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| Arabia |
| Kuwait looking at influence of Islamic extremism |
| 2005-02-21 |
| A recent series of gun battles here between Islamist militants and the police is forcing Kuwait for the first time to take a long hard look at the influence and impact of domestic Islamic extremism. In tandem with a tough security crackdown that has so far netted some 18 militants and killed eight others, the Kuwaiti government is launching an awareness campaign to promote moderate Islam and counteract extremism. But as a staunch ally of the United States and host to some 25,000 American troops, Kuwait represents a tempting target for militant Islamists and many Kuwaitis are wondering if the violence plaguing neighboring Iraq and Saudi Arabia is set to spill over into their own nation. "These clashes are a small drop in the ocean to what is coming. Kuwait is becoming a top priority for Al-Qaeda," said Mohammed Mulaifi, a writer and member of the austere Salafi branch of Sunni Islam who has close contacts with Kuwaiti militants. So far the Kuwaiti authorities have remained one step ahead of the militants, busting cells, seizing weapons and arresting suspects before attacks are carried out. Kuwait is a relatively small, close-knit country, making it easier for the state security branches to keep tabs on potential troublemakers. At least three cells of Islamic militants have been identified in the crackdown, say Kuwaiti officials. One of the ringleaders, Amer Khleif al-Enezi, died in custody last week, eight days after he was arrested. Enezi reportedly had confessed to planning attacks against U.S. military convoys. Kuwait remains a vital logistics hub for American forces in Iraq. The Kuwaiti authorities traditionally have turned a blind eye toward extremist Islamists living in the country so long as the militants refrained from directing their activities against the state. But the recent violence has compelled the government to take action. "These events mark a real watershed in terms of Kuwait dealing with the problem of extremists in their midst," a Western diplomat said. The security scare also has led Kuwaitis to ask some searching questions about the Islam practiced in Kuwait and how to dissuade impressionable youngsters from turning toward the ideology of Osama bin Laden. "These incidents have turned the majority of the religious believers against the militant trend," said Shafeeq Ghabra, president of the American University of Kuwait. "They are asking how it is possible that their 15- or 16-year-old sons can be recruited by militants to murder in the name of God." Although Kuwait's Constitution is secular in nature, conservative Islamists wield considerable influence in how laws are applied in society. Kuwaiti Islamists were in uproar last year at the staging of a pop concert for the hit Lebanese television program Star Academy. A fatwa was issued banning women from singing to men and prohibiting dancing at concerts. Some schools even ban clapping and the playing of the national anthem, believing that they are expressions of secularism. The education curricula is coming under close scrutiny, particularly some religious school text books which contain inflammatory language about jihad and disparage the Shiite branch of Islam. Among the challenges facing the Kuwaiti authorities is deciding where to draw the line between legitimate conservative Islamic rhetoric and extremist incitement. "There seems to be a disagreement on where fundamentalist Islam becomes extremist Islam, becomes violent Islam," the Western diplomat said. "The real question for Kuwaitis is in deciding where preaching [extremism] stops and the picking up a gun and killing kaffirs (infidels) begins." The government is beginning to fight back against the pervasive influence of the conservative Islamists - a confrontation which analysts say will define the future shape of the country. "The battle will never be won if the interpretation of Islam continues to be hijacked by a minority of Muslims who have taken Islam out of context and turned it into a fighting religion instead of one of peace and enlightenment," Ghabra said. "This battle will define the Muslim world for generations to come." The government has allocated 5.5 million Kuwaiti dinars ($18.8 million) toward an awareness campaign organized by the Awqaf and Islamic Affairs Ministry to promote moderate Islam. The ministry is planning to hold live television debates between the public and the families of arrested militants. "We will also follow up on what Islamist Web sites are publishing and fight their arguments with our arguments on chat forums," said a ministry official who requested anonymity. Although most conservative Islamists say they welcome the government's initiatives, they doubt that it will have a lasting effect. "The violence won't stop because it is a deep-rooted feeling among some Muslims," said Mohammed Tabtabai, the dean of the College of Sharia and Islamic Studies at Kuwait University. "All you can do is try and reduce it." Indeed, Mulaifi says that although the authorities are staying on top of the situation for now, the nebulous nature of Al-Qaeda-inspired Islamic militancy - what he calls the "ghost of ideas" - makes it very difficult to control in the longer term. "This ghost will live in one young man, then another and another. That's how people become Al-Qaeda without any formal introduction or membership," he said. "They don't wait for orders; they carry out operations based on their convictions. That's what makes them so dangerous. There's no real structure or organization for governments to attack." Mulaifi said he expects the violence in Kuwait to intensify. "Kuwait was not part of Al-Qaeda's plan of action in the past," he said. "But that changed after Al-Qaeda realized that Kuwait had become a launching pad for the crusader forces to enter and strike Iraq and crush hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis." Mulaifi said he does not support the violence of the radicals, but follows their discourse closely. "I read the books that Al-Qaeda leaders read and I knew many youngsters who were sympathetic to Al-Qaeda who fought and died in Iraq and Afghanistan," he said. "That's why I can say that the calm in Kuwait was only a postponement. Kuwait is now under the Al-Qaeda spotlight." |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #2 Good analysis, ZF, and it mirrors the logic of tipper's fine link from yesterday on scale-free networks: to break the network, identify and take out the hubs. The imams of Islam are the local hubs that light the fires and feed children into the flames. The Mad Mullahs, The "charity" organizations, and the House of Saud are the funding and facilitating hubs providing cash, state paperwork, and cover. The middle tier becomes less than irrelevant if you decap and kneecap. |
| Posted by: .com 2005-02-21 2:08:19 AM |
| #1 Article: Although most conservative Islamists say they welcome the government’s initiatives, they doubt that it will have a lasting effect. "The violence won’t stop because it is a deep-rooted feeling among some Muslims," said Mohammed Tabtabai, the dean of the College of Sharia and Islamic Studies at Kuwait University. "All you can do is try and reduce it." Indeed, Mulaifi says that although the authorities are staying on top of the situation for now, the nebulous nature of Al-Qaeda-inspired Islamic militancy - what he calls the "ghost of ideas" - makes it very difficult to control in the longer term. "This ghost will live in one young man, then another and another. That’s how people become Al-Qaeda without any formal introduction or membership," he said. "They don’t wait for orders; they carry out operations based on their convictions. That’s what makes them so dangerous. There’s no real structure or organization for governments to attack." This is just a holy warrior incubator making the case for why the government should keep its grubby hands off his person. The reality is that most holy books have passages involving killing the infidel. Muslims are getting all worked up in the here and now because specific priests are inciting their followers to kill the infidel, and organizing the logistics for them to do so. Take care of the priests - and the temperature level falls. The Israelis took out Hamas's top two guys, and saw attacks fall precipitously. No matter what the "political wing" of these holy warrior recruiting organizations say, it just ain't natural to reach out to kill complete strangers - infidel or not - it takes structured indoctrination no different from that of formal military organizations. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2005-02-21 12:51:46 AM |