, WHICH IS A COMPREHENSIVE FRAMEWORK THAT HAS SPIRITUAL ASPECTS, TO BE SURE, BUT IS SUPPOSED TO REGULATE ALL BEHAVIOR – ECONOMIC, SOCIAL, LEGAL, MILITARY AND POLITICAL.  BECAUSE IT IS ALL-ENCOMPASSING, AND LAYS CLAIM TO BEING DIVINELY INSPIRED, IT REGARDS THE NOTION THAT PEOPLE CAN DETERMINE THE RULES THAT GOVERN ANY ASPECT OF THEIR LIVES, EITHER THEMSELVES OR THROUGH ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES, AS ANATHEMA.  WHICH IS TO SAY, SHARIAH IS TOTALITARIAN, AND PROFOUNDLY ANTI-DEMOCRATIC.

HINTS OF THIS COMPREHENSIVE FRAMEWORK COME PEEKING THROUGH EVEN IN THE EPISODES OF VIOLENCE AND SUPPORT FOR VIOLENCE THAT HAVE BEEN THE SUBJECT OF PROSECUTION IN THE CIVILIAN COURTS OF THIS COUNTRY.  AND SO IN THE TERRORISM TRIAL OVER WHICH I PRESIDED, IN WHICH THE DEFENDANTS WERE CHARGED WITH PARTICIPATING IN A CONSPIRACY THAT INCLUDED BOMBING VARIOUS LANDMARKS IN NEW YORK CITY – A CONSPIRACY THAT WAS INFILTRATED BY AN INFORMANT SO WE HAD TAPE RECORDED DISCUSSIONS AMONG THE PARTICIPANTS, THERE WAS ONE RECORDED CONVERSATION BETWEEN THE INFORMANT AND ONE OF THE DEFENDANTS AS THEY SHOPPED ON CANAL STREET IN NEW YORK FOR AN ELECTRONIC DEVICE THAT COULD BE USED AS A DETONATOR.  THE DEFENDANT COMMENTED THAT THE SOCIETY IN THIS COUNTRY WAS ONE IN WHICH ANYTHING WAS AVAILABLE – DETONATORS, PORNOGRAPHY, ANYTHING.  HE MADE THE OBSERVATION NOT OUT OF ADMIRATION BUT OUT OF CONTEMPT, AND IN THE BELIEF THAT SUCH A SOCIETY WAS ROTTEN TO THE CORE AND WOULD COLLAPSE EASILY UNDER PRESSURE FROM MILITANT ISLAM, WHICH REPRESENTED TO HIM A SOURCE OF PURITY. 

AND IN THE TERRORIST FINANCING TRIAL OF AN ENTITY CALLED THE HOLY LAND FOUNDATION IN 2008, THERE WAS INTRODUCED IN EVIDENCE A DOCUMENT ENTITLED “EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM: ON THE GENERAL STRATEGIC GOAL FOR THE GROUP.”  THE GROUP APPARENTLY REFERS TO THE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD IN AMERICA.  THE DOCUMENT WAS WRITTEN IN 1991 BY A SENIOR HAMAS LEADER IN THE UNITED STATES, AND EXPLAINS THAT THE ISLAMIST MOVEMENT IS WHAT THE MEMO REFERS TO AS A “SETTLEMENT PROCESS” TO ESTABLISH ITSELF IN THE UNITED STATES AND, ONCE ESTABLISHED, TO PURSUE A “CIVILIZATION JIHADIST” MISSION LED BY THE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD, WHAT THE AUTHOR ROBERT SPENCER HAS DESCRIBED, AND I THINK APTLY, AS “STEALTH JIHAD.” 

THE DOCUMENT ITSELF DESCRIBES WHAT IT CALLS A “CIVILIZATION-JIHADIST PROCESS” AS A “KIND OF GRAND JIHAD IN ELIMINATING AND DESTROYING THE WESTERN CIVILIZATION FROM WITHIN AND ‘SABOTAGING’ ITS MISERABLE HOUSE BY THEIR HANDS AND THE HANDS OF THE BELIEVERS SO THAT IT IS ELIMINATED AND GOD’S RELIGION IS MADE VICTORIOUS OVER ALL OTHER RELIGIONS.” 

SHARIAH IS THE LAW OF THE LAND WITHIN WHAT IS REFERRED TO AS THE DAR AL ISLAM, OR THE HOME OR REALM OF ISLAM. 

