Engaged – Chapter 3

The Elemental Struggle of our times is exposing Islamic Supremacy.  The following is a letter exchange between two Americans, struggling to make sense of the 9/12 era. 

 

September 6, 2009

Gary,

I too found the Allawi quote quite interesting.

From a standpoint of Western understanding, the tolerance that exists between differing Muslim sects could signify that the sects coexist while neither side prohibits the religious practices of the other. Accommodation seems to be more hospitable, perhaps even representing a reconciliation of differences. But the quote shows that there is a vast difference between Eastern and Western understanding.

One thing to bear in mind is that we are dealing with a religion which literally means “submission.” Attempting to comprehend Islam with a Western framework of understanding will prove very misleading, and I believe is what has lead to the crisis Western civilization is in. As Allawi implied: Tolerance assumes supremacy. We are dealing with supremacists, and as a country that founded itself on principles meant to eliminate supremacy, that too can be a roadblock to our understanding of the nature of the conflict.

Since the commandments found in the Qur’an contradict themselves so frequently, it is difficult for someone who hasn’t devoted years of study to make sense of what the final say is. If Sunni Muslims are to “acknowledge the legitimacy and rights of minority groups” as Allawi states, how can it be that the concept of the “invitation,” or Dawa, holds sway? I understand the concept of abrogation decides which of Muhammad’s contradicting commandments are lawful. Which then is the right one: The “invitation,” which commands that Non-Muslims are to convert to Islam, be subjugated, or killed – or the acknowledgment of legitimacy and rights of minority groups?

But in addressing the differing East/West mindsets: The “permanent arrangement which implies the creation of a recognized and legitimate space for other religious and doctrinal groups” that Allawi mentions gives me the impression of Muslims setting aside space for Christians, Jews, Hindus, etc. with the religions coexisting peacefully. I don’t see many examples of such space in Africa, Pakistan, or Saudi Arabia – where non-Muslim places of worship are burned accompanied by the persecution and brutal murders of their worshipers. In fact, dozens of countries are either completely Muslim, like Saudi Arabia, or are approaching complete Muslim occupation. It is also worth noting that Islam is neither accommodating nor tolerant of the nation of Israel.

The conclusion I have come to is that perhaps the accommodation Allawi mentions is actually the Da’wa itself.

Engaged – Chapter 2

A letter exchange between two Americans, struggling to make sense of the 9/12 era.

******

August 18, 2009

Gary,

Thank you for laying out your understanding of the different terms used to describe our enemy in your response of the 11th.  I am interested to see where you would categorize the different Islamic Supremacist groups.

As I currently see it, on one end of the spectrum the Muslim Brotherhood claims to have denounced violence (despite the fact that the Palestinian chapter of the Brotherhood is the terrorist group Hamas).  The Brotherhood seems to have enacted a plan of cultural invasion, infiltrating the United States government through academic channels and framing public opinion over their subversive activities through their many NGO front groups like the Council for American Islamic Relations and the Muslim Students Association. On the other end, there are groups like al Qaeda who seek to expand their ideology through violence, and give no quarter for those who do not participate in violent jihad.

Recently, I read in Robert Spencer’s The Truth About Muhammad that Islam’s Prophet was a caravan raider. American History is filled with the exploits of Muslim pirates – from the Barbary Wars of the early 19th Century to today where ships are routinely hijacked in the Gulf of Aden off the coast of Somalia. Considering Muhammad’s raider roots, can modern piracy be seen as a “fundamental” type of jihad in Islam?  Is there a connection between the pirates of today and Islamic Supremacy?

