system cannot possibly function in the modern world without destroying it, but for the radicals, the destruction of the modern world is the point

Stateless now, these Islamic ideologues are waging a war of annihilation against Americans in the same way Hitler waged war against Bolshevism.  Islamic radicals view the very existence of America as a threat to Islam.  Both National Socialism and radical Islam interpret the modern world in terms of a global “Jewish conspiracy.”  Hitler viewed communism as part of that conspiracy, just as radical Muslims now view the United States as being controlled by a Jewish cabal.  This has been reinforced by the fact that many prominent members of the current administration happen to be Jewish, the so-called “neocons.”  

For Hitler, “jewishness” was a genetic plague that must be destroyed by mass murder.  For Islamic radicals, “jewishness” and “christianness” both are conditions of the soul.  God created these “enemies” for the express purpose of populating hell.  The souls of Jews and Christians are seen as irredeemable and these corrupt souls are viewed as the fount of all the evil on earth.  The wildest accusations against Israelis are routinely accepted in the Arab world without question.  Put simply, Muslims worldwide believe Jews are evil sub-human creatures who are actively collaborating with the devil to destroy God’s plan.  Islamists have eagerly adopted and revived the vilest anti-Semitism from the “Protocols of the Elders of Zion” (a Medieval forgery), to Holocaust denial.  Reading the modern Arab press is like being transported back in time to the Third Reich, where Hitler is still considered a hero.

In contrast, the western press, long influenced by the liberal penchant for interpreting all conflict in terms of material determinism, has persisted far too long in portraying this struggle as having “root causes” in poverty, oppression, nationalist aspirations or tribal conflicts.  Islamists are not above playing into these false notions, especially in the case of the supposed Palestinian “nationalist” cause.  As we begin to fathom the laws of jihad and their imperatives for Islam’s followers, conflicts involving Muslims from Palestine , to Sudan to Kosovo must now be re-interpreted.  Sayyid Qutb put it succinctly:

“The enemies of the believers may wish to change this struggle into an economic or political or racial struggle, so that the believers become confused concerning its true nature and the flame of belief in their hearts goes out.  This is not a political or economic or racial struggle.  Had it been any of these, its settlement would have been easy, and the solution of its difficulties would have been simple.  But essentially it [is] a struggle between beliefs, either unbelief or faith, either jahiliyyah or the eternal and universal din of Islam.”[1] 

We cannot afford to continue to buy into the notion that the Arab-Israeli conflict is the heart of this problem.  The Arab-Israeli conflict is simply one aspect of the much broader ideological conflict between Islam and democracy.

Nasir Ahmad al Bahri, aka Abu Jandal, a former Osama Bin Laden bodyguard, interviewed by Al Quds Al Arabi, August 4, 2004 said,  "Al-Qaida is no longer an entity but an ideology against America . ... The plan is now to draw the U.S. into a confrontation with all the Islamic peoples. ... Bin Laden and al-Qaida have succeeded in drawing the U.S. into an unequal confrontation, not from a military technology standpoint, but from the ideological aspect. Muslims have now reached the point where they are fed up with the U.S. , which lives in prosperity off our nation's resources. I believe the U.S. is heading for its demise. Now that it has found what it wanted, al-Qaida can melt into a new caldron, and a new giant would be reborn, of which al-Qaida would be part. Many of the Islamic world leaders would join it, and the confrontation with the U.S. would be inevitable. Al-Qaida would then not be the leader, but a vanguard army."

The “number of Islamist extremists in the world, as estimated by moderate Muslim leaders, [is] about 12 million. Number of fundamentalist sympathizers: 120 million. That's one and 10 percent of the world's Muslim population of 1.2 billion. Then there's the number who trust Osama Bin Laden more than President Bush: a majority in Muslim countries whose populations total 450 million.”[2] 

This conflict is clearly shaping up as the great ideological struggle of our generation and perhaps for generations to come as well.  Israel and the United States are viewed by radical Muslims as one evil entity, bent of destroying Islam, God’s plan.  Islamists are seeking to isolate Israel from America by force and possibly by future acts of blackmail.  They have already succeeded in isolating Israel from Europe by propaganda alone.  It is extremely disturbing to witness liberal Christian Churches such as the American Presbyterian Church, casting Israel as the new South Africa and making her a target of divestiture by equating Zionism with racism.

Americans and Israelis are targeted for annihilation for what they believe as Jews and Christians.  This is not a problem that can be solved by changing U.S. policies alone.  We should never entertain the notion that any change in American foreign policy, such as withdrawal of our support for Israel , could possibly appease these ideologues.

We must always remember that radical Islamists, to paraphrase bin Laden, “seek political goals for religious reasons.”[3]  It is now imperative we understand both.