Terrorism Remains Mortal Threat 10 Years After 9/11/2001

CDHR Commentary: As evidenced by heightened domestic and global warnings of potential terror attacks on the eve of the tenth anniversary of September 11, 2001 (9/11), there is more to terrorism than killing Al-Qaeda’s founder/financier and its deadly senior architects, destroying their infrastructure, and disrupting their communication apparatus. Despite the fact that the US military’s intense and expensive campaign has inflicted quantifiable damage on Al-Qaeda’s personnel, infrastructure and morale since September 11, 2001, Jihadists, their supporters and Muslim autocratic and theocratic beneficiaries will continue to be lethal enemies unless they unequivocally understand that the price they must pay will exponentially outstrip any benefit they may realize.
As documented by a large number of Muslims and non-Muslims, the Saudi doctrine of Wahhabism is a major force behind Jihadists activities throughout the world. Prominent Muslim scholars, politicians, thinkers, writers, analysts, and historians agree that the Saudi-Wahhabi ideology is dangerous to Muslims and non-Muslims. They are imploring the international community to unite and defeat the Wahhabi doctrine. In a public conference in Cairo, Egypt (April 26, 2010) well-known Muslim scholars from the Al-Azhar University (Islam’s oldest and most reputable academic institution) and other researchers and experts in Muslim movements issued a scornful communiqué describing Wahhabism “as an idea and practice is the primary threat to Islam, Muslims and the international community.” (http://watan.com/10/news.html/35-news extra/21652-2010-04-26-20-24-39.html. In a powerful article in the Wall Street Journal in 2006, the revered former president of Indonesia (the most populated and tolerant Muslim state), Mr. Abdulrahman Wahid called on “Muslims and non-Muslims to unite and defeat Wahhabi ideology.” http://www.libforall.org/news-WSJ-right-islam-vs.-wrong-islam.html
One of the strongest condemnations of the Saudi doctrine came from neighboring Kuwait. A well-known and highly respected Kuwaiti writer, Dr. Salem Humaid, wrote an article titled “The Saudi-Wahhabi Ideology” which he described as “the most wicked and ugly thought on the surface of the earth.” (http://www.soqalshiyookh.com/home/news.php?action=view&id=904)
Closer to home, a former Saudi cleric extremist, Mansour Nogaidan, realized while in prison that the Wahhabi doctrine is the source of terrorism. He not only turned against what he was brainwashed into promoting, defending, and dying for, but actively sought to get rid of it. “The most recent government crackdown on terrorism suspects, in response to this month's {in 2003} car-bombing of a compound housing foreigners and Arabs in Riyadh, is missing the real target. The real problem is that Saudi Arabia is bogged down by deep-rooted Islamic extremism in most schools and mosques, which have become breeding grounds for terrorists. We cannot solve the terrorism problem as long as it is endemic to our educational and religious institutions.” http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C04E7D6143AF93BA15752C1A9659C8B63.
These glaring warnings and repeated appeals from prominent Muslims to the international community to defeat the pervasive Saudi-Wahhabi doctrine are a clear call for decisive responses. However, the West, which is the target of the Islamist threats, has yet to accept that it’s engaged in a war with an Islamist ideology dedicated to the destruction of Western Civilization. It’s not the intent of this writer to advocate a war with Muslims, but to underscore this threat and to highlight the need for policies and actions on the part of Western democracies to insure the eradication of the major root cause of terrorism, the Saudi-Wahhabi ideology. Occasional drone strikes and diplomatic appeasement will only lead the terrorists, their financiers and beneficiaries to believe that the West is weak and vulnerable, thus encouraging them to escalate their terror attacks.
The most effective and direct tactic to confront the root cause of terrorism as advocated by prominent and knowledgeable people who have experienced and understand the nature and underpinnings of Wahhabism is to eradicate it at its source. This effort will not only require the autocratic and theocratic Saudi elites to re-interpret the Quran and the Shariah law to reflect modern values-globalization, technological advancement, women’s rights, tolerance of other faiths, international declarations on human rights, freedom of choice and expressions-but must terminate the Saudi ideological influence worldwide. Saudi text books must be rewritten to reflect these contemporary interpretations and scientific advancement. In addition, Saudi religious, educational and judicial institutions must be transformed from the top down in order to stop the spread of the deadly Wahhabi ideology.
Some argue that King Abdullah has made changes to rein in extremist activities. King Abdullah has removed a few clerics and some inflammatory phrases from Saudi schools’ text books, eliminated some terrorists in Saudi Arabia and convened interfaith dialogues. While these activities are considered reforms by some, especially in the West, others see them as deceptive window dressing to silence foreign and domestic critics of the debauched Saudi state- imposed doctrine, Wahhabism.
In reality, under King Abdullah’s leadership, Islamist religious fervor has been heightened as a result of implicit and explicit Saudi accusations that the West is engaged in a war against Islam. He has strengthened the Saudi clerics by making it illegal to criticize them domestically and has united Muslim countries, including Iran and Turkey, through the Organization of Islamic Cooperation which consists of 57 states and is headquartered in Saudi Arabia. Spread of Wahhabism throughout the world has been exponentially intensified under King Abdullah more than under any of his predecessors