-Chris Carter

_____________________

August 26, 2009

Chris,

In his 2008 release, The Confrontation, Walid Phares posited that “The major missing component in the Western War on Terror is undoubtedly: public action and knowledge.  The man or woman on the street is strangely absent from the raging debates on the conflict, whether in New York, Paris, or London.”  This said, those with knowledge of Islamic Supremacism’s works must teach themselves to act as intuitive bridges between the source of the knowledge and those who would otherwise not have the time, energy, motivation, skill or guidance necessary to properly enter into the wager of our generation as the claimant of aggrieved status.  In light of your current perceptions, it is more than tempting to dive right in and bang away at the intricacies of groups like the Muslim Brotherhood, Al Qaeda, Hezbollah, HAMAS, Islamic Jihad, the Taliban(s), Jamaat al Islamiya, Hizb ut-Tahrir, and al Shabaab to determine the threat each poses, in their turn and in their twisted combinations, to Western Civilization.   However, in the interests of our audience, in this public intellectual struggle, it must be understood that framing the battle of ideas in terms of a spectrum of violence and non-violence does not skewer the core of the resentment beheld by free men and women, the world over, when facing the ultimatums of Islam’s faithful terrorists.  

Engaged – Chapter 1

A letter exchange between two Americans, struggling to make sense of the 9/12 era.

******

August 2, 2009

Gary,

We are fighting an enemy that does not believe in borders. Islamic terrorist groups take full advantage of the fact that we largely limit our warfare to certain areas. In the fight against Al Qaeda and the Taliban, the United States engages in limited attacks such as Predator strikes against targets in the safehavens of tribal Pakistan, yet our military has not crossed the border.

When Iran took over our embassy in 1979, that should have been a wake-up call for the U.S..

Fast forward thirty years – we are still struggling to identify our enemy. 

Has our nation’s leadership failed us?   

A great portion of Americans could probably name most if not all winners of the “American Idol” television show, but what percentage do you think have even heard of the Muslim Brotherhood?

Due to media and information distortions, the U.S. population believes that the so-called Global War on Terror is a war for oil and that Islam is the “religion of peace.”

This is what we are up against.

Islam can only destroy our civilization if we are not made aware of the threat the religion poses to our freedom and security. That is precisely why the Muslim Brotherhood engages in a cultural invasion rather than a stand-up fight. Our enemies have already said that Islam and its Shariah Law are not compatible with democracy, and as we see in Saudi Arabia, there is no such thing as coexisting with other religions.

The first thing we should have done is identify our enemy. Considering the Islamic roots of the threat, to say that we are at war with “extremism” is patently ridiculous. It is equally ridiculous to say that we are at war with terrorism.  We are in a global struggle, but terrorism is a tactic, not a target.  

Analysts and commentators have come up with many names for the ideology of our enemies: Islamism, Jihadism, Radical Islam, Islamic Fundamentalism, Islamofascism, and Islamic Supremacism.  To your mind, what is the meaning of each?  And which provides the most accurate depiction and definition of the threat we face?

Engaged,

Chris Carter

_____________ 

August 11, 2009 (3:00pmEST)

Chris,

I apologize for taking so long to respond to your letter of the 2nd.  My schedule sometimes gets hectic over at United Against Islamic Supremacism.  I am interested in your Victory Institute, and your effort to Unite the Blogs demonstrates a desire to generate a unified response to the legitimate grievances of U.S. citizens against terroristic threats to the Sovereignty of the United States.  Thank you for your determined effort to engage.  It is a frustrating thing to become a bridge.

You are right to point out that our enemy does not respect or recognize borders.  Sovereignty is what Shariah Law destroys.  