THAT IS NOT, BY THE WAY, SIMPLY IN MUSLIM COUNTRIES; IT IS ANYPLACE WHERE MUSLIMS CAN AND DO EXERCISE CONTROL, OR EVER HAVE.  AND SO SOME NEIGHBORHOODS IN EURPOEAN CITIES WHERE MUSLIMS EXERCISE CONTROL, NOTABLY IN FRANCE, SOMEWHAT IN ENGLAND, AND EVEN IN SWEDEN, SHARIAH IS PRACTICED AND ENFORCED IN CONTRAVENTION AND WITH THE SUPPRESSION OF LOCAL LAW, WITH THE RESULT THAT SOME OF THOSE NEIGHBORHOODS HAVE BECOME “NO GO” ZONES FOR POLICE AND FIRE FIGHTERS, UNLESS THEY HAVE SECURED THE EXPLICIT PERMISSION OF THE LOCAL ENFORCERS. 

AND SPAIN IS REGULARLY REFERRED TO AS ANDALUS, A PLACE TO BE RECLAIMED.  INTERESTINGLY, THE PROPOSED MOSQUE NEAR GROUND ZERO IN NEW YORK WAS TO BE NAMED CORDOBA HOUSE, AFTER THE SITE OF A MOSQUE BUILT TO COMMEMORATE A MUSLIM VICTORY IN THE CONQUEST OF SPAIN.

THE IMPLEMENTATION OF SHARIAH IN THE DAR AL HARB, WHICH IS THE ABODE OF WAR, OR THE PLACES WHERE SHARIAH IS NOT FULLY IMPLEMENTED, IS THE GOAL OF JIHAD.  ALL OF THIS IS READILY ACCESSIBLE, AMONG OTHER PLACES IN A VOLUME CALLED “RELIANCE OF THE TRAVELER,” WHICH IS ACTUALLY ENDORSED FOR ITS ACCURACY BY AL AZHAR UNIVERSITY IN CAIRO; A SEAT OF LEARNING FOUNDED IN 975 A.D. THAT IS THE INSTITUTION GAVE US SHEIK OMAR ABDEL RAHMAN, THE CLERIC TRIED BEFORE ME WHO WAS THE SPIRITUAL AUTHORITY BEHIND THE SADAT AND KAHANE ASSASSINATIONS AND BOTH THE FIRST WORLD TRADE CENTER BOMBING AND THE 9/11 ATTACK. 

SHARIAH ITSELF CONTAINS THE OBLIGATION TO WAGE JIHAD AGAINST NON-BELIEVERS.  JIHAD IS OBLIGATORY ON EVERY MUSLIM, AND IT IS NOT, AS SOME IN THE WEST WOULD HAVE IT, SIMPLY A PERSONAL STRUGGLE FOR SELF-IMPROVEMENT.  IT IS THE OBLIGATORY STRUGGLE TO IMPOSE SHARIAH WORLD-WIDE.  THAT DOCTRINE REGARDS TRUCES AND TREATIES AS SIMPLY TEMPORARY PAUSES IN THE STRUGGLE UNTIL MUSLIMS CAN RESUME THE STRUGGLE; IT PERMITS, INDEED URGES DISSEMBLING FOR THE SAKE OF ISLAM; THERE IS EVEN A WORD FOR IT – TAQIYYAH.  FAISAL SHAHZAD, THE TIMES SQUARE BOMBER, WAS CHALLENGED AT HIS SENTENCING BY THE JUDGE WHEN HE PROFESSED HIS HATRED FOR AND OPPOSITION TO THE UNITED STATES.  SHE ASKED, DIDN’T YOU TAKE AN OATH WHEN YOU BECAME A CITIZEN OF THIS COUNTRY.  HIS RESPONSE WAS YES, BUT I DIDN’T MEAN IT.

ARE THERE THEN NO MODERATE MUSLIMS.  NONE WHO ARE WILLING TO LIVE IN PEACE LONG TERM WITH THEIR NEIGHBORS?  OF COURSE THERE ARE, AND MILLIONS RESIDE AMONG US IN THE UNITED STATES AS LOYAL AMERICANS, AND MILLIONS MORE RESIDE AROUND THE WORLD.  THERE ARE EVEN PLACES WHERE THEY ARE IN POWER – NOTABLY IN INDONESIA, WHICH IS THE MOST POPULOUS MUSLIM COUNTRY IN THE WORLD.  SOME SIMPLY DISREGARD THE REQUIREMENTS OF SHARIAH, AND ARE TO THAT EXTENT NOT SO MUCH REFORMIST AS UNOBSERVANT. 

