On 9-11, as I informed my co-worker on the phone that I was running late and would start the meeting via teleconference from my cell. Asi I made my way to 3 WTC I observed the first plane as it headed straight towards the towers. At that moment, I knew with every fiber of my being that Al Qaeda had succeeded in bringing their Jihad to America.
Although I was horrified at the destruction, I was calm though extremely angry. They had managed to achieve their well touted objective and hit us in the very public and spectacular way they had sworn to do. As I helped people evacuate, I instinctively knew their would be other simultaneous attacks and made them aware of it. Shortly after the towers were hit we got word that the Pentagon was hit. I knew the Congressional bldg, which sits atop a hill, would be an easy mark and probably next. Knowing how this would all play out in Europe, a very small part of me hoped a high profile target would have been hit, such as the Congressional Bldg, because that way there would finally be no doubt in anyone's mind that war had been declared on the US and they had come to our soil to do it.
That day I made a resolve to no longer be politically silent and make a concious effort to educate as many people as I could to the dangers of this Muslim sect, which is now known as Salafism. It was then that the following quote by President Kennedy came to mind:
" Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bare any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty. This much we pledge and more. "
I started with socio-political email discussion groups, electronic bulletin boards, email distribution lists... anywhere I could post links to let people read stuff on their own so they could be educated on the terror that's been plaguing our shores since the clinton administration. It was my jihad for the friends I lost!
What prompted this entry? My incredible anger with PBS' recent Frontline report on Al Qaeda’s New Front” (view the program online via the link or in a repeat telecast on January 28th) This broadcast was supposed to provide answers on: “Why European Muslims are becoming radicalized; [and] why Americans should be concerned.”
My knee jerk response to their intro: European Muslims turning extremists has been going on since the mid-80's, IT IS NOTHING NEW!
Almost from the start I was infuriated with the Frontline broadcast because I could see how they were laying carefully the bullet points, via statements made by interviewees, bringing up well known facts and intelligence made public within the last 2 years, all to show how the world blames the US led war on Iraq for Al Qaeda's expansion and it’s terror cells going global.
To be fair, they did quote from Al Qaeda's manifesto, which I had already read a partial translation via a site on the web. However, in the past year, at the NETWAR blog of Spanish journalist Juan A. Hervada, I have also linked to other documents which date back several years. Knowing this, I believe Frontline mislead the viewers on more than one occasion. Especially by not pointing out that the manifesto (calling for Jihad against the US) was published online long before the Cole bombing.
A subsequent political treatise or analysis, published by Al Qaeda and quoted by Frontline, indicated that Al Qaeda had analyzed the strength and weakness of the US and it’s allies and points out how Spain, "the weakest link in the chain", would be a perfect terror target to begin destroying the European Union and the European American relations. What Frontline failed to mention was that this document was published online in it's original arabic before the US entered Iraq.
The footage of interviews by members of the Spanish Parliament, along with terrorism experts from France, Italy and extensive quotes from Michael Scheuer, who recently resigned from the CIA after being ‘outed’ as the author of several anonymous books including Imperial Hubris. only served to prove Frontline's point - that terror has gone global since the US set foot in Iraq. WRONG, Bin Laden has been anti-American for over 20 years now!
Frontline's broadcast made me so angry I considered cutting off my financial support of their children’s programming. Instead I wrote a letter today to the PBS President, the show’s producer’s and to 2 key members on their National Board making them aware of this show's bias. On their own website it is clear when these documents were available, however, in the broadcast it seems that these were published as a direct result of American troops going into Iraq.
I definitely am glad that people may now be more aware that the Salafist Muslims want Americans of all faiths, and in particular Christians and Jews worldwide, dead; and with us our religious ideology. Yes folks, they want us dead. All of us! You, me, and every member of your extended family. They want us dead as nails, dead as wood. They want Salafists to rule the world once again, as they did once before, for more than the 1000 years, during the middle ages.
For these Salafists, the only true religion is their particular brand of Islam. American, and European moderate Muslims are expendable as they do not observe Salafism, and anyone who does not follow their beliefs will be put to death! These are Not my words, it is theirs. Salafism does not endorse democracy or democratic principles, instead it endorses it’s own brand of totalitarianism which goes against everything we are trying to achieve in Iraq.
Don’t believe me? Do your own research. Start with the links from Frontline and work from there till you get to read Al Qaeda’s online manifesto and political treatise on your own. The translations I read were in French and Spanish from 2 independent sources (I wanted to make sure they were accurate). If you wish to read them in that version drop a comment and I’ll pass along the links.
Their words: ‘they will stop at nothing until [we] are all dead’. You owe it to yourself to understand why someday that might come to pass for you or one of your loved ones. At least then, you won't have to wonder and ask why as some of my co-workers still do.
Denial and blinders are powerful tools that only serve Al-Qaeda's purpose. That's the main reason they only strike against us intermittently. They wait for complacency to set in and the Peaceniks to take over the rhetoric on their behalf! They have shown, that when the peace rhetoric dies down it's time for another strike. Well, I for one am not going to go down without a fight. I will fight them much as our forefathers did, with the pen and the rhetoric. I may not be able to yield a gun or a sword in battle, as our brave soldiers are doing, but I can be just as impactful as they terrorists by informing and educating people to their deadly and intollerant religion. Yes, that's my Jihad.
My Jihad is one borne from the ashes of my friends who died in the towers on 9-11, and from the remnants of the destruction they created in my beloved city. This Jihad is one that reflects the values and morals of a country that holds steadfastly to freedom and to all the democratic principles its birthed. This fight, though long from over, is one that I intend to see through to the end.
Thank you Michele. With everything going on it's too easy to forget. The infighting becomes too much. We need to refocus, to remember. Thank you for that!
Posted by: Tammi at January 27, 2005 09:02 AMthank you. We have to speak loudly about this. specially in Europe. My decadent Europe where I llve
Posted by: alberto at January 30, 2005 06:21 PM