FP 2009 Update – Week 31 – The Cable

Week 31 at Laura Rozen’s blog at Foreign Policy witnessed Secretary of State Hillary Clinton heading to Africa for an 11 day romp around the volatile continent, while her husband, President Bill Clinton ate up the Cameras, assisting in helping to free the two journalists from Al Gore’s Current TV who were captured for espionage and sentenced to hard labor by the North Korean judiciary.  Similarly, 3 more American journalists go hiking in Northern Iraq only to wind up missing and captured on the Iranian side of the border.  Hillary Clinton puts Iran hands into motion on the final round of preparation before the Afghanistan elections, making sure everything is in place to work on denuclearizing the regime through engagement – somehow – even though the Ayatollah’s responses to Obama’s private correspondence have been anything but confidence inspiring for the young administration.  Apparently everyone patted themselves on the back for how smoothly Obama’s team handled the tumult in the Iranian post-election street clashes between Moussavi opposition supporters and Ayatollah loyalists, striking the right tone somehow amid the violence by brooking no condemnations and focusing instead on raising international opprobrium over the activity of the Islamic Establishment in the oppression of the opposition voices and freedom of speech.  After a month of chilling reaction from the American people over healthcare reform, the Senate junkets are set for the recess, with John Kerry, who leads the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, jetting to Jordan and Pakistan to observe the realities on the ground in the Central Region for himself.  Dennis Ross’ crew was rather quiet this week, heeding Trita Parsi’s advice of a strategic pause in activity on the Iranian front.  Daniel Feltman was finally confirmed…and Carlos Pascual is now officially the Ambassador to Mexico.  More or less, week 31 at the Cable was a lead up to,  the counterterrorism czar, John Brennan’s CSIS speech, announcing a new approach to safeguarding America…   But more importantly, Foreign Policy Magazine launched what it is referring to as  ”The AfPak Channel” in which guest bloggers are tearing into the situation in the regional fiasco that is known as “the right war”.

-Gary H. Johnson, Jr. 8/13/09, 10:20pmEST)

 

http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com

Clinton hosts video conference with State Iran hands worldwide
Mon, 08/03/2009 – 1:36pm
This morning, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton hosted a secure video conference with 20 State Department officials worldwide, at about a half dozen locations.

Much of the substance of the 45-minute video conference is classified, but broad strokes were provided to Foreign Policy. Though the locations of the State Department officials participating in the call from abroad weren’t disclosed, the United States has in recent years opened Iran “watching” stations at U.S. embassies in Dubai, Azerbaijan, Berlin, Turkey, and London, among key foreign locations with large Iranian expatriate populations and traffic.

FP 2009 Update – Week 30 – The Cable

Week 30 at The Cable was wild.  Hillary Clinton and Tim Geithner start off out the shoot on the U.S.-China Economic future in what can be considered an unprecedented Wall Street Journal oped piece focusing on bilateral relations and a new strategy forward in a multipronged approach to stabilizing world markets, with three main areas of concern for dialogue: maintaining economic relations, climate change issues, and complementary security issues.   Secretary Clinton then hits Meet the Press to discuss the North Korea slight on her person and she discusses Iran and Afghanistan frankly…not two days later Secretary Clinton hit Thailand and raised the possibility of a “nuclear umbrella” for the Sunni World to defend against a nuclear Iran, which led Israelis to worry over whether the U.S. was conceding the nuclear weapons issue to the Iranian Establishment.   Gates heads to Israel to let everyone in the world know that the military option remains on the table on the Iranian Nuclear issue, to do top-brass damage control for Mitchell’s focus on halting Israeli settlements to achieve a two-state solution.  More or less, Gates’ announcement made clear that Iran’s window for establishing diplomatic talks with the United States is shrinking and has time limits.  Secretary Clinton’s team announces its Africa trip starting on the 5th of August, designed to increase trade relations; while the nominees for Latin American Ambassadorships, Valenzuela and Shannon are pushed through to the Senate.  Obama’s meeting with the progressive American Jewish groups like J Street, whose anti-Zionist focus has led them to announce that three quarters of American Jews favor a two-state solution for the future of a Palestinian resolution.   Judah Grunstein of WPR notes the engagement policy espoused by Clinton on Iran seeks an Iran who respects its “right to nuclear energy” but not a nuclear bomb, and Trita Parsi makes the case for a diplomatic pause with the Iranian regime out of a “wait and see” attitude over the Iranian Islamic Establishment’s resolution of its opposition anger boiling over onto its streets since the June 12th election results.    By far, the highlight of Week 30 at Laura Rozen’s Foreign Policy blog is found in the activity of Holbrooke and McChrystal in the AfPak theatre.  Holbrooke, who is in charge of the AfPak at the Obama Administration,  announces that he is tearing up the Bush policy of poppy eradication in the AfPak.  It was important to note that David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary for Britain, made the D.C. rounds and discussed the upcoming elections in Afghanistan in a State Department speakeasy with Hillary Clinton.   And McChrystal, who just assumed overall command in early June, discussed the US strategy to win the hearts and minds of the Afghani people, with a new focus on protecting civilians from harm, which is being put together in a Strategic Assessment group.  Laura Rozen immediately pounces and names the team of McChrystal’s advisors, which of course includes blogger Andrew Exum, who just happens to be a fellow over at the Center for New American Security (CNAS).   Holbrooke follows up his D.C. rounds with a Fort McNair policy shuffle for top insiders.   The week ends with more controversy on the settlement issue as the international community is angered by Israel’s eviction of 56 Palestinians from their East Jerusalem homes in preparation for demolition to increase settlement construction.