BUT A BRAVE FEW ARE ACTUALLY STRUGGLING TO CREATE WITHIN THE RELIGION A THEORETICAL AND DOCTRINAL BASIS FOR COMBATING SUPREMACIST ISLAM.  THEY INCLUDE IN THE UNITED STATES DR. ZUHDI JASSER, WHO HEADS THE AMERICAN ISLAMIC FORUM FOR DEMOCRACY, AND IS ABOUT TO PUBLISH A BOOK CALLED “A BATTLE FOR THE SOUL OF ISLAM” THAT I HAVE IN GALLEY PROOF AND THAT I HOPE YOU WILL ALL BUY AND READ WHEN IT IS PUBLISHED.  AT PRINCETON’S JAMES MADISON PROGRAM, AN AUSTRALIAN ACADEMIC, ABDULLAH SAEED, RECENTLY DELIVERED A LECTURE ARGUING THAT THERE ARE WAYS IN WHICH ONE CAN USE PASSAGES IN THE KORAN AND EPISODES IN THE LIFE OF MOHAMMED SO AS TO OPPOSE THE CLASSICAL SHARIAH.  THE LECTURE IS PUBLISHED IN THE NOVEMBER 2011 ISSUE OF FIRST THINGS UNDER THE TITLE “THE ISLAMIC CASE FOR RELIGIOUS LIBERTY.” BUT THE REGRETTABLE PART OF THIS IS THAT FIRST THINGS, AS SOME OF YOU MAY KNOW, IS A CATHOLIC NOT A MUSLIM PUBLICATION. 

BUT MAKE NO MISTAKE, AS NUMEROUS AS THEY MAY BE, AMONG THOSE WHO PRONOUNCE DOCTRINE THE MODERATES ARE THE DISTINCT AND WEAKER MINORITY.  THE MAJORITY VIEW WAS STATED SUCCINCTLY BY A POLITICAL LEADER LATELY PROMINENT ON THE WORLD STAGE:  HE SAID THAT THE TERM MODERATE ISLAM IS “UGLY AND OFFENSIVE.”  HE SAID, “THERE IS NO MODERATE OR IMMODERATE ISLAM.  ISLAM IS ISLAM; THAT’S IT.”  THAT POLITICIAN IS RECEP TAYYIP ERDOGAN, PRIME MINISTER OF THE INCREASINGLY POWERFUL AND INFLUENTIAL MUSLIM NATION OF TURKEY. 

AND WHAT OF THE VAUNTED ARAB SPRING?  WHAT INDEED.  AS EVENTS UNFOLDED IN TAHRIR SQUARE, WE IN THE UNITED STATES SAW LOTS OF COVERAGE OF HOW THE DRIVING FORCES OF THE REVOLUTION RELIED ON TWITTER AND FACEBOOK, BUT NOT SO MUCH COVERAGE OF THE PUBLIC RAPE OF A CBS JOURNALIST IN TAHRIR SQUARE TO SHOUTS OF “ALLAHU AKHBAR,” AND EVEN LESS COVERAGE OF THE EMERGENCE OF THE SINAI PENINSULA AS A REFUGE FOR HAMAS-TRAINED TERRORISTS WHO TRAVEL FREELY FROM GAZA AND WHO IN AUGUST 2011 LAUNCHED AN ATTACK THAT KILLED 7 ISRAELIS. 

THERE WAS I THINK VIRTUALLY NO COVERAGE AT ALL OF THE RETURN TO EGYPT OF SHEIKH YUSUF QARADAWI, WHO HAD BEEN EXILED FROM THE COUNTRY BY HOSNI MUBARAK AND WHO DELIVERED A TRIUMPHANT SERMON IN TAHRIR SQUARE UPON HIS RETURN.  QARADAWI IS PRAISED IN MANY QUARTERS IN THE WEST AS A LIBERAL AND A REFORMER, WHO HAS AMONG OTHER THINGS STOOD UP FOR WOMEN’S RIGHTS, AND SO HE HAS – EVEN TO THE POINT OF ISSUING A FATWA THAT AUTHORIZES WOMEN TO PARTICIPATE IN SUICIDE BOMBINGS.

