On this Memorial Day, it’s important to remember that the very same U.S. policies that created al-Qaeda in Afghanistan in the 1980s—leading to the horrific attacks of 9/11—are today allowing al-Qaeda to metastasize all around the Muslim world. As in the 80s, these new terrorist cells are quietly gathering strength now, and are sure to deliver future terror strikes that will make 9/11 seem like child’s play.
To understand this dire prediction, we must first examine the United States’ history of empowering Islamic jihadis—only to be attacked by those same jihadis many years later—and the chronic shortsightedness of American policymakers, whose policies are based on their brief tenure, not America’s long-term wellbeing.
In the 1980s, the U.S. supported Afghani rebels—among them the jihadis—to repel the Soviets. Osama bin Laden, Ayman Zawahiri, and countless foreign jihadis journeyed to Afghanistan to form a base of training and planning—the first prerequisite of the jihad, as delineated in Sayyid Qutb’s Milestones.
Al-Qaeda—which tellingly means “the base”—was born.
The U.S. supported al-Qaeda, they defeated the Soviets, shook hands with Reagan, Afghanistan became ruled by the Taliban, and for many years all seemed well.
But it wasn’t. For over a decade al-Qaeda, unfettered in Afghanistan, trained and plotted. Then came the strikes of 9/11, which were portrayed by the talking heads as a great and unexpected surprise: “What happened? Who knew? Why do they hate us?”
Had al-Qaeda not secured a base of operations, its namesake, 9/11 would not have occurred.
But if Reagan helped create the first al-Qaeda cell in relatively unimportant Afghanistan, Obama is helping to create numerous, more emboldened, al-Qaeda cells in some of the most important Islamic nations.
He is doing this by helping get rid of Arab autocrats who were effective at suppressing jihadis (even if for selfish reasons), while empowering some of the most radical jihadis who were formerly imprisoned or in hiding.
And all in the name of the “Arab Spring” and “democracy.”
In Egypt, Obama threw Mubarak, America’s chief Mideast ally for three decades, under the bus, and cozied up to the Muslim Brotherhood. Egypt’s government is today overrun with Islamists, many who share al-Qaeda’s radical worldview. Several of these new policymakers—including President Morsi himself—were imprisoned under Mubarak, not, as the Western media portray, because they were freedom-loving rebels, but because they were, and are, Sharia-loving radicals trying to transform Egypt into an Islamist state.
The Sinai alone is now infested with jihadis, including possibly al-Qaeda leader Ayman Zawahiri.
In Libya, Obama supported the opposition against Gaddafi—knowing full well that al-Qaeda was among them—enabling the Benghazi attack and murder of Americans on the anniversary of 9/11. The unprecedented persecution of Christians in Libya—from attacks on churches to attacks on nuns—is further indicative of the direction “liberated” Libya is taking.
And now in Syria, Obama is, once again, supporting foreign jihadis, who make up 95% of Syria’s so-called “opposition.” As in Libya—and as in Afghanistan in the 80s—foreign jihadis are flooding Syria and terrorizing non-Muslims (a recent fatwa permits the raping of non-Sunni women), in their bid to create another base, another qaeda.
One of them recently declared, “When we finish with Assad, we will fight the U.S.!”—precisely al-Qaeda’s thinking in the 80s-90s when it was supported by the U.S. against the U.S.S.R.
Thus all the forces and circumstances that led up to the strikes of 9/11—foreign jihadis infiltrating and consolidating power in Muslim countries formerly run by secular dictators—are once again in full play, but in a much more profound way. Today it’s not just one relatively unimportant country, Afghanistan, that is being subverted by jihadis but several strategically important nations.
If 9/11 was the price the U.S later paid for helping turn Afghanistan into a jihadi base in the 80s-90s, what price will America later pay now that it’s betraying several major nations to the jihadis, who are turning them into bases, into qaedas?
So why are American politicians not blowing the whistle on Obama’s suicidal policies?
Because their myopia and inability to see beyond today—beyond their tenure—has not changed since September 11, 2001. Just as it took over a decade after al-Qaeda’s creation to launch the 9/11 attacks—a time of ostensible peace and calm for the U.S., a time of planning and training for the jihadis—it will take time for the new jihadi storm to pour on America.
And that’s the era we’re currently in: the calm before the storm. Just as before 9/11, today’s American leaders focus only on the moment—a moment when the U.S appears relatively safe—never considering the future or the inevitable consequences of a woefully counterproductive U.S. foreign policy.
