Why Are Extremists Fighting The World? Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Central Africa, the Balkans, Burma etc
17 February 2014
By Abdul Rahman Al-Rashed
In Saudi Arabia and some other regional countries,
there has been an intellectual, political and security
campaign targeting violent extremist groups for at
least 10 years now. Despite these efforts, such groups
are increasing in number. Al-Qaeda, as a concept, an
organization, a set of activities and a set of
individuals, has proven to be a contagious disease in
many areas of the region. Explaining how we reached
the point at which we find now ourselves will take a
long time. Analyses of it will vary, as some will
espouse a socio-political analysis describing it as a
situation of rebellion, and others will contend that
it is a normal product of the region's tragedies. Some
think it is the result of the local extremist
intellect that feeds off the events occurring around
it.
What is certain is that we are confronting an
expanding phenomenon. The Al-Qaeda that brought down
New York's twin towers in 2001 only consisted of a few
hundred members living in one country, Afghanistan.
Today, it is an army of tens of thousands of fighters.
It grew geographically from one country to around 10
countries where they now fight on a daily basis.
Theories that linked the emergence of Al-Qaeda to
foreign intervention and religious persecution were
thus proven wrong. Al-Qaeda is spreading, and security
measures are not the cure. The cure lies in both
education and culture.
When the Saudi government decided to take a new
measure and criminalized involvement in the region's
wars, it finalized an important part of the cultural
controversy. Are the actions of a criminal regime,
like that of President Bashar Al-Assad's in Syria,
justification for angry Saudi youths to board a plane
and join the fight in support of the persecuted?
Extremist groups have managed to convince many that
this is the individual's duty and not the state's.
They appealed to the sentiment of the youth and
transformed them into battalions ready to fight in any
way that was demanded of them. These groups in effect
hijacked their minds. Syria does not need them, as it
is full of hundreds of thousands of Syrian youths who
are fighting and who don't need foreigners competing
with them.
They don't want Saudis, Libyans, Kuwaitis, Chechens or
Muslim Europeans there on the ground. They want
support from afar. In only one year, these volunteers
succeeded in sabotaging the revolution, distorting its
cause and ruining the Syrian social fabric. They were
serving Assad's regime and the Iranian regime instead
of fighting against them. Some realized the damage
done, but failed to admit it and instead turned
against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS),
the extremist group operating in Syria, and started to
fight it. This came after they had rallied around
ISIS, praising their heroic acts. The perpetrators
realized the name "ISIS" had a negative connotation,
and they failed to defend it so they are now
embellishing the image of other organizations similar
to ISIS.
As for those obsessed with bloodshed, we can draw a
clear picture of their political rhetoric throughout
history. They began by supporting Afghanistan's
Taliban in the 1990s. Their support synchronized with
calls to fight Serbs in the Balkans. Then they called
for fighting the Americans in the Gulf and for
expelling them from the Arabian Peninsula. Afterwards,
they called on youths to fight the occupier in Iraq.
Then there were calls to fight in Somalia. Now that
the "American crusaders" have left Iraq, there are
calls to fight the country's Shi'ites. They are
seeking to spread the idea of fighting Buddhists in
Burma, fighting Houthis in Yemen, adopting jihad in
central Africa and supporting what is happening in
Libya as a war against the seculars.
Therefore, they don't have a cause. It's a sick state
of mind being exploited by parties that have mastered
the manipulation of these groups for decades. I know
there are some who doubt the theory of the presence of
an Iranian role in all this. However, there is a lot
of information that proves the Iranians' involvement
via Lebanese, Syrian and Palestinian groups. Their
fingerprints are everywhere chaos has reigned. I am
not saying the Iranians are directly recruiting
Saudis, Libyans and Egyptians, but they are turning
angry, enthusiastic youths into a tool to serve a
political agenda. They did it previously in Lebanon,
the Gulf, Yemen and Sudan, and they are repeating it
today. The phenomenon of fighting the world using our
children has spiraled out of control. This problem
must be solved by addressing the root causes, not the
symptoms.
Al Rashed is the general
manager of Al -Arabiya television. He is also the
former editor-in-chief of Asharq Al- Awsat, and the
leading Arabic weekly magazine, Al Majalla. He is also
a senior Columnist in the daily newspapers of Al
Madina and Al Bilad. He is a US post-graduate degree
in mass communications. He has been a guest on many TV
current affairs programs. He is currently based in
Dubai.
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