IN TUNISIA, ISLAMISTS ARE IN CONTROL.  THEIR LEADER, RASHID GHANNOUCHI, LIKE QARADAWI RECENTLY RETURNED FROM EXILE TO LEAD HIS PARTY.  BARELY FIVE YEARS AGO, HE CALLED FOR THE PUBLIC HANGING OF TWO WOMEN WHO TAUGHT AT THE UNIVERSITY OF TUNISIA, AND DEFENDED WOMEN’S RIGHTS.  BUT EVEN A MEMBER OF THE WALL STREET JOURNAL EDITORIAL STAFF IN A COLUMN IN THAT PAPER ASSURED US THAT GHANNOUCHI IS A NEW BREED OF ISLAMIST – WITH A SENSE OF IRONY AND OF HUMOR.  GHANNOUCHI EVEN ASSURED THE JOURNAL EDITOR THAT HE WOULD NOT SEEK TO BAN ALCOHOL IN TUNISIA BECAUSE IT IS WELL KNOWN THAT ALCOHOL IS CONSUMED PRIVATELY, AND HE RECALLED THAT THE UNITED STATES HAD AN UNPLEASANT EXPERIENCE WHEN IT TRIED THAT EXPERIMENT SOME DECADES AGO.  QUITE AN IRONIST AND A HUMORIST, AND APPARENTLY THE SPIRITUAL SUCCESSOR TO THAT PARADE OF SOVIET PREMIERS BACK IN THE 1970’S WHO, AS WE WERE TOLD WHEN EACH OF THEM TOOK POWER, MUST HAVE BEEN MEN OF PEACE BECAUSE THEY DRANK SCOTCH AND LISTENED TO JAZZ.

HOW HAS THE THREAT BEEN MET BY THOSE WHO NOW HAVE THE RESPONSIBILITY FOR PROTECTING US?  NOT VERY WELL, I WOULD SUGGEST, AND THE DEFECTS WERE OBVIOUS FROM THE BEGINNING – THAT IS, FROM THE SIGNING OF THE FAMOUS EXECUTIVE ORDERS ON THE SECOND DAY OF THE ADMINISTRATION THAT DIRECTED THE CLOSING OF GUANTANAMO, THE HALTING OF MILITARY COMMISSIONS, AND ABANDONMENT OF THE CIA’S HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL INTERROGATION PROGRAM, AMONG OTHER THINGS. 

WHEN OUR SECRETARY OF STATE WAS RECENTLY IN TUNISIA, AT A TOWN HALL MEETING, SHE WAS ASKED “AFTER THE ELECTORAL CAMPAIGN STARTS IN THE UNITED STATES . . WE NOTICED HERE IN TUNISIA THAT MOST OF THE CANDIDATES FROM THE BOTH SIDES RUN TOWARDS THE ZIONIST LOBBIES TO GET THEIR SUPPORT IN THE STATES.  AND AFTERWARDS, ONCE THEY ARE ELECTED, THEY COME TO SHOW THEIR SUPPORT FOR COUNTRIES LIKE TUNISIA AND EGYPT . . . FOR A COMMON TUNISIAN OR A COMMON ARAB CITIZEN, HOW WOULD YOU REASSURE AND GAIN HIS TGRUST AGAIN, ONCE GIVEN THE FACT THAT YOU ARE SUPPORTING HIS ENEMY AS WELL AT THE SAME TIME.” 

HER ANSWER -- AND THIS IS FROM SOMEONE WHO WHEN A QUESTIONER ABROAD A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO ASKED HER WHAT HER HUSBAND WOULD SAY ABOUT A PARTICULAR SUBJECT TOOK IMMEDIATE UMBRAGE AND SAID SHE WAS NOT THERE TO CHANNEL HER HUSBAND, SO SHE KNOWS HOW TO OBJECT TO QUESTIONS SHE FINDS OFFENSIVE, EVEN ABROAD -- HER RESPONSE TO THIS QUESTION WAS THAT IT WAS A “FAIR QUESTION” AND TOLD THE QUESTIONER THAT “A LOT OF THINGS ARE SAID IN POLLITICAL CAMPAIGNS THAT SHOULD NOT BEAR A LOT OF ATTENTION.  THERE ARE COMMENTS MADE THAT CERTAINLY DON’T REFLECT THE UNITED STATES, DON’T REFLECT OUR FOREIGN POLICY, DON’T REFLECT WHO WE ARE AS A PEOPLE.”  SHE ADVISED HER QUESTIONER TO “WATCH WHAT PRESIDENT OBAMA SAYS AND DOES.  HE’S OUR PRESIDENT.  HE REPRESENTS ALL OF THE UNITED STATES, AND HE WILL BE RE-ELECTED PRESIDENT, SO I THINK THAT THERE WILL BE A VERY CLEAR SIGNAL TO THE ENTIRE WORLD AS TO WHAT OUR VALUES ARE AND WHAT OUR PRESIDENT BELIEVES.” 

