October 12, 2006

While the effect of the 9/11 attacks on America’s foreign and domestic politics has been profound, the violence had a much more sinister effect on Muslim interests worldwide, observes Dr Syed Amir

It was a bright sunny morning in New York City and business in the plush, carpeted offices of the 110-story World Trade Centre (WTC) had just started, when two airliners –– United and American –– crashed into the twin towers. In the next hour, two other planes crashed, one into the US Department of Defence, known as the Pentagon, close to Washington, DC. The other crashed in rural Pennsylvania, when the passengers defied the hijackers in a desperate attempt to wrestle the controls of the plane from them.

Each plane, loaded with aviation fuel, acted as a huge missile and ignited a firestorm. The date, September 11, 2001, has taken an indelible place in American history books only next to December 7, 1941, the day Pearl Harbour was attacked by the Japanese.

When the dust finally settled following the attacks, nearly 3,000 innocent, ordinary, working people, with no influence over the US government policies or practices, had perished in the wreckage of the twin towers. The victims belonged to different religions, nationalities and ethnicities; their bodies in many cases were never even recovered or identified. Included among the dead, were 343 New York fire fighters. They had gone in to save others, but did not make it out alive from the searing skyscrapers. Many rescue workers and policemen who had inhaled dust and fumes emanating from the collapsing towers have now developed serious breathing and lung problems likely to shorten their lives.

On September 11, 2006, America commemorated the fifth anniversary of the attacks, with solemn speeches and nation-wide prayer services, blended with scenes of emotional outpourings. President Bush addressed the nation in the evening, passionately arguing that the country was engaged in an ideological struggle on a global scale between the forces of freedom and those of radical Islam, a potential clash of civilisations. This notion, although frightening, seems to be taking hold in the minds of many people in the US.

Many analysts, however, believe that the frequent invocation of the terror threat by the administration is part of a well-designed strategy to revive support for the Iraq war and to help the Republican Party win mid-term elections for Congress which will take place in November this year.

Ironically, the strategy is also receiving help from a most unlikely source. The ominous threats by the Ayeman al Zawahiri, communicated in tapes aired on Al Jazeera TV at regular intervals and widely publicised by the US news media reinforce the arguments put forward by the current administration.

Whenever opposition to Bush policies gain momentum, or there is serious talk of withdrawal from Iraq, Zawahiri tapes mysteriously surface on TV with the usual bluster. Such Al Qaeda tactics are not new. Most analysts believe that the emergence of a tape with similar message from Osama bin Laden on the eve of November 2004 elections actually helped President Bush in his re-election bid. Clearly, the Al Qaeda has little understanding of how the American public reacts.

While the effect of the 9/11 attacks on America’s foreign and domestic politics has been profound, the violence had a much more sinister effect on Muslim interests worldwide. The attacks triggered a series of actions. A month following the attacks, the US forces invaded Afghanistan and ousted the medieval Taliban regime on the pretext of providing sanctuary to Al Qaeda operatives.

Few around the world, however, mourned the demise of a regime whose crowning achievement had been the demolition of ancients Buddhist monuments and suppression of women’s rights. That aside, Afghanistan was visited upon by another round of devastation, as an estimated 5,000 civilians died as a direct result of the conflict.

Additionally, hundreds of individuals suspected of Taliban or Al Qaeda connections were rounded up and shipped to various detention centres around the world where they are languishing even today. Whatever Al Qaeda and the terrorists might have hoped to achieve from their horrendous actions, Afghanistan, today, is an unstable, war-ravaged country as a result of their actions.

The American reprisals did not remain confined to Afghanistan, as the Bush administration moved against Iraq and Saddam Hussein on March 2003, even though no credible evidence had shown any nexus between the 9/11 attacks and the Iraqi regime. The war has been a disaster for Iraqi civilians, as more than 40,000 of them have lost their lives since the inception of hostilities, a staggering loss for a country of only 26 million people.

Even worse, the invasion has ignited a bitter sectarian war between Shias and Sunnis. This is especially distressing since the country has no history of such animosities and intermarriages between the two sects in Iraq were common occurrence before the war. Iraq may now be moving inexorably towards disintegration and chaos. It is inconceivable that the terrorists who planned and executed the 9/11 attacks could have imagined the colossal and far-reaching repercussions of their actions.

Until a decade ago, not many people had heard of Muslim terrorists. Terrorist acts were largely associated with the IRA in Ireland, Tamil tigers in Sri Lanka, or Shining Path Guerrillas in Peru. Now, the label has become firmly attached to Muslims and Islam. While many countries, including Pakistan, Egypt, Morocco, Indonesia and Turkey, have been the victims of such violence, the Muslims living in the West have been affected in many different ways. The prosperous Muslim community in the US, comprising mostly professionals, is concentrated in large cities. Their median income is estimated to be over $70,000 per year, higher than other Americans ($58,000).

Before 9/11 they were often viewed as a model community. Politicians had taken to referring to ‘our common Judeo-Christian-Islamic civilisation’ in their political speeches to attract Muslim votes and monetary contributions. It was not very long ago that the session of US House of Representatives was opened by the recitation of the Quran by Imam Yahya Hendi. Prior to the terrorist bombings, the Muslim community was undergoing the slow but unmistakable process of integration within the fabric of American society.

Sadly, the terrorist acts worldwide, committed in the name of Islam, have significantly changed the perceptions of many Americans about Muslims. In a recent survey published by The Washington Post (May 2006), half of all Americans admitted to having a negative view of Islam and Muslims.

Christian fundamentalists and other neo conservatives have found new ammunition to malign Islam, linking it to the dark forces of violence and horror. A number of Muslim charities that used to freely collect money in America, especially in the month of Ramazan, to help the Palestinians and other similar causes overseas have been closed down by the FBI, under suspicion of helping Al-Qaeda terrorists. Some mosques and schools are also being closely watched by the law enforcement agencies and their activities monitored. Thus, the Muslim community in the US continues to pay in many ways for the sins of the 9/11 hijackers.

Overall, American Muslims are fairly well established, sufficiently integrated and are not likely to support any violent actions against their fellow citizens. The situation in Britain is far more worrying, as was demonstrated by the suicide bombings of the London subway trains.

Even the second and third generation British Muslims, mostly of South Asian origin, feel strong alienation from the culture and social structure of the country of their birth and residence. An estimated 20 per cent of the British Muslims are unemployed and many survive on government welfare handouts. The youths, often frustrated and unemployed come under the insidious influence of radical Imams, a potentially combustible mixture, who incite them to violence.

While the London suicide bombers killed scores of people in the London train stations, the most grievous damage was inflicted on the Muslim community itself. The new restrictive laws enacted in the wake of London’s terrorist attacks have enabled the police to detain a number of Muslims on suspicion of involvement in terrorist activities.

It has become difficult for Muslim visitors and bona fide students to obtain entry visas to Britain. In a country where the integration of Muslims in the British society had already been a slow and tortuous process, the recent developments will only serve to delay or derail it altogether.

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