Corrupt regimes are the source of extremism and terrorism

AFTER five years, we have avoided some of our worst post-September 11 fears. We have seen Bali, Madrid, London, Mumbai and many smaller attacks by terrorists driven by the same Islamist totalitarian ideology that inspired the September 11 atrocities. But despite some attempts, there has been no successful attack on a similar scale since then. Moreover, the nightmare scenario of a terrorist attack on a major Western city with non-conventional weapons has not come to pass.

This is largely because the West has succeeded on a number of fronts. Our law enforcement has improved to the point where we are thwarting most terror plots. Our international military and diplomatic efforts have reduced al-Qaeda to a shadow of its former self, not only losing its base camps in Afghanistan, but its financial and political support from both the Taliban and elements of the establishment in the Persian Gulf, especially Saudi Arabia. The conflict in Iraq continues to absorb most of the energy of those who would probably otherwise be planning attacks on New York, London or Melbourne.

But we must remember that the war on terrorism is not only a war on an illegal and immoral tactic and the organisations that utilise it, but a war of ideas as well. It is a real war against a specifically murderous and ugly version of totalitarianism that has sprung from a fringe interpretation of the Islamic tradition and been adopted by the terrorist groups threatening us today. If we do not continue to fight it, intelligently, using diplomatic, legal, intelligence and military tools, and with reasonable unity of purpose, we will indeed suffer the worst scenarios feared — regular attacks on a similar scale or worse, disrupting transport, commerce and normal democratic politics around the world, and making our way of life all but impossible. Law enforcement is necessary but not sufficient. By itself, law enforcement simply postpones the inevitable.

The conflict with Islamist extremism is unavoidable, despite understandable hopes that there must be another way. The only way to neutralise the threat in the longer term is to deal with the root causes of the Islamist surge in the Middle East. This is not a series of grievances, as some assert, but a system of ideas and beliefs that makes terrorism the outcome of those grievances. Those who point to Muslim grievances about Iraq or Palestine as the causes of Muslim extremist terror should remember that the September 11 attacks were planned and prepared in the late 1990s, when the United States under Bill Clinton had just orchestrated a coalition force to protect the Muslims of Kosovo from Serb ethnic cleansing, and was trying to bring about an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement.

The true cause of Islamist terror is to be found in the preponderance of autocratic, illegitimate, corrupt and generally failed regimes that dominate the Middle East and maintain their power largely by blaming the West, the Jews and other foreigners for their peoples’ plight. Moreover, because of its role in society, religion has typically retained the one reasonably independent voice able to oppose decadent and corrupt governments. The ideology embraced not only by Osama bin Laden, but also by a variety of Islamist totalitarian terrorist groups, including Hamas, Hezbollah, elements of the Muslim Brotherhood, and various North African terror groups, is to a large extent the offspring of these two realities.

Those opposed to the corrupt, repressive and ineffective governments of the Middle East are influenced by the only opposition voices, mainly religious ones, to demand a historically non-existent pure Islamic theocracy as the utopian alternative, and at the same time to blame the West and Israel for all the region’s problems, including its repressive regimes.

The only viable strategy remains the same as it was five years ago. Eliminate state support for terror groups. Above all, make sure these groups cannot acquire WMD. Attempt to deal with the dearth of legitimate government, human rights and economic opportunity that plagues the Middle East. Despite mistakes and intelligence failures, the liberation of Iraq was justified in these terms.

Despite its very serious problems, there is no doubt that Iraq is now part of a new and positive debate about democracy in Middle East discourse. If Iraq can be stabilised, this positive influence will grow exponentially. The costs of abandoning Iraq now, aside from the horrors likely to be inflicted on Iraqis themselves, would be that the Islamist movement will claim credit for “defeating” the West, and be seen as the wave of the future throughout the Middle East.

Similarly, it is also imperative that the world’s number one terror-supporting state, Iran, be prevented from getting nuclear weapons.

All those Western political leaders who have understood the need for a genuine, thorough-going strategy to address the problem of Islamist terrorism have correctly emphasised that it would be a difficult exercise that would take a generation or more. The policies they developed in 2001 remain valid today.

Colin Rubenstein is executive director of the Australia/Israel and Jewish Affairs Council.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/opinion/corrupt-regimes-are-the-source-of-extremism/2006/09/19/1158431708142.html?page=2