NOW, I WOULD CERTAINLY CONCEDE THAT THE ADMINISTRATION IN WHICH I SERVED WAS NOT A MODEL OF CLARITY IN CONFRONTING ISLAMISM.  WE ALL RECALL THAT WE WERE TOLD IMMEDIATELY AFTER 9/11 THAT ISLAM WAS A RELIGION OF PEACE – THE DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL SECURITY AND LATER SECRETARY OF STATE, WHOSE MEMOIR CAME OUT RECENTLY, WENT SO FAR AS TO SAY IT WAS A RELIGION OF LOVE AND PEACE – THAT HAD BEEN KIDNAPPED BY EXTREMISTS.  THERE ARE REASONS FOR THAT, INCLUDING SUCH DIVERSE CONSIDERATIONS AS OUR EXPERIENCE WITH TREATMENT OF THE JAPANESE DURING WORLD WAR II, WHICH WE DID NOT AND DO NOT WANT TO REPEAT, AND THE RELATIVELY RECENT PHENOMENON OF POLITICAL CORRECTNESS.  BUT TO UNDERSTAND HOW FAR WE HAVE COME, IMAGINE FOR A MOMENT PRESIDENT FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT TELLING CONGRESS ON DECEMBER 8, 1941, THAT THE PEACEFUL SHINTO RELIGION HAD BEEN KIDNAPPED BY MILITARISTS. 

WE HAVE GONE A WHOLE LOT FURTHER IN THAT DIRECTION IN THE LAST NEARLY THREE YEARS.  THE TERM WAR ON TERROR IS OUT; IN FACT, TERRORISM ITSELF IS OUT, IN FAVOR OF MAN-CAUSED DISASTER.  IN AUGUST, THE WHITE HOUSE ISSUED A STRATEGY PAPER FOR DEALING WITH WHAT WE USED TO CALL TERRORISM.  IT DOESN’T USE THE WORD TERRORISM IN ITS TITLE.  IT IS CALLED “EMPOWERING LOCAL PARTNERS TO PREVENT VIOLENT EXTREMISM IN THE UNITED STATES.”  WHAT’S WRONG WITH THAT?  WHAT’S WRONG WITH IT IS EVERY SINGLE ELEMENT OF IT.  IT’S NOT ONLY OR EVEN PRINCIPALLY VIOLENCE THAT IS DANGEROUS, THE SOURCE OF IT CAN HARDLY BE CALLED EXTREMISM WHEN THE MOTIVATING DOCTRINES ARE IN THE MAINSTREAM OF THE RELIGION FROM WHICH THEY SPRING, AND EMPOWERING LOCAL PARTNERS – IF THE LOCAL PARTNERS ARE  ORGANIZATIONS LIKE CAIR AND ISNA – IS MORE LIKELY TO WORSEN THAN TO IMPROVE OUR SITUATION. 

THE PAPER OPENS BY IDENTIFYING THE CHALLENGE AS NOTHING NEW, AND TELLS US THAT “THROUGHOUT HISTORY, VIOLENT EXTREMISTS – INDIVIDUALS WHO SUPPORT OR COMMIT IDEOLOGICALLY MOTIVATED VIOLENCE TO FURTHER POLITICAL GOALS – HAVE PROMOTED MESSAGES OF DIVISIVENESS AND JUSTIFIED THE KILLING OF INNOCENTS.”  THE RESPONSE IS TO BE A “COMMUNITY BASED APPROACH” WITH OUTREACH TO LOCAL STAKEHOLDERS. 

TO THE EXTENT A VILLAIN IS IDENTIFIED, IT IS AL QAEDA, WHICH COMES OFF SOUNDING LIKE SOME SORT OF MOTORCYCLE GANG; TO THE EXTENT ISLAM OR MUSLIMS ARE REFERRED TO IT IS PRINCIPALLY AS THE TARGETS OF AL QAEDA’S BLANDISHMENTS, ALTHOUGH WHY AL QAEDA WOULD WANT TO FOCUS ITS ATTENTION ON MUSLIM COMMUNITIES IS NOWHERE EXPLAINED. 

THERE IS NO REFERENCE AT ALL TO RECRUITMENT EITHER IN PRISONS OR ON CAMPUS, ALTHOUGH THESE ARE BOTH WELL KNOWN AND DANGEROUS PROBLEMS.

THE DOCUMENT IS INTENDED TO SOUND INNOCUOUS, AND IT DOES.  SMALL WONDER THAT IT WAS APPLAUDED BY CAIR AND ORGANIZATIONS SIMILARLY MINDED. 

BUT WHAT IS THE DANGER OF SUCH A DOCUMENT?  WELL, TAKE A LONG LOOK AT THE SOCIAL CHANGE THAT HAS OVERTAKEN SOME COUNTRIES IN EUROPE – INCLUDING FRANCE AND ENGLAND AND EVEN SWEDEN -- WHERE MUSLIM ENCLAVES ARE TOLERATED AND EVEN ENCOURAGED AND WHERE SHARIAH RULES – THAT’S WHAT COMES OF DEALING UNCRITICALLY THROUGH LOCAL STAKEHOLDERS. 

