Cole writes: "There is a wealth of misinformation, sloppy thinking, and
poorly sourced allegations about Saudi Arabia and terrorism. And I'm going
to go on to offer a harsh critique of Riyadh's announcement of a 35-nation
Muslim coalition tofight terrorism."
Saudi soldiers fire artillery toward three armed vehicles approaching the
Saudi border with Yemen in Jazan, Saudi Arabia, Monday, April 20, 2015.
(photo: AP)
Top 5 Ways Saudi Arabia Really Could Fight Terrorism, & Not by a Vague
Coalition
By Juan Cole, Informed Comment
18 December 15
Over the past three days, Saudi Arabia has abruptly put together a 35-nation
Muslim coalition to fight terrorism.
Saudi interest in this fight is not new, and the kingdom itself has suffered
from armed non-governmental groups targeting innocent non-combatants. In
2003-2006, al-Qaeda and other extremist cells in Saudi Arabia launched
numerous attacks in Riyadh, Jedda and elsewhere.
It is not the case that Saudi's distinctive and puritanical Wahhabi Islam
underlies terrorism. It is often intolerant, but its 20 million adherents
usually don't go around attacking people. Sunnis who adopt the Wahhabi style
of Islam, called Salafis, are often peaceful and/or non-political. The
Saudis of Wahhabi background whom you meet abroad are often warm, nice
people.
It could be argued that Sunnis are relatively unlikely to turn to terrorism
but Salafis and Wahhabis more likely to, because the latter see the world as
black and white, and have a conviction that only they have the truth and the
rest of the Muslims have fallen into the snares of the devil. But then a lot
(not all) of evangelical Christians have that mindset, as well, and few are
violent. I'm not aware of studies that show Salafis as more violent than
other Sunnis. In Syria, the two major terrorist/ insurgent groups, al-Qaeda
and Daesh (ISIS, ISIL), are Salafi of sorts, but most of their members
started out as Sunnis and went straight to joining those groups under the
pressure of Syrian regime attacks. You could argue that the ideology is
optional, and that tyrannical and violent oppression drives people to
terrorism regardless of their religious ideology.
Nor is it the case that Saudi Arabia formed, funded or promoted Daesh/ ISIL,
as is often alleged. Nor is mainstream Wahhabism as practiced every day in
Saudi Arabia very much like Daesh. There are tens of thousands of
non-Muslims working in the oil industry at Dahran and none has been
kidnapped and beheaded. They are allowed to have their own swimming pools
and McDonalds. There may have been Saudi businessmen who funneled money to
Iraqi Sunnis to strengthen them against the American-installed Shiite
religious government of Baghdad, or to fight against their being ethnically
cleansed from the Iraqi capital back in 2006-2007, and some of that money
may have made its way to what became Daesh. But it was not likely direct
support for that group (in 2003-2006 the Kingdom was in a life and death
struggle against al-Qaeda, of which Daesh is a branch).
I say all this because there a wealth of misinformation, sloppy thinking,
and poorly sourced allegations about Saudi Arabia and terrorism. And I'm
going to go on to offer a harsh critique of Riyadh's announcement of a
35-nation Muslim coalition to fight terrorism. This is not hypocritical on
Saudi Arabia's part for the reasons many will think.
The problem is that, somewhat like the United States, Saudi Arabia's recent
history of aggressive foreign intervention is causing terrorism
inadvertently. So here are some steps they could take instead of, or at
least beyond coalition-building:
1. Stop recklessly and indiscriminately bombing Yemen. The Saudi campaign
has allowed al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), the organization
behind the underwear bomber of 2009, to expand its territory in the south.
That scares me more than the Houthis do. Half the country is food insecure,
large numbers are being displaced, and hundreds of thousands of armed
homeless people (Yemenis, like Americans, all have guns) are terrorism
waiting to happen. The Saudi goal of defeating the Houthi guerrilla
insurgency mainly from the air is misguided and will only cause more
instability.
2. Make their clients, the Syrian guerrilla groups in the Army of Conquest,
including the Free Men of Syria, break with al-Qaeda in Syria (the Nusra
Front) with which they are formally allied. Saudi Arabia can't fight
terrorism if it is backing a coalition allied with al-Qaeda.
3. Speaking of Syria, stop insisting that it become Saudi Arabia's mini-me
and help all Syrians come to a political settlement of the civil war. Saudi
Arabia keeps issuing ultimatums about what must happen. Syria is 14% Alawite
Shiite, 5% Christian, 3% Druze, 1% Twelver Shiite, 10% leftist Kurds, and
probably 40% leftist or secular Sunnis. The small, armed, Salafi minority
can't impose itself on the country as Riyadh seems to want. Riyadh's hard
line is prolonging the civil war and that is causing regional terrorism and
giving groups like Daesh an opportunity.
4. Stop denying peaceful members of the Muslim Brotherhood their basic human
rights. If Muslim Brothers aren't violent and aren't actually doing anything
illegal, they should be left alone. Saudi Arabia has spearheaded a
region-wide harsh crackdown on the group that has actually pushed some
formerly peaceful members to turn to terrorism.
5. Step up and play a more forceful role (since you like forceful roles
nowadays) in insisting that the Israelis withdraw from the Occupied
Palestinian territories captured in 1967. Even the San Bernardino duo were
driven in part by anger over the plight of the stateless Palestinians. Saudi
Arabia only talks a good game on Palestine. Their real investment is in
bombing Yemen. The latter isn't even practical.
Saudi Arabia for the first time since the 1920s has been flexing its
muscles. Some of that flexing is producing or is likely to produce the
blowback of terrorism. The kingdom needs to reassess.
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid. Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.