-Gary H. Johnson, Jr. (8/4/09, 8:57pmEST)

http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com

U.S.-China dialogue gets underway
Mon, 07/27/2009 – 12:05am
Tomorrow kicks off the first meeting of the U.S. China Strategic and Economic Dialogue, the Obama administration’s twist on a process started under former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson. That process, known as the Strategic Economic Dialogue (no “and”), was primarily intended to address bilateral economic issues such as the dollar-renminbi exchange rate.

The two countries — which have become known as the “G-2″ in foreign-policy circles due to their preeminent size and geopolitical reach — will still be tackling economic issues like the global financial crisis. But this time, a State Department official tells Foreign Policy, the agenda is “much broader and more comprehensive,” encompassing global issues such as climate change, and regional ones such as North Korea, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.

Two top-ranking Chinese officials, Vice Premier Wang Qishan and State Councilor Dai Bingguo, will be in Washington for meetings Monday and Tuesday with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who has just returned from meetings in India and Thailand.

AfPak Notes – Week 8 – 2009

http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2009/02/pakistan_wanted_terr.php#ixzz0JPCSikEM&D

Pakistan: Wanted terrorists Azhar, Ibrahim not in country
By Bill RoggioFebruary 19, 2009 11:39 AM
 
A wanted terrorist leader recently under house arrest and a mafia don with close ties to South Asian terror networks are not in Pakistan, according to a senior Pakistani official.

Maulana Masood Azhar, the leader of the Jaish-e-Mohammed, and South Asian crime boss Dawood Ibrahim are not in in the country, according to Rehman Malik, the Interior Advisor to Prime Minister Gilani. Malik made the comments at a meeting of the federal cabinet in Lahore, Geo News reported.

The claim that Azhar is not in Pakistan directly conflicts with claims made by Pakistani officials that he was under house arrest in Bahawalpur in early December 2008. Pakistani officials later claimed Azhar was not under house arrest and his location was unknown.

Rumors later cropped up that claimed Azhar was operating in South Waziristan. Rashid Rauf, an al Qaeda operative who is a member of Azhar’s family, is also thought to have fled to South Waziristan after his escape from custody. Rauf was reported to have been killed in a November 2008 US Predator strike in South Waziristan, but his associates claimed he is alive.

Ibrahim’s whereabouts are unknown, but he known to operate his criminal-terror empire in Pakistan’s southern port city of Karachi.