Speaking of foreign policy, if Reagan supported the jihadis to combat the U.S.S.R—a hostile super-power—why is Obama supporting the jihadis? What exactly does America have to gain?
At any rate, just as it was before 9/11, when the jihadi storm eventually does break out—and it will, it’s a matter of time—those American politicians who helped empower it, chief among them Obama, will be long gone, and the talking heads will again be stupidly asking “What happened?” “Who knew?” Why do they hate us?”
Except then it will be too late.
Mr. Ibrahim,
Not only is this one of your most important articles ever, it’s also one of the scariest I’ve ever read… We’re in for a lot of trouble…
tears in my eyes, I have grandchildren. Come Lord Jesus, do not delay!
Jesus never killed anyone, how would he stop this?
nimesh, it depends on what you’ve been taught to be truth. I believe Jesus, the Christ, will return to earth and rule all the nations. Truth and justeous will be guaranteed then. No one will learn, or practice war again.
I think Mr. Ibrahim is correct. The only thing I would add is that if you want to know what really happened in Afghanistan in the 1980’s you should read Charlie Wilson’s War. Unintended consequences abound.
Dear Mr Ibrahim
Superb article.
For the last four years I have had over 480 live radio & TV interviews with American talk shows fully demonstrating that Islam is NOT a Religion but a Cult belief system, the Cult of Muhammad based entirely on the Arabic sources (my mother tongue from Iraq).Each and every administration, all their hundreds of billions of intelligence assets are null and void because they still do not comprehend what Islam is nor its agenda.
As illuminating, articulate and crystal clear your article is, Obama and his followers will not learn and will continue to lead America and Western Civilization to the forthcoming Armageddon that Islam desires.
What is needed is an awakening by the American public demanding change in this administration’s suicidal policies.
Sincerely
IQ al Rassooli
It’s not as you say that Obama will not learn. He is in fact directing this support. Whether from the innocence of childhood indoctrination into islam or to outright open eyed complicity it is obvious what his thinking and actions have been. He will not change, it is up to others to educate themselves on the reality and become aware.
The real truth is bho is the enemy within and COMPLICIT cONGRESS does nothing as we wait for the slaughter to begin.
Thanks Mr Rassooli, your own site is very informative. I’ve been linking your excellent “Palestine – a notion NOT a nation!” presentation across the web in many discussions.
http://www.al-rassooli.com/palestine/index.html
Please keep up the excellent work – and thanks greatly for the fantastic work you’ve already done (480, wow!).
Similarly, Mr Ibrahim – please keep fighting for liberty and for the Copts. This is a great article.
Thank you Raymond Ibrahim for telling the truth. Thank you for your great new book that
tells the sad story of the ongoing, never ending persecutions by Islam on the church that continues to this day.
Raymond Ibrahim got it totally wrong. He wrote:
And now in Syria, Obama is, once again, supporting foreign jihadis, who make up 95% of Syria’s so-called “opposition.”
The true figure is the reverse: 5% are foreign Jihadis. Indeed, the majority of the anti-Assad fighters in Syria are Syrians.
The United States is supporting the FSA to restrain the Iranian regime, a far more dangerous adversary than the criminal Jihadi gangs. Ibrahim’s position puts him in line with the Iranian and Syrian regimes and Hezbollah who are working hard to achieve world dominion systemically. These three fascist entities control key countries in the Middle East. The Jihadis are just scattered murderers that can be controlled with drones and special ops operatives.
Well, the report in Ibrahim’s link says 95%. Take it up with that report. Anyway, in all these countries, it’s the jihadis who end up benefiting – remember Libya?
And that report relies on yet another report, which happens to be a YouTube video by Russia Today (RT) where Daoud Khairallah makes unfounded allegations. Russia, bear on mind, is one of the main allies of the Syrian regime and thus its propaganda arm, RT, is not a neutral credible party. Last I checked, the United States and Russia were on the opposite ends of the Syrian conflict. I stand by the United States.
Oh, so your response is “Wooo – go USA”? Idiot. The US, under your fellow Islamic president, is doing all it can to empower the jihad against America and whitewash it, as is in Benghazi and Egpyt — so you think I should discount the “Russian” report for the US media’s propaganda to keep empowering your fellow Islamists? News flash, “Bazzi,” we’re not all idiots…
I used to live in a nation that took care of its own. Now I live in a nation of traitors -the chief liar is an illegal and undermining our country to make us ready for defeat. Islam does not belong in our culture. No matter what!