1. September 11 was the zenith of anti-US Islamic terrorism, which has afflicted the US since the 18th century. At that time, the Barbary Muslim pirates routinely assaulted US merchant ships, triggering the 1801-1805 US Navy and Marines offensive against the Barbary headquarters in Tripoli.
The following are recent examples of the sustained anti-US Islamic terrorism: three US Navy sailors were murdered in December 2019 by an Islamic terrorist in Pensacola, FL; eight people were murdered in October 2017 by an Islamic terrorist in Lower Manhattan, NY; 49 people were murdered in June 2016 by an Islamic terrorist in Orlando, FL; 14 people were murdered in December 2015 by Islamic terrorists in San Bernardino, CA; 13 US soldiers were murdered in November 2009 by a Muslim terrorist in Ft. Hood, TX; etc.
Thus, Islamic terrorism has haunted the US irrespective of US policy and independent of US-Israel relations: during Presidents Trump and Obama; during President Clinton’s pressure on Israel and embrace of the Palestinians (e.g., 300 people murdered when the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were demolished by two Islamic car bombs in August 1998); seven days following President Reagan’s recognition of the PLO (257 passengers murdered when PanAm-103 was blown up over Scotland in December 1988); despite President Carter’s critical support of Iran’s Ayatollahs’ toppling of the pro-US Shah of Iran (63 US personnel were held hostage for 444 days after Iran’s Ayatollahs seized the US Embassy in Teheran, from November 1979 through January 1981); etc.
- September 11 underscores the determination of Islamic terror regimes (e.g., Iran’s Ayatollahs, the Muslim Brotherhood, the Taliban, Al Qaeda) to engage the US in their battle to bring the West to submission, irrespective of the US’ intent to disengage from the Middle East. These regimes view a potential US disengagement and isolationism as a symptom of Western battle-fatigue and erosion of posture of deterrence, energizing them to shift the battle gradually away from their own turf to Western turf.
- September 11 implemented a central theme of the school curriculum of Islamic/Arab regimes (e.g., Iran and the Palestinian Authority), which highlights the 1,400 year old central Islamic precepts of “holy war” (Jihad) and “martyrdom” (Shuhada’) as prime commitments to Islam/Allah, guaranteeing each martyr 72 virgins in paradise.
Western policy-makers, who do not shake hands with hate-mongers in their own society, appease and reward the hate-educating regimes of Iran and the Palestinian Authority, while being aware that education is the most authentic reflection of one’s vision and worldview.
- September 11 reinforced the fact that Islamic terrorism is not driven by despair, but by a 14-century-old vision of intolerance, supremacy, repression and global imperialism, which considers Islam as the only legitimate religion, divinely-ordained to bring “infidels” – especially the US – to submission, peacefully or militarily.
- September 11 was a compelling vindication of Prof. Bernard Lewis’ observation: “If the fighters in the war for Islam are fighting for God, it follows that their opponents are fighting against God…. In the classical Islamic view, to which many Muslims are beginning to return, the world is divided into two: the House of Islam… and the House of Unbelief, which it is the duty of Muslims ultimately to bring to Islam…. The struggle between these rival systems has now lasted for some 14 centuries…. America has become the archenemy, the incarnation of evil, the diabolic opponent of all that is good… of Islam….”
- September 11 was a startling reminder that since the early 7th century, when Islam was introduced in Mecca, it has employed Jihad-driven offensive (not defensive) military (not peaceful) means to take over the entire Arabian Peninsula, expand throughout the Middle East and Turkey, surge to northwest Africa and Spain and establish itself in parts of Asia and Africa.
Most Arab/Muslim regimes rise/lose power through violence, subversion and terrorism, as recently demonstrated by the civil wars in Libya, Syria, Iraq and Yemen.
Since the 7th century, Islam has employed domestic, regional and global violence against “infidels” and mostly against other “believers.”
- September 11 was a wakeup call for Western democracies, which tend to underestimate the critical weight of the Quran and Sharia (“divine law”) in setting the strategy and tactics (including Taquiyya – diplomatic dissimulation) of many Muslim regimes, such as Iran’s Ayatollahs, the Muslim Brotherhood, Turkey’s Erdogan, Hezbollah, Hamas and the Palestinian Authority.
- September 11 alerted the West that concessions to rogue regimes add fuel – not water – to the fire of terrorism.
- September 11 signaled to Westerners, who are determined to export democracy, human rights and peaceful-coexistence to rogue nations in the Middle East, that Middle East regimes tend to reject such Western norms and institutions. According to Prof. Elie Kedourie, “any such project as bringing democracy to the Arab Middle East [resembles] trying to make water run uphill.”
- September 11 highlighted the US-Israel strategic and ideological synergy in the face of rogue regimes, which view the US as “The Great Satan” and Israel as “The Small Satan.” Israel is considered a force-multiplier for the US (e.g., counter-terrorism operations and intelligence, battle experience and an effective and democratic outpost), a reliable line of defense for pro-US Arab regimes (e.g., Jordan and Gulf States), and an innovative ally in the co-development of the most advanced military and commercial technologies.