FP 2009 Update – Week 29 – The Cable

Week 29 at Laura Rozen’s Foreign Policy blog, The Cable, demonstrates the reality that pulling order out of chaos is a challenge when the situation is static, but a superhuman task when the chaos is multiplying.  While the last few weeks have been dominated by Hillary Clinton at the State Department, this week is dominated by the activities of the Special Envoys to the AfPak, the Central Region and the Levant – Holbrooke, Ross, and Mitchell.  The Obama decision to flex its muscles on the Settler situation in East Jerusalem is causing the Israeli counterparts to Mitchell and company to balk in more ways than one over the idea of peace.  A letter from the Bahraini Royal to the Washington Post made an impact on the idea of stability as the target and trade as the cure, which makes sense since the Kingdom of Bahrain is the center of the Shariah Compliant Finance and trade world.  The Saudi King has couched his reciprocal moves to Israel until it comes to a conclusion on the Palestinian issue, which throws a monkey wrench into Dennis Ross’ “Myths, Illusions & Peace” theory about the Palestinian linkage to Peace from the Arab perspective or at least sets the ground for the proof of Saudi Duplicity down the road.  The activity of Obama’s Envoys in this active engagement on the Middle East Peace and effort at curtailing of the Iranian Nuclear capability from the vantage of idealism is put into perspective when the issue of 7 letters to Middle Eastern Leaders from the Oval office surfaced, written months ago (early May).  The purpose of the Holbrooke mission and its break from India is still fuzzy apparently at the Foreign Policy desk, which makes no sense to me, since Holbrooke, if he is connected with any group, is connected to Foreign Policy Magazine.  Mubarak, who missed an earlier meeting with Obama, due to the death of a grandson, is heading to Washington from Egypt for a meeting on August 17th.  It looks as though the elections in Afghanistan will be butting up against Ramadan’s start…one can only wonder if the Ramadan holiday festivities will affect the vote count and participation levels.

Gary H. Johnson, Jr. (7/27/09, 1:39pmEST) 

http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com

Holbrooke heads to the subcontinent
Mon, 07/20/2009 – 12:31pm
U.S. Af-Pak envoy Richard Holbrooke has quietly headed to South Asia, where sources say he will be making a surreptitious stop in India following Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s meetings in that country. Holbrooke’s team wouldn’t confirm the planned travel or India visit when contacted Saturday (he also will visit Afghanistan, Pakistan and Brussels), and an administration official would only say the Holbrooke team would not overlap with Clinton, who is currently in New Delhi after three nights in Mumbai. But Holbrooke’s itinerary was confirmed Monday after it was learned he had already departed for travel in the region.

FP 2009 Update – Week 28 – The Cable

Like week 27, week 28 at the Cable is anchored by the activity of Hillary Clinton at the State Department.   The Week begins with Obama speaking to all of the major Jewish NGOs in America, presumably to listen to the differing viewpoints of Israel’s position and aims from these natural bridges to the Jewish identity.  Hillary Clinton’s speech on the 15th was by far and away the most important policy speech of her career.  She did not take it lying down and had a few headaches to voice, including the inability to place the top political head of USAID; but, more than anything, like Obama before his Cairo address, Clinton called for a sitdown meeting with everyone from Petraeus to Biden to make sure all of her ducks were in a row, and to tighten her message to crystal clarity.  The speech was impressive in that it laid out the difficulty in the process of running 50,000 people down a trail without a report indicating where the team stood on a quarterly basis.  More than anything, what Hillary Clinton hammered home was the need to fund the new Development and Diplomacy initiative, including the moneys necessary to expand and broaden its aims through and within NGOs and International Foundations, which includes hiring tons of civilian experts to place into the thick of battle in stability operation zones and then in reconstruction opportunity zones.   She had to hold the line with the Obama Cairo speech and discuss the difficulties in stopping nuclear weapons and terrorism while at the same time reaching out to the Muslim World.    Unexpectedly, Laura Rozen backtracks to take another look at the Obama Abdullah meet in Riyadh.  She immediately follows up the analysis of the situation with the immediate news of the day in the DC circles, the flareup of JI in the Jakarta bombings – apparently Obama placed a call of condolence and concern to Indonesia…  Included in this week is a direct link and copy of the Clinton Speech to the CFR.  It is worth throughly taking in, especially with Lauren’s links to the daily beast.  Also, ynet.com seems to figure in prominently in her Israeli research.  A few more names hit the Ambassador highway, but all in all, Week 28 was a week for the alignment of DC and satellite forces in the NGO world, an aim aided and bolstered by the very presence of Holbrooke at the Clinton Speech.  Holbrooke’s activities as the Special Envoy to the AfPak, will comingle and join with the Ross initiatives pursued in the region.  Apparently, Clinton’s punch at Iran on the issue of joining the international community as being an offer with a shrinking window, will no doubt figure in future Iranian rebukes of US arrogance and dictation of the terms of the engagement between the states.