Saudi soldiers fire artillery toward three armed vehicles approaching the
Saudi border with Yemen in Jazan, Saudi Arabia, Monday, April 20, 2015.
(photo: AP)
http://www.juancole.com/2015/12/arabia-terrorism-coalition.htmlhttp://www.ju
ancole.com/2015/12/arabia-terrorism-coalition.html
Top 5 Ways Saudi Arabia Really Could Fight Terrorism, & Not by a Vague
Coalition
By Juan Cole, Informed Comment
18 December 15
ver the past three days, Saudi Arabia has abruptly put together a 35-nation
Muslim coalition to fight terrorism.
Saudi interest in this fight is not new, and the kingdom itself has suffered
from armed non-governmental groups targeting innocent non-combatants. In
2003-2006, al-Qaeda and other extremist cells in Saudi Arabia launched
numerous attacks in Riyadh, Jedda and elsewhere.
It is not the case that Saudi's distinctive and puritanical Wahhabi Islam
underlies terrorism. It is often intolerant, but its 20 million adherents
usually don't go around attacking people. Sunnis who adopt the Wahhabi style
of Islam, called Salafis, are often peaceful and/or non-political. The
Saudis of Wahhabi background whom you meet abroad are often warm, nice
people.
It could be argued that Sunnis are relatively unlikely to turn to terrorism
but Salafis and Wahhabis more likely to, because the latter see the world as
black and white, and have a conviction that only they have the truth and the
rest of the Muslims have fallen into the snares of the devil. But then a lot
(not all) of evangelical Christians have that mindset, as well, and few are
violent. I'm not aware of studies that show Salafis as more violent than
other Sunnis. In Syria, the two major terrorist/ insurgent groups, al-Qaeda
and Daesh (ISIS, ISIL), are Salafi of sorts, but most of their members
started out as Sunnis and went straight to joining those groups under the
pressure of Syrian regime attacks. You could argue that the ideology is
optional, and that tyrannical and violent oppression drives people to
terrorism regardless of their religious ideology.
Nor is it the case that Saudi Arabia formed, funded or promoted Daesh/ ISIL,
as is often alleged. Nor is mainstream Wahhabism as practiced every day in
Saudi Arabia very much like Daesh. There are tens of thousands of
non-Muslims working in the oil industry at Dahran and none has been
kidnapped and beheaded. They are allowed to have their own swimming pools
and McDonalds. There may have been Saudi businessmen who funneled money to
Iraqi Sunnis to strengthen them against the American-installed Shiite
religious government of Baghdad, or to fight against their being ethnically
cleansed from the Iraqi capital back in 2006-2007, and some of that money
may have made its way to what became Daesh. But it was not likely direct
support for that group (in 2003-2006 the Kingdom was in a life and death
struggle against al-Qaeda, of which Daesh is a branch).
I say all this because there a wealth of misinformation, sloppy thinking,
and poorly sourced allegations about Saudi Arabia and terrorism. And I'm
going to go on to offer a harsh critique of Riyadh's announcement of a
35-nation Muslim coalition to fight terrorism. This is not hypocritical on
Saudi Arabia's part for the reasons many will think.
The problem is that, somewhat like the United States, Saudi Arabia's recent
history of aggressive foreign intervention is causing terrorism
inadvertently. So here are some steps they could take instead of, or at
least beyond coalition-building:
1. Stop recklessly and indiscriminately bombing Yemen. The Saudi campaign
has allowed al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), the organization
behind the underwear bomber of 2009, to expand its territory in the south.
That scares me more than the Houthis do. Half the country is food insecure,
large numbers are being displaced, and hundreds of thousands of armed
homeless people (Yemenis, like Americans, all have guns) are terrorism
waiting to happen. The Saudi goal of defeating the Houthi guerrilla
insurgency mainly from the air is misguided and will only cause more
instability.
2. Make their clients, the Syrian guerrilla groups in the Army of Conquest,
including the Free Men of Syria, break with al-Qaeda in Syria (the Nusra
Front) with which they are formally allied. Saudi Arabia can't fight
terrorism if it is backing a coalition allied with al-Qaeda.
3. Speaking of Syria, stop insisting that it become Saudi Arabia's mini-me
and help all Syrians come to a political settlement of the civil war. Saudi
Arabia keeps issuing ultimatums about what must happen. Syria is 14% Alawite
Shiite, 5% Christian, 3% Druze, 1% Twelver Shiite, 10% leftist Kurds, and
probably 40% leftist or secular Sunnis. The small, armed, Salafi minority
can't impose itself on the country as Riyadh seems to want. Riyadh's hard
line is prolonging the civil war and that is causing regional terrorism and
giving groups like Daesh an opportunity.
4. Stop denying peaceful members of the Muslim Brotherhood their basic human
rights. If Muslim Brothers aren't violent and aren't actually doing anything
illegal, they should be left alone. Saudi Arabia has spearheaded a
region-wide harsh crackdown on the group that has actually pushed some
formerly peaceful members to turn to terrorism.
5. Step up and play a more forceful role (since you like forceful roles
nowadays) in insisting that the Israelis withdraw from the Occupied
Palestinian territories captured in 1967. Even the San Bernardino duo were
driven in part by anger over the plight of the stateless Palestinians. Saudi
Arabia only talks a good game on Palestine. Their real investment is in
bombing Yemen. The latter isn't even practical.
Saudi Arabia for the first time since the 1920s has been flexing its
muscles. Some of that flexing is producing or is likely to produce the
blowback of terrorism. The kingdom needs to reassess.
http://e-max.it/posizionamento-siti-web/socialize
http://e-max.it/posizionamento-siti-web/socialize
