Playing Into Their Hands
October 30,2006

"We--with God's help--call on every Muslim who believes in God and wishes to be rewarded to comply with God's order to kill the Americans and plunder their money wherever and whenever they find it. We also call on Muslim ulema, leaders, youths, and soldiers to launch the raid on Satan's U.S. troops and the devil's supporters allying with them, and to displace those who are behind them so that they may learn a lesson."
- Osama bin Laden

In October, one hundred Americans were killed in Iraq. Much like the Madrid bombings, this is an obvious attempt to influence elections. It’s frightening to consider that the insurgency is still organized enough to concentrate attacks in such a way to optimize American casualties. The missed story here is that civil war is not as significant a driving force as is hatred toward the American occupying force. PurpleThink believes that this unifying disdain for the West is far more dangerous than any sectarian violence. If we get lost in the weeds of trying to calm Shiite and Sunni hate for one-another, we are likely to miss the big picture.

Muslim extremism requires a steady influx of brainwashed masses in order to proliferate its jihad. These masses can be Arab or Persian, Shiite or Sunni – so long as they subscribe to Sharia and vow to spread it through violence.

Of course, Muslims have long fought one another. By exploiting the multitude of differences that exist in the Muslim world, the West could avoid a world-wide cult of hate, united against the U.S. and all its allies.

So, what did the U.S. do to keep its enemy diffuse and unorganized?

1) Bush declared an “axis of evil.” While North Korea was obviously an outsider, Iran and Iraq were now partners in opposition to the U.S. There was no love lost between the governments of Iran and Iraq, but now the people had a strong reason to unite.

2) Bush invaded Iraq. While Shiite and Sunni differences have ignited, Saudi, Palestinian, Afghani, Philippino, and Indonesian extremists are united in their disdain for a foreign power occupying a predominantly Islamic country.

3) Bush decried the evils of Islamo-fascism. PurpleThink agrees that Islamo-fascism exists. However, by hurtling insults toward Islam from the Oval Office, an entire religion finds reason to distrust the U.S.

It's clear Bush is taking a page from the Reagan cold war playbook. However, things are quite different this time as we detailed here.

Communism isn’t a religion. China and Russia had little in common and there was little risk that American defiance would unite them.

Islam is a religion. Clerics aren’t beholden to states, and group allegiances shift freely as new enemies dictate.

In short, Bush miscalculated. He could have established stability in Afghanistan, maintained the moral high ground after 9/11 and rallied the Western world against disorganized splinters of extremism. There’s still hope, but extremists are far less splintered thanks to W.

We pundits should continue to warn against the dangers of Islamic extremism. It’s very very real. However, our government must keep from painting all Muslims as extremist, no matter how much it helps political campaigns. Islamic fundamentalists are swayed by imagery and broad-brushed ideology.

Let’s not oblige the fanaticism by our own over-generalizations.

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