Gary H. Johnson, Jr. (7/27/09, 3:25amEST)

http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com

Obama White House powwow with American Jewish groups
Mon, 07/13/2009 – 1:11pm
As part of the White House effort to reach out to faith based and community groups and sustain support for his policies, President Barack Obama meets with representatives of American Jewish groups at the White House this afternoon. Domestic issues — health care, SCOTUS nominee Sonia Sotomayor, and the economy — will be on the agenda, as well as Obama’s policies to the Middle East, Iran and on curbing settlements. “It will be an opportunity to make support for his Middle East policies even greater,” a representative of one group invited to attend said.

FP 2009 Update – Week 27 – The Cable

Laura Rozen’s first week back from her hiatus focused on the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s developing initiative, known as the QDDR.   The Iran issue has refocused the world’s attention on the Middle East, and a report indicating that Saudi Arabia had virtually given Israel the green light for overflights in an attack on Iranian Nuclear sites had everyone, including Joe Biden and King Abdullah making clipped statements about the possibility of and advisability of an Israeli preemptive strike on post-election Iran.  The fact is, the Obama administration is closing in on a half year in office, and the posts and cabinets are not completely filled.  The Secretary of State’s shift away from American cameras has pushed her out of the public eye, but onto the international map.  Her QDDR initiative, the details of which are to be released or at least spoken of in Week 28 are providing a level of conjecture on the Hill to the purpose and scope of the development and diplomacy aims in revamping foreign assistance funding and programs.  Week 27 of the Cable closes with Uzi Arad on the scene in Israel – a Netanyahu insider and friend who is having problems with subtlety lately – moving to the London Ambassadorship.  The Uzi Arad controversies have peppered the Netanyahu administration with headaches on both the American and international media fronts.  Noticeably, Laura Rozen focuses on Harretz for her Israeli information that she is willing to post on her blog as links.  The Jerusalem Post and Arutz Sheva (A7 News) are also excellent sites for back up information on the Israeli innerworkings, foreign policy and political scene. 

Gary H. Johnson, Jr. (7/26/09. 3:55pmEST)

http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com

No change in Iran policy, White House insists
Mon, 07/06/2009 – 6:48pm
As White House and Office of the Vice President aides formed a united front against widespread media speculation about a change in policy signaled by Vice President Joseph Biden’s statement on a Sunday news show that Israel is a “sovereign nation” that could “determine for itself” how to deal with threats from Iran, analysts said that Israel may be wary of any such green light in any case.

FP 2009 Update – Week 25 – The Cable

Week 25 of the Cable was focused on the DC scene.  Harold Koh, an advocate for transnational laws, was confirmed as The Attorney for the State Department after Kyl’s hold was lifted – his record is impeccable, the problem is in the realm of sovereignty.  The Iran issue is still boiling, but the names of the confirmed and the nominees for various government ambassadorships and positions continues in a parade of think tank wonks and of course Sotomayer’s Chief Justice position is going to be under fire in July.     After a half year of consistently beating the press corps in bringing stories to print, Laura Rozen apparently took a well deserved week long vacation.  The next Laura Rozen update, then, will begin on July 6th (Week 27).

Gary H. Johnson, Jr. (7/26/09, 3:14pmEST)

http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com

Koh cloture vote passes (UPDATED)
Wed, 06/24/2009 – 9:02am
A cloture vote on the nomination of Harold Koh will be held this morning at 11 a.m. ET, The Cable has learned. Koh, the dean of Yale Law School, was tapped to become the State Department’s legal advisor nearly four months ago, but has faced criticism from conservatives for an alleged “transnational” approach to the law.