http://www.danielpipes.org/article/3218
My Gloom: Back to September 10
by Daniel Pipes
New York Sun
December 20, 2005
The attacks of September 11, 2001, made me feel more secure, unlike
most Americans. Finally, the country was focused on issues that had
long worried me.
"The FBI is engaged in the largest operation in its history," I wrote
in late 2001. "Armed marshals will again be flying on US aircraft, and
the immigration service has placed foreign students under increased
scrutiny. I feel safer when Islamist organizations are exposed,
illicit money channels closed down, and immigration regulations
reviewed. The amassing of American forces near Iraq and Afghanistan
cheers me. The newfound alarm is healthy, the sense of solidarity
heartening, the resolve is encouraging."
But I agonized whether it would last. "Are Americans truly ready to
sacrifice liberties and lives to prosecute seriously the war against
militant Islam? I worry about US constancy and purpose."
And right I was to worry, as the alarm, solidarity, and resolve of
late 2001 have plummeted lately, returning us to a roughly
pre-September 11 mentality. A number of recent developments leave me
pessimistic. Within America:
The USA Patriot Act, a landmark of post-September 11 cooperation
between the military and law enforcement, passed in the Senate 98-1 in
October 2001. Last week, the same bill stalled in the Senate.
The mainstream press does not take Islamist aspirations seriously
and sees the war on terror basically as over, as shown by Maureen
Dowd's comment in the New York Times that the Bush administration is
trying "to frighten people with talk of Al Qaeda's dream of a new
Islamic caliphate."
Harvard and Georgetown universities each accepted $20 million for
Islamic studies from a Saudi prince who overtly promotes his
government's Wahhabi outlook, Alwaleed bin Talal.
A Florida jury somehow managed to overlook the massive evidence of
Sami Al-Arian's leading role in Palestinian Islamic Jihad and
acquitted him on this charge.
One leading Islamist organization, the Council on American-Islamic
Relations, boasts an endorsement from Wells Fargo Bank, an invitation
from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and a letter of
congratulations from the president's brother, Jeb Bush. Another, the
Muslim Public Affairs Council, hosted representatives of the
departments of Justice and State at a conference last week.
Then American foreign policy:
Fixated on the goal of perfecting Iraq, where no major danger
remains, the Bush administration seems to be allowing the Iranian
regime to build nuclear weapons, stipulating only that the Russians
carry out the uranium enrichment, an ineffectual safeguard.
Pursuing its democracy campaign to its logical conclusion,
Washington is signaling a willingness to deal with Islamists in
Lebanon, the Palestinian Authority, Egypt, and elsewhere, thereby
bolstering radical Islam's power.
Then international setbacks:
Elite opinion ascribes the French intifada only to faults in French
society, such as unemployment and discrimination. When one leading
intellectual, Alain Finkielkraut, dared bring Islam into the
discussion, he was criticized savagely and threatened with a libel
lawsuit, so he backed down.
The July transport bombings in Britain seemingly highlighted the
dangers of homegrown Islamism. Five months later, however, lessons
learned from this atrocity have been nearly forgotten. For example,
the Blair government appointed an Islamist banned from entering
America, Tariq Ramadan, to a prestigious taskforce; and it abandoned
efforts even temporarily to close down extremist mosques.
As Israel's population lurches leftward, led by a defeatist
government ("We are tired of fighting, we are tired of being
courageous, we are tired of winning, we are tired of defeating our
enemies," Vice Prime Minister Ehud Olmert declared), it forgets the
lessons of Oslo, appeases its enemies, and virtually invites more
violence against itself.
Rudolph Giuliani worries that we are "going backward in the fight
against terrorism." Andrew McCarthy concludes that "the September 10th
spirit is alive and well." Steven Emerson tells me that "pre-9/11
political correctness has reasserted itself."
And I worry that not even a catastrophic act of terror will return a
desensitized West to its post-September 11 alarm, solidarity, and
resolve. John Kerry's notion of terrorism as a nuisance similar to
prostitution or gambling has taken hold, suggesting that future acts
of violence will be shrugged off. And, even if mass murders do awaken
the public, a next round of alertness will presumably be as ephemeral
as the last one.
If there ever was a crisis, it is over. Life is good, dangers are
remote, security appears adequate
sleep beckons.
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