WHAT THE DOCUMENT ALSO OVERLOOKS IS THAT FROM 9/11 ONWARDS, AND EVEN BEFORE, PARTICIPANTS IN SUCCESSFUL AND UNSUCCESSFUL PLOTS HAVE BEEN RADICALIZED NOT IN MUSLIM COUNTRIES BUT IN THE WEST.  ZIAD JARRAH, THE TERRORIST AT THE CONTROLS OF THE PLANE THAT WAS TAKEN OVER BY BRAVE PASSENGERS OVER SHANKSVILLE, PENNSYLVANIA, WAS RAISED IN BEIRUT, WHERE IT IS SAID THAT HE NEVER MISSED A PARTY, BUT THEN WENT TO HAMBURG, GERMANY, WHERE IT IS SAID HE NEVER MISSED A PRAYER.  MAJOR NIDAL HASAN, WHO MURDERED 13 OF HIS FELLOW SOLDIERS AT FORT HOOD; FAISAL SHAHZAD,THE WOULD-BE TIMES SQUARE BOMBER; DAOOD SAYED GILANI, A CHICAGO NATIVE WHO CHANGED HIS NAME TO DAVID COLEMAN HEADLEY SO HE COULD PASS FOR CHRISTIAN AND WHO PLEADED GUILTY TO CONDUCTING SURVEILLANCE TO HELP CARRY OUT THE TERRORIST ATTACK IN MUMBAI IN NOVEMBER 2008 – ALL OF THESE, AND MANY OTHERS, WERE RADICALIZED IN THE WEST. 

AH, BUT WHAT OF THE KILLING OF OSAMA BIN LADEN AND ANWAR AL AWLAKI; DO THOSE ACTS NOT SUGGEST THAT PERHAPS THOSE IN CHARGE HAVE CHANGED THEIR VIEW? 

I WOULD RECOMMEND STRONGLY TO YOU THAT BEFORE YOU DRAW THAT CONCLUSION YOU EXAMINE CLOSELY THE SURROUNDING CIRCUMSTANCES, AND THEN DECIDE WHETHER WHAT YOU ARE LOOKING AT IS A POLICY, OR AN EPISODE. 

THE BIN LADEN KILLING WAS ANNOUNCED WITH GREAT FANFARE, AS IT DESERVED TO BE.  BUT ALSO ANNOUNCED WITH GREAT FANFARE WAS THE FACT THAT A TROVE OF INTELLIGENCE INFORMATION HAD BEEN SEIZED FROM HIS RESIDENCE IN ABOTTABAD, AND THAT IN PARTICULAR WE HAD LEARNED THE LOCATION OF NUMEROUS AL QAEDA SAFE-HOUSES.  DOES SOMEONE WHO UNDERSTANDS THE VALUE OF INTELLIGENCE MAKE AN ANNOUNCEMENT LIKE THAT FOR THE SAKE OF A FEEL-GOOD MOMENT, WHEN THE MAIN PRACTICAL EFFECT OF DOING SO IS THE LOSS OF SEVERAL POTENTIAL TARGETS?

AND WHAT OF AL-AWLAKI?  THE ATTORNEY GENERAL IN A SPEECH A COUPLE OF WEEKS AGO ANNOUNCED FORCEFULLY THAT THE DRONE KILLING WAS JUSTIFIED, AND WENT THROUGH A LIST OF CRITERIA THAT INCLUDED THE CERTAINTY THAT AL AWLAKI WAS AN OPERATIONAL TERRORIST, THE LIKELIHOOD THAT THERE WOULD BE FEW COLLATERAL VICTIMS, AND THE UNFEASIBILITY OF CAPTURE AS JUSTIFYING THE STRIKE AGAINST AN AMERICAN CITIZEN.  YET IT IS INTERESTING TO CONTEMPLATE HOW WE WOULDHAVE OBTAINED INTELLIGENCE FROM HIM IF WE HAD CAPTURED AL-AWLAKI, WHEN ALL U-S GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES ARE NOW RESTRICTED BY PRESIDENTIAL ORDER TO USING THE ARMY FIELD MANUAL TO CONDUCT INTERROGATIONS.  THAT MANUAL HAS BEEN AVAILABLE ON THE INTERNET FOR YEARS AND IS REGULARLY USED BY TERRORISTS AS A TRAINING MANUAL FOR RESISTING INTERROGATIONS. 

