Terrorism & Islamic Doctrine: PART 2

 Terrorists from Hamas attacked fuel supply in order to send it to their leadership and troops while depriving hospitals of the fuel (4/27/2008).

"People of America: the world is following your news in regards to your invasion of Iraq, for people have recently come to know that, after several years of tragedies of this war, the vast majority of you want it stopped."

"I invite you to embrace Islam."

Bin Laden--- 2007

“And fight them on until there is no more tumult or oppression, and there prevail justice and Faith in Allah; but if they cease, let there be no hostility except to those who practice oppression”.   Revelation 2:193 of the Quran.

The seventh year anniversary of the terrorists attacks which occurred on 9/11, have come and gone, but the global war on terror remains with no end in sight.  From a united country in 2001, to a divided one in 2004. But united once again since 2006, however, not in a positive way.  The polls indicate an all time low for both government branches which includes President Bush, Congress, and the Senate. Some of the polls have shown single digits for congress around 9 percent to highs of 19 percent in various polls combined while the President's approval rating was around 29 percent to a high of 45 percent in various polls combined as well which are both all time lows.

The Iraq War: A War on Terror or Enforcement of UN Resolutions?

There were implications of a connection between the 9/11 attacks and support of Bin Laden by Saddam Hussein. Yes, Saddam was suspected of those activities but overall it wasn't the cause of the war. The Iraqi war started in January 1991, when Saddam's military force was occupying Kuwait. No peace agreement was signed, just declaring a halt to military operations on the ground but not in the air. Only one other country is currently in a similar situation, and that country is; North Korea.  Being on the loosing end, Saddam was forced to accept UN resolutions. He would later on defy the resolutions saying they were invalid. 

Before President Bush was elected the first time, he made a promise to the American people that he wanted to put pressure on Saddam to comply with UN resolutions.  While in office, Bush had to put his plans on hold because of 9/11, but when the Taliban was toppled and the search for Bin Laden was on, President Bush turned his attention to making his case for invading Iraq, for the purpose of removing Saddam Hussein and rebuilding a new government elected by the Iraqi people. The case was strong as Saddam Hussein had gathered numerous violations for example, in June 21, 1997 the UN condemns Iraq publicly for "a repeated refusal of Iraqi authorities to allow access to UN inspectors, which constitutes a "clear and flagrant violation" of UNSCR 687, 707, 715, and 1060."  Then again in October 23, 1997 as Saddam continues to refuse to allow access to UN inspectors.  And the list goes on and on. 

In a tactical move like his father who believes in a strong UN and one world government, President Bush submits his argument to the UN, and there he lobbied the world for another resolution in order to put an additional pressure on Saddam to comply and to open the door for a possible war against Iraq through the UN.  If this plan failed Bush had plans as he told the Spanish Prime Minister, that the war would have started anyway, and Saddam would be punished. 

On October the UN passed a resolution known as; 1441 (see more info http://usinfo.state.gov/is/Archive/2004/Mar/24-37440.html).  It gave Saddam one last chance, and if he showed progress unconditionally in 30 days, there would be no invasion, but he if he failed to follow the directive,  the resolution had a provision to deal with the issue, it states; "serious consequences as a result of its continued violations."  Although the statement was disputed on what exactly were those "serious consequences" were suppose to be, Bush interpreted the meaning as removing Saddam from power and putting him to trial for his crimes while rebuilding Iraq and allowing the people to vote for their own leaders. 

The Iraqi war wasn't the only war going on.  In 2004, the media started it's political war using Iraq with massive coverage of no "new" arms of massive destruction were found.  The media was also misleading the public saying the United States went to war with Iraq because of the connection with 9/11, claiming now the invasion was "illegal".  There is no doubt however Saddam supported Bin Laden in this way.  He hated the United States for kicking out his army of Kuwait which he deemed as the 19th providence of Iraq.  And there no doubt he rejoiced in the terrorist attacks of 9/11, and there is even evidence to suggest that his people (Saddam's) had contact with some of Bin Laden's people.  However, this in itself didn't mean it was the main cause on why the US invaded Iraq or that Saddam plotted with Bin Laden for the 9/11 attacks.  It was President Bush's objective as a believer in the New World Order just like his father was to make Saddam comply with UN resolutions or be removed.

When it was concluded as stated before, there were no new weapons of mass destruction as they did come across some old dumps of the weapons and mobile chemical plants which were not used yet.  The media went into a blitz mode as well as the likes of John Kerry who was running for President at the time.  Every death of every brave US military personal was the headline news for days on end.  As the violence continue to worsen the media coverage increased and public opinion about the war turned from a positive idea to a negative one. The low point came in 2006, when even some Republicans began to question if the war should have started in the first place.  And more talks of a pull out began to take hold and the violence was seemingly out of control. 

A Turning Point in the Iraqi War

President Bush finally convinced the Iraqi Prime Minister to allow the troops into all neighborhoods, prior to that, the troops were not allowed into certain Shiite areas where some of the terrorists were hiding, and regrouping.  The President Bush offered a unpopular plan for a troop surge of 30,000.  Liberals were outraged and said the additional troops would never work. Obama the current presidential candidate declared his dismay for the surge and said no expert in the field told him the surge would work. The Democrats in turn, offered a pull out with some remaining troops (about 70,000 or less) for training. Meanwhile even a few active Republicans began to express doubt over the unpopular plan while supporters like Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich who didn't like the surge plan,  he began to state some criticisms to the public because he didn't think the current policy was working well enough, and he stated the country needed a new direction to win the war. 

