One distinctive feature of Islamist terrorists is that they repeatedly attempt to explain and justify their atrocities, complete with extensive Koranic citations. One distinctive feature of western analysts is that terrorists' explicit goals are often ignored, and instead their actions are misread as reactions to Israel, third world poverty, or supposed American unilateralism.
This misreading is painfully shown in reactions to recent bombings, including the destruction of the United Nations compound in Baghdad, the Marriott hotel in Jakarta, and perhaps the murder of Ayatollah Hakim in Najaf, where early arrests suggest Al Qaeda involvement.
To avoid being attacked in Iraq, the UN took great pains to distance itself from America. Secretary General Kofi Annan instructed Sergio Vieira de Mello, the head of the UN mission in Baghdad, to keep a careful distance from US forces and avoid all appearance of taking sides. De Mello did so, and refused American protection for the UN compound, thus making its bombing much easier.
After the carnage, pundits worried that the UN had not been distant enough from the US and so been caught in the anti-American crosshairs. The Episcopal Church pronounced itself "concerned that terrorists do not appreciate the sincere objectives of the United Nations to bring about peace and security to the world…." The assumption behind these sentiments is that Islamist terrorists could not possibly hate the UN itself.
However, the Al Qaeda web site that claimed responsibility for the bombing was quite clear. It asked ""So why the United Nations? Number one, the United Nations is against Islam…. This issue does not need to be proved. It is clear like the light of the sun at midday."
This fits Al Qaeda's pattern. In his post 9/11 videotape, justifying his attacks on America, bin Laden declared that: "Those who … continue to appeal to the United Nations have disavowed what was revealed to Prophet Muhammad…. Under no circumstances should any Muslim or sane person resort to the United Nations. The United Nations is nothing but a tool of crime."
Al Qaeda does not regard the UN as a benevolent organization of international solidarity tainted by association with America. It knows very well what the UN is, and it hates it.
A similar interplay took place around August's bombing of the Marriott hotel in Jakarta, as well as the October 2002 bombings in Bali. Dennis Richardson, director general of the Australian Security Intelligence Organization, the country's major anti-terrorism group, said that Australia's "close alliance" with the United States was a major factor in the bombing. When asked by reporters to respond to this, U.S Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, then in Australia, avoided the question.
But Al Qaeda's Indonesian ally, Jamaah Islamiya, gives ample reason to attack Australia for its own sake. Imam Samudra, the field commander of the Bali bombings, emphasized that he was driven by "Australia's… aggression against East Timor, that removed it from Indonesia." In his confession earlier this year, he alleged "Australia has taken part in efforts to separate East Timor from Indonesia" as part of an "international conspiracy by followers of the Cross."
Samudra's statements reiterate bin Laden's November 12, 2002 audiotape, which stressed that Australian victims were picked partly because of Australia's "despicable effort to separate East Timor" from Indonesia and claimed "The crusader Australian forces… landed to separate East Timor, which is part of the Islamic world." For good measure, he also castigated the UN and "this criminal, Kofi Annan… " for "putting pressure on the Indonesian government."
Al Qaeda and its terrorist allies are not confused. They know what Australia, supported by the UN under de Mello's leadership, did for the independence of East Timor, and they hate Australia, as well as the UN, for its own actions.
Islamist terrorists are not fighting for third world liberation. As they announce repeatedly, they are messianic organizations explicitly fighting to restore a pan Islamic Caliphate governed by Islamic law. Throughout the world, they methodically kill people opposed to the Caliphate, whether UN or non-UN, Muslim or non-Muslim, left or right, American, British, Israeli, French or Australian.
Neither the UN, nor Australia, nor Iraq's Shiites, will find immunity from terrorism by distancing themselves from the US. They would simply encourage those who hate them.
Paul Marshall is Senior Fellow at Freedom House's Center for Religious Freedom. He's reachable through www.benadorassociates.com .
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