How Liberal Democracies Can Shield Themselves from Terrorism

It would be funny, if it were not so tragic. But Moslem radicals and their supporters insist that they have the right to enter societies they consider their mortal enemies, benefit from the liberties they seek to undermine and, then, proceed to destroy them from within. Lenin quipped that the capitalists will sell their enemies the rope with which to hang themselves. Current Jihadists dream of not only buying the rope from the Western countries they seek to destroy but of making the money needed to buy the rope by studying and working in them. It is imperative that Western countries block the scheme and prove that freedom is not a suicide pact by closing their gates to those who seek to hang them. Nor should Western countries prevent Israel from doing the same.

In his book Who Killed Daniel Pearl? Bernard-Henri Levy quotes from one of the dozens of similar letters addressed to the convicted murderer of Daniel Pearl, Omar Sheikh which arrives weekly at the Pakistani prison where he is held:

My name is Skander Ali Mirani. I live in Larkana. I admire your fight. You are in my eyes and in the eyes of my friends a modern-day prophet of Islam. And to this prophet, this saint, I want to reveal my doubts, my difficulties and my sacrifices - and I want to ask also for his help. You are from a rich family, yes? Your father has business in England? Then please ask him to help me immigrate to London. Use your influence to help me to study, like you did.

Indeed, just as Pol Pot was the product of the French intellectual elite, Omar Sheikh was the product of the British intellectual elite. It was in the London School of Economics (LSE) that he listened to the lectures of radicals like Fred Halliday and learned the "merits" of going "all the way with his principles." It was there that he learned to become a kidnapper and a cold blooded murderer of hostages. It was a school which first specialized in producing Trotskyites, then Maoists and currently at least 3 known Al Qaida members. But do not hold your breath waiting for the school to do any soul searching. When asked for an interview to discuss the Sheikh's connection to LSE, its headmaster, Anthony Giddens, told the reporter: "I don't want to see you or speak to you. I don't want to know anything about this Omar Sheikh who is ruining my reputation. Let's forget it happened."

But aren't Omar Sheikh and his admirer Skander Ali Mirani the exception rather then the rule? Haven't most Muslim immigrants come to the West simply to improve their earthy lot? I am no longer sure. In a September 7 New York Times op ed, Muqtedar Khan, the author of American Muslims: Bridging Faith and Freedom writes that "the word that best summed up the Muslim sense of self" prior to 9/11 "was 'Fateh' - a conqueror.' In other words, the goal of many Muslim religious and community leaders was not to become Western Muslims but to transform Western countries into Islamic states through "immigration and conversion" not to mention, by studying how to go "all the way." Just as importantly, their message resonated in their communities.

Why? Because it worked! That is the conclusion reached by Robert A. Pape of the University of Chicago who carefully analyzed suicide bombings from 1980-2001 worldwide. He published his findings in the August 2003 issue of American Political Science Review article entitled "the Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism." Robert A. Pape writes: "In contrast to existing explanations, this study shows that suicide terrorism follows a strategic logic, one specifically designed to coerce modern liberal democracies to make significant territorial concessions. Moreover, over the past two decades suicide terrorism has been rising largely because terrorists have learned that it pays." Islamists dreamt not of merely recovering past Muslim territories like Spain, the Balkans, Israel and India, but of "conquering" the entire Western world.

9/11 ended that dream, writes Muqtedar Khan: "There is no more talk of making America an Islamic state. Any reminder of this pre-9/11 vision generates sheepish giggles and snorts from Muslim audiences." It was not the incineration of 3000 innocent civilians which led to a reassessment of the culture of death that produced the mass murderers. Khan makes no reference to those deaths. It was not horror or regrets that "shattered some dreams" but the "passage of the USA Patriot Act and other anti-terrorism measures," not to mention, the rise of "hostility and prejudice in many corners of society." For the first time, Khan goes on, "many Muslims in this country have come to acutely understand the vulnerabilities of minorities and the importance of democracy and civil rights." If so, Western Muslims should dismiss their Jihadist leadership and help democratize their home land. In the meantime, we should not question the right of democracies to keep out those who seek to destroy them.

Nowhere is that right more in jeopardy than in Israel. There, the Palestinians are yet again pledging their undying loyalty to Yasser Arafat who asserts that "all Palestinians are dreaming of being martyrs." What should a democracy neighboring such a society do? Israel is trying to build a fence to prevent these "dreamers" from blowing themselves up in the midst of her buses, markets and Pizza parlors. "Israeli Wall will compound economic woes," argues Kamlesh Trivedi in the September issue of Gulf News. So? Is it the responsibility of Israel to protect the Palestinians from the "economic woes" brought about by the suicide terrorism (or intifada) their "chosen leader" declared on the Jewish state? After all, it was that war, not the "occupation," which has caused the Palestinian "economic woes." This is the message of the recent IMF report according to Karim Nashashibi, the resident representative of the IMF in Palestinian Authority and one of the authors of the report. He found that "the pre-Intifiada years were largely characterized by high GDP growth" with the exception of "a significant slowdown in growth in 1995 and 1996 as a result of the frequent border closures imposed by Israel" following Hamas and Islamic Jihad bus bombings. Indeed, the best of times and "the heaviest trading was registered during the 15 months prior to the Intifada".

In other words, the Palestinian leadership did not go to war because they were desperate just like the Jihadists did not blow themselves up because they had nothing to lose. The "economic woes" Palestinians experience in 1995-1996 demonstrated to their leadership that access to the Israeli economy was important to their people's economic well being and that terror was sure to undermine it. So why did Arafat dismiss Barak's Camp David's offer and fill the heads of his people with dreams of martyrdom? Because as I demonstrated in my previous articles, "Is the Problem with Arafat that He's a Dictator?" and "Can You Really Make Peace with Somebody Like Arafat?" Arafat's interests do not necessarily coincide with those of his people. Why do some of his people continue to follow him? Perhaps it is because they, too, see themselves as "fateh"s - conquerors.

After all, who could erase the image of an American secretary of state named Madeleine K. Albright chasing Yasser Arafat in high heels to beg him to return to the negotiating table or her complementing the North Korean butcher, Kim Jong Il for the "disciplined" dancing of his people: "It was amazing. I have nover seen a hundred thousand people dance in step - I guess it takes a dictator to make that happen."

Suicide terrorists prefer employing their strategy against democracies, explains Pape, because they consider them "soft," less likely to respond with "disproportionate force," easier to organize and publicize and, most importantly, ready to pay the ransom demanded by the highwaymen. Be that as it may, "the aftermath of Sept. 11 may have shattered some dreams," writes Muqtedar Khan, "but it has also forced us to reconnect with reality and empower ourselves." The best way to encourage such reconnection is by "demographic separation," argues Pape. That means stringent immigration laws in the West and the completion of an effective separation fence in West Bank and Kashmir. After all, nothing less than the avoidance of a bloody Clash of Civilization depends on demonstrating to both Muslim leaders and their communities that the time has come to construct more productive, tolerant and inclusive dreams.