With a bitter debate, the troop surge was ratified and then was completed at full strength in June 2007.  In September 2007 only three months later, a full report of progress or lack thereof was to be presented to the public and the Senate by General Petraeus.  As the report unfolded and some positive news came out, the General was labeled as doing the bidding for the President by some of the Senators, and special interest groups.  Senator Clinton went as far as saying she had to "suspend belief" of the report.  The violence unlike a year ago, seemed to be more under control.  Parts of Iraq in which they thought was lost, was taken back by the Iraqi people themselves with the help of additional US troops who were able to go into forbidden areas of the past.  The Iraqi government previously have failed to meet certain benchmarks, only about 9/18 were met.  But as of July 2008,  15/18 benchmarks have been met. Recent reports have indicated a huge decline as much as 80 percent reduction in the violence, and going from 78 US deaths in one month to 5 US deaths. A quite a remarkable turnaround.

Many months later, many liberals and even the media finally admitted there was progress being made because of the surge of troops as the violence continued a steady trend of going down. In some liberal media outlets the surge isn't working fast enough and are still demanding a pullout without completing the mission which has the objective of building up security forces so the Iraqi people can deal with the violence by themselves. Obama who visited Iraq in July 2008 has not back off in in his position the troops pulling out right away, in fact knowing what he knows now about the surge he would still vote against it.

Bin Laden, Terrorism, and Islam

"Fight for the sake of God those that fight against you, but do not attack them first. God does not love the aggressors. Slay them wherever you find them. Drive them out of the places from which they drove you. Idolatry is more grievous than bloodshed.... Fight against them until idolatry is no more and God’s religion reigns supreme." (Sura 2:190-192).

Most terrorist follow this revelation (sura) from the Quran to the letter, finding it's own justification to carry out a struggle (jihad) against those they find as "aggressors."  Not all jihads means violence, a Muslim can practice let's say a jihad with the moral conduct of certain people.  But in this situation, terrorists use the term for violence just as other Muslims of the past when it came to conquering land, like Muhammad did as a way to "fight against them until their idolatry is no more". 

Back in 1991, Bin Laden was outraged that non-Muslims came to the aid of Kuwait and set foot on what he considered "holy" ground for Muslims only.  It was then Bin Laden decided to make war with the US. He put more emphasis on the US support for Israel than ever before as those terrorists were successful in getting support from most  Arab countries in one form or another, and thus making his  connection of labeling the US as aggressors too which would give him sanction by the Quran to attack the United States.

In order to carry out this new war with the west and the United States in particular, Bin Laden formed a group known as al-Qaeda. A suspect in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center was the very first time the US public became aware of him.  In 1996 and 1998 Bin Laden issues a degree of war to his followers and all Muslims in general to kill all civilians and military personal from the United States.  In 1998 a federal court indicted him for the U.S. embassy bombings in Dar es Salaam Tanzania and Nairobi, Kenya.  However, Bin Laden hasn't been indicted for the second World Trade Center attack in 2001, where almost 3,000 people were killed and even with him admitting his connection that lead to terrorist attack of 9/11. Bin Laden became the most wanted man in the world as a result of the 9/11 attacks with a high reward if captured dead or alive.

The Media Has Helped Bin Laden's Cause and Terrorism in General

In the name of "honest" debate, the media has been an ally of Bin Laden's cause and other terrorists surrounding the Iraqi war.  During 2004 one could see every single death of a US troop made headline news.  Since the surge which the liberal media was against sending there in the first place, started working you see less and less negative press about the war except for liberal political commentary which will always be negative for the most part.  Bin Laden noticed for sometime a change in the American people's view on the war in Iraq, and the liberal press in general that in his latest video in 2007 he sounded more like a political figure than a leader terrorist fighting a war. Bin Laden who normally could care less about such issues as global warming actually became an activist for the cause in light of seeing it as something successful against the United States.  This right here should have given people the impression, that the war in Iraq was turning.  While it's true Bin Laden continued to justify future deaths, and only the west turn to Islam would bring peace in his opinion, it appeared he had nothing really to brag about like he did in 2006 when the violence was out of control.

While it's not wrong to debate another direction on how to win the war in Iraq or allow the Iraqis to win the war in Iraq, the political nature of the criticism was not an "honest" debate, it's not to say the debate is or was an outright lie even though at times some liberal political figures did lie about situations in Iraq which will be addressed in another article.  It was using the debate to score points with the American people rather than discussing possible solutions.  Maybe a pull out is all what the liberal media and others can come up with and there is nothing else but still the debate could have been handled better, and the coverage as well especially with the troops in arms way.

In Conclusion 
 

Six years later, one can conclude the war on terror is far from over as the Quran motivates their cause.  The Iraqi war will eventually end but will it succeed?  Right now things are looking better for that country, but a lot of work remains. Christians must pray for them, and show the light of the world to these people as they truly need God.