The Silence That Kills
THOMAS
L. FRIEDMAN
Published: March 2, 2007
The New York Times
On Feb. 20, The A.P. reported from Afghanistan that a
suicide attacker disguised as a health worker blew himself
up near “a crowd of about 150 people who had gathered for
a ribbon-cutting ceremony to open an emergency ward at the
main government hospital in the city of Khost.” A few days
later, at a Baghdad college, a female Sunni suicide bomber
blew herself up amid students who were ready to sit for
exams, killing 40 people.
Stop and think for a moment how sick this is. Then stop
for another moment and listen to the silence. The Bush team
is mute. It says nothing, because it has no moral authority.
No one would listen. Mr. Bush is losing a P.R. war to people
who blow up emergency wards. Europeans are mute, lost in
their delusion that this is all George Bush’s and Tony Blair’s
fault.
But worst of all, Muslims, the very people whose future
is being killed, are also mute. No surge can work in Iraq
unless we have a “moral surge,” a counter-nihilism strategy
that de-legitimizes suicide bombers. The most important
restraints are cultural, societal and religious. It takes
a village ? but the Arab-Muslim village today is largely
silent. The best are indifferent or intimidated; the worst
quietly applaud the Sunnis who kill Shiites.
Nobody in the Arab world “has the guts to say that what
is happening in Iraq is wrong ? that killing school kids
is wrong?" said Mamoun Fandy, director of the Middle East
program at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.
“People somehow think that killing Iraqis is good because
it will stick it to the Americans, so Arabs are undermining
the American project in Iraq by killing themselves.”
The world worries about highly enriched uranium, but
“the real danger is highly enriched Islam,” Mr. Fandy added.
That is, “highly enriched Sunnism” and “highly enriched
Shiism” that eats away at the Muslim state, the way Hezbollah
is trying to do in Lebanon or the Muslim Brotherhood in
Egypt or Al Qaeda everywhere.
One result: there’s no legitimate, decent, accepted source
of Arab-Muslim authority today, no center of gravity “for
people to anchor their souls in,” Mr. Fandy said. In this
welter of confusion, the suicide bombers go uncondemned
or subtly extolled.
Arab nationalist media like Al Jazeera “practically tell
bin Laden and his followers, ‘Bravo,’ ” Mr. Fandy said.
“The message sent to bin Laden is that ‘You are doing to
the West what we want done, but we can’t do it.’ This is
the hidden message that the West is not privy to. Unless
extreme pressure is applied on Muslims all over the world
to come up with counter-fatwas and pronounce these men as
pariahs, very little will happen in fighting terrorism.”
“The battleground in the Arab world today is not in Palestine
or Lebanon, but in the classrooms and newsrooms,” Mr. Fandy
concluded. That’s where “the software programmers” reside
who create symbolic images and language glorifying suicide
bombers and make their depraved acts look legitimate. Only
other Arab-Muslim programmers can defeat them.
Occasionally an honest voice rises, giving you a glimmer
of hope that others will stand up. The MEMRI translation
Web site (memri.org)
just posted a poem called “When,” from a Saudi author, Wajeha
al-Huwaider, that was posted on Arab reform sites like
www.aafaq.org.
When you cannot find a single garden in your city, but
there is a mosque on every corner ? you know that you are
in an Arab country.
When you see people living in the past with all the trappings
of modernity ? do not be surprised, you are in an Arab country.
When religion has control over science ? you can be sure
that you are in an Arab country.
When clerics are referred to as “scholars” ? don’t be
astonished, you are in an Arab country.
When you see the ruler transformed into a demigod who
never dies or relinquishes his power, and nobody is permitted
to criticize ? do not be too upset, you are in an Arab country.
When you find that the large majority of people oppose
freedom and find joy in slavery ? do not be too distressed,
you are in an Arab country.
When you hear the clerics saying that democracy is heresy,
but seizing every opportunity provided by democracy to grab
high positions ? do not be surprised, you are in an Arab
country. ...
When you discover that a woman is worth half of what
a man is worth, or less ? do not be surprised, you are in
an Arab country. ...
When land is more important than human beings ? you are
in an Arab country. ...
When fear constantly lives in the eyes of the people
? you can be certain you are in an Arab country.”
