Root causes of modern jihadism

My heart bleeds in sympathy and solidarity with the innocent victims. It would be easy here, simply to brand the attackers as lunatic Jihadists or fanatic purveyors of an "evil ideology" who are hell-bent on destroying the Western "way of life" without any reason whatsoever. Some in the West feel that they have "moral clarity" therefore, they must wage a "crusade" to destroy these forces of "evil." It is, in my opinion, a simplistic way of looking at a complex issue. At best, this attitude is tantamount to hiding one's head under the sand. In order to deal with the problem properly, it is necessary to go beyond the rhetoric and examine the root causes of this form of terrorism.

According to Prof. Ayoob of Michigan State University, the United States currently occupies an enormously "privileged position in economic and security arenas" and wants to retain this position "by concentrating wealth in the global North, controlling access to strategic