| Has World War III Begun? By Antonio C. Abaya September 27, 2001 There is a school of thought that theorizes that the catastrophic attack on the World Trade Center and the thousands of casualties that it caused were meant to bait the Americans into a massive retaliation against the Muslim world, which in turn would inflame Muslim passions into global jihad and thereby fulfill the prophecies of Islamic fundamentalist zealots about an impending Final Struggle between Islam and Christianity, or at least between Islam and the Great Satans of the Secular West. During the Cold War, it was fashionable to see the Biblical predictions of Armageddon as the Final Struggle between the forces of Good (the Americans and their allies) and the forces of Evil (the Soviets and their allies). With the collapse of the Soviet Union, that prophecy has lost all meaning. What may take its place is a belief that the Final Struggle will be between Islam and Christianity. Christians, or at least inhabitants of the Secular West, may find that this view � about the Final Struggle between Islam and Christianity � is already percolating in the Islamic world, although apparently still a minority view. You can sense it in recent man-on-the-street TV interviews in Pakistan and Bangladesh, for example. Which may be one major reason why the Americans have been very slow in delivering their retaliatory blow: they want to make sure first that some key Muslim countries are on their side, so that the conflict will not look like a Muslim-Christian confrontation. And in this they have had a measure of success: Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Kazakhstan, Indonesia and, of course, Pakistan have climbed on board their anti-terrorism bandwagon, albeit with varying degrees of enthusiasm. But none of these Muslim countries are likely to send troops to fight in Afghanistan. Even Muslim but strongly secular Turkey, which I had hoped in my September 20 posting (which was simultaneously forwarded to some contacts in Washington DC) could be convinced to become a major combatant on the ground, gave notice on September 24 that they will allow the Americans use of their airspace and air bases but will not send ground troops. So, for all practical purposes, the Americans are back to square one. Even if they were to get the promised contingents of (so far) British, French, German, Italian and New Zealand troops, that multinational army would still look like the �Judaeo-Christian crusaders� that Osama bin Laden has called on the entire Muslim world to fight to the death. In the highly charged milieu of Islamic fundamentalism, that call will have strong resonance from Morocco to Mindanao as it would seem to fulfill the prophecy of the Final Struggle between Islam and Christianity. ***** Some of the most chilling revelations in recent days have been those connected with crop-dusters, light planes used by farmers to spray pesticides and other chemicals on their crops. The FBI has revealed that Mohammed Atta, one of the suspected WTC suicide pilots, had made serious inquiries � not once, but several times � about the capabilities and operation of crop-dusters and even expressed interest in buying one. Another suspect, a French-Algerian Islamist, when picked up for questioning, was found to have in his back-pack a manual on crop dusting. The FBI has also revealed that two, later increased to 20, suspected Arab militants in detention had taken qualifying exams, and in most cases passed them, for special driver�s licenses that would authorize them to transport hazardous materials (which would include toxic chemicals, highly flammable substances, radioactive material, even bacteriological agents). This suggests that the Muslim terrorists already have in their possession, or have ready access to, these hazardous materials, which they plan to load either on crop dusters for spraying on relatively flat mega-cities (Chicago and Los Angeles seem the most logical targets), or on tanker rigs which they will then crash into high-density targets such as shopping malls, theme parks, hospitals and cross-river tunnels choked with rush-hour commuter traffic. Again, the goal would seem be to bait the Americans into massive retaliation against the Muslim world. And after the World Trade Center massacre, who, aside from the contributors and subscribers to the Socialist Register, can fault them if they do? Are they morally capable of committing such a heinous act? After the WTC, the answer is an unequivocal Yes! Additionally, Saddam Hussein�s Iraq � the only government that applauded the WTC suicide attacks � used poison gas against Iran in their war during the 1980s, killing thousands of civilians along with Iranian soldiers who attacked in human- wave formations, a la World War I. It is not inconceivable that Iraq has passed on to Al Qaeda the technology for making poison gas, the ingredients for which are available in the US from suppliers of agricultural and industrial chemicals. If Muslims can use poison gas against fellow Muslims, what more against the Great Satan that is America? ***** Few people in the Philippines are aware of Al Arqham. Al Arqham was a highly popular Islamic fundamentalist sect in Malaysia before it was outlawed as a �deviationist cult� by Prime Minister Dr. Mahathir Mohamad in October 1994. Founded in 1968 by an Islamic zealot named Ashaari Muhammad, Al Arqham had grown to hundreds of thousands of members, dozens of religious schools and a network of business enterprises that sustained its activities. The sect would have been left well nigh alone had not word reached the Mahathir government that Al Arqham was training an armed group of 313 men in the jungles of Songkhla, the southernmost province of Thailand (where live Thailand�s Muslim minority), adjacent to the Malaysian state of Kelantan (which has been ruled by the fundamentalist Islamic Party since 1990). Recognizing that the armed group was meant to challenge the secular Malaysian state in the future, Prime Minister Mahathir outlawed the Al Arqham sect, closed down its schools, confiscated its business assets, and negotiated with the Thai government for the extradition of Ashaari, whom he promptly threw in jail. A classic example of the decisiveness of Mahathir, compared to the wishy-washy permissiveness of Fidel Ramos towards the Abu Sayyaf and the MILF. I do not know what has become of the Al Arqham sect, but a fundamentalist ferment is currently sweeping Malaysia independent of the developments in Afghanistan. And it is worrying the country�s Chinese and Tamil communities. Hundreds of young Malaysian Muslims are joining Indonesian fundamentalists engaged in recurrent battles with Christians in Maluku; other hundreds are enrolled in fundamentalist schools and training camps in Pakistan, Afghanistan and elsewhere in the Islamic world. Time Magazine (September 10) quotes one Abdul Salim, aged 19: �I think it is of low morality to speak to women other than my mother and sisters. It is against Islam to do so�I would like Malaysia to be totally Islamic; Islamic education, Islamic economy, Islamic judicial system and total Islamic administration of the country.� I mention Al Arqham here because one of the fervent beliefs of its members in 1994 was that a leader would soon emerge in Uzbekistan to lead all the Muslims of the world in a final battle with the Christian infidels. Since Uzbekistan is right next to Osama bin Laden�s adopted Afghanistan and could very well be his next abode, I wonder, has World War III already begun? ***** This article appeared in the October 15, 2001 issue of the Philippine Weekly Graphic magazine.. |
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| ON THE OTHER HAND |