WE HAVE NO CLASSIFIED INTERROGATION PROGRAM AT ALL; THOSE WHO MAY BE INTERROGATED KNOW PRECISELY WHAT TO EXPECT, AND WHAT THEY EXPECT IS TECHNIQUES FROM A MANUAL DESIGNED FOR USE BY THE MOST INEXPERIENCED RECRUIT.  WHEN UMAR FAROUK ABDULMUTALLAB WAS CAPTURED TRYING TO BLOW HIMSELF UP ON AN AIRPLANE OVER DETROIT AT THE END OF 2009, THERE WAS NO PROTOCOL IN PLACE FOR QUESTIONING HIM AND OBTAINING INTELLIGENCE, SO HE WAS TURNED OVER TO LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INFORMED OF HIS MIRANDA RIGHTS. 

AND WHAT OF THE LARGER STRUGGLE AGAINST ISLAMISM?  OBVIOUSLY THERE ARE LIMITS TO HOW A GOVERNMENT LIKE OURS CAN DEFEND ITSELF AND THE SOCIETY IT GOVERNS.  IF THE FIRST AMENDMENT’S ESTABLISHMENT CLAUSE MEANS ANYTHING, IT MEANS THAT OUR GOVERNMENT CAN’T PICK WINNERS AND LOSERS IN DOCTRINAL DISPUTES.  THAT IS SOMETHING THAT MUSLIMS WILL HAVE TO DO ON THEIR OWN. 

BUT IT CAN TAKE RATIONAL STEPS TO DEFEND ITSELF, AND AVOID IRRATIONAL STEPS THAT UNDERMINE ITS SECURITY. 

FIRST, THOSE CHARGED WITH PROTECTING OUR SECURITY HAVE A DUTY TO UNDERSTAND TO AND TEACH OTHERS UNDER THEIR AUTHORITY WHAT THE BASIC TENETS ARE OF THE PEOPLE WHO ARE TRYING TO DESTROY OUR WAY OF LIFE.  IN PAST CONFLICTS THAT MAY NOT ALWAYS HAVE BEEN SELF-EVIDENT.  PERHAPS IT WAS NOT NECESSARY WHEN WE FOUGHT THE AXIS POWERS IN GERMANY AND JAPAN TO UNDERSTAND ALL THE INS AND OUTS OF NAZISM AND FASCISM AND THE MILITARY CULTURE OF THE SHINTO RELIGION.  WE COULD SIMPLY BLAST THOSE COUNTRIES TO SMITHEREENS, AS WE DID, BECAUSE THE EVIL HAD ITS HOME BASE THERE. 

BUT IT WAS MUCH MORE NECESSARY TO UNDERSTAND THE ENEMY WHEN WE FOUGHT COMMUNISM, AS WHITTAKER CHAMBERS TAUGHT US, EVEN WHEN IT WAS CENTERED PRINCIPALLY IN THE SOVIET UNION.  IMAGINE WHAT IT WOULD HAVE BEEN LIKE TRYING TO MOBILIZE PUBLIC OPINION IN THIS COUNTRY TO WAGE A DECADES-LONG COLD WAR WITHOUT DISCUSSING COMMUNISM, OR EVEN USING THE WORD. 

ALSO, THOSE CHARGED WITH PROTECTING US HAVE A RESPONSIBILITY TO AVOID STRENGTHENING THE HAND OF THOSE WHO ARE TRYING TO UNDERMINE OUR WAY OF LIFE BY RELYING ON THEM AS OUR PRINCIPAL INTERLOCUTORS IN THE MUSLIM COMMUNITY.  AGAIN, CAIR – THE COUNCIL ON AMERICAN ISLAMIC RELATIONS – IS A BRANCH OF HAMAS AND OF THE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD.  ISNA, THE ISLAMIC SOCIETY OF NORTH AMERICA, IS ANOTHER BRANCH OF THE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD.  THE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD TRACES ITSELF BACK TO HASAN AL BANNA AND SAYID QUTB; ITS MOTTO, WHICH HAS NOT CHANGED TO THIS DAY, IS “ALLAH IS OUR OBJECTIVE; THE PROPHET IS OUR LEADER; THE QURAN IS OUR LAW; JIHAD IS OUR WAY; DYING IN THE PATH OF ALLAH IS OUR HIGHEST HOPE.”  IF THOSE ARE THE PEOPLE WE EMPOWER BY RELYING ON THEM AND REACHING OUT TO THEM, WE NOT ONLY DAMAGE OURSELVES BY GIVING THEM ENTRY INTO THE UPPER REACHES OF OUR POLITICAL SYSTEM, BUT WE CORRESPONDINGLY STRENGTHEN THEM IN THE ISLAMIC COMMUNITY, AND WEAKEN  THE REASONABLE VOICES LIKE DR. ZUHDI JASSER’S AND OTHERS’. 

IN ADDITION, THOSE CHARGED WITH PROTECTING US HAVE A DUTY TO AVOID SELF CENSORSHIP AND SELF DELUSION, THAT CAN WIND UP  DELUDING OTHERS AS WELL.  FOR EXAMPLE, THE AFTER-ACTION REPORT ON MAJOR NIDAL HASAN’S MASSACRE AT FORT HOOD, WHICH HE PRECEDED BY SHOUTING “ALLAHU AKHBAR,” DOES NOT MENTION THE WORD ISLAM.  THE ARMY CHIEF OF STAFF SAID ON TELEVISION AFTER THAT MASSACRE THAT THE GREATEST TRAGEDY WOULD BE IF IT HAD A NEGATIVE EFFECT ON THE ARMY’S DIVERSITY PROGRAM.

JOHN BRENNAN, A PRINCIPAL NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR AND COUNTER-TERRORISM ADVISOR TO PRESIDENT OBAMA, TOLD AN AUDIENCE AT THE CENTER FOR STRATEGIC AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES – THIS IS A DEEP THINKER TALKING TO OTHER DEEP THINKERS – THAT “VIOLENT EXTREMISTS” ATTACKING THE UNITED STATES ARE PRODUCTS OF “POLITICAL, ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL FORCES” AND SHOULD NOT BE DESCRIBED “IN RELIGIOUS TERMS” BECAUSE TO DO SO WOULD CREATE THE MISTAKEN IMPRESSION THAT WE ARE AT WAR WITH ISLAM AND THEREBY GIVE CREDENCE TO AL QAEDA PROPAGANDA.

“PRODUCTS OF POLITICAL, ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL FORCES”?  LET’S REVIEW THE BIDDING.  OSAMA BIN LADEN WAS A MILLIONAIRE MANY TIMES OVER; HIS SUCCESSOR,  AND ALSO COINCIDENTALLY THE FOLKS WHO PLANNED AND CARRIED OUT THE 2007 ATTACK ON THE GLASGOW AIRPORT, ARE PHYSICIANS; THE PERPETRATORS OF THE 9/11 ATTACK WERE WELL EDUCATED; UMAR FAROUK ABDULMUTALLAB, WHO TRIED TO BLOW UP HIMSELF AND HIS FELLOW PASSENGERS ABOARD AN AIRPLANE OVER DETROIT ON CHRISTMAS DAY 2009 IS THE SON OF THE FORMER ECONOMICS MINISTER OF NIGERIA.  “PRODUCTS OF POLITICAL, ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL FORCES”? 

I MENTION JOHN BRENNAN NOT BECAUSE HE IS UNIQUE, BUT BECAUSE HE IS A PERFECT SYMBOL OF THE SOFT-HEADED DIFFIDENCE THAT HAS INFECTED THE DISCOURSE OF MANY PUBLIC FIGURES.  I THINK EACH OF US HAS AN OBLIGATION TO MAKE SURE THAT THAT ATTITUDE DOES NOT INFECT PRIVATE DISCOURSE AS WELL. 

AS TO ISRAEL’S SITUATION, I THINK WE CAN MAKE A CONTRIBUTION BY STRESSING, PARADOXICALLY, NOT ISRAEL’S WEAKNESS BUT ITS STRENGTH, WHICH IS THAT IT IS A FREE SOCIETY, AND THAT MEANS THAT IT IS A CONSTANT SOURCE OF INNOVATION AND ADVANCEMENT.  SOME OF THAT INNOVATION AND ADVANCEMENT HAS DIRECTLY FURTHERED ITS ABILITY TO DEFEND ITSELF, WHETHER AGAINST ROCKETS AND MISSILES OR AGAINST I-E-D’S, AND IT HAS SHARED THOSE ADVANCES WITH THE UNITED STATES AND HELPED SAVE AMERICAN LIVES IN IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN.

BUT BEYOND EVEN THAT, TWO WRITERS RECENTLY PUBLISHED A BOOK THAT DESCRIBES ISRAELI SUCCESS.  THEY CALLED IT “START-UP NATION.”  CAN YOU IMAGINE ANY OTHER COUNTRY IN THE MIDDLE EAST THAT COULD BE KNOWN BY THAT NAME? 

THAT POTENTIAL AND ITS REALIZATION, AND THE FURTHERING OF UNDERSTANDING OF IT, AS WELL AS THE FURTHERING OF UNDERSTANDING OF THE DIFFICULTIES THAT CONFRONT IT, ARE WHAT ORGANIZATIONS LIKE THIS ARE ABOUT. 

THANK YOU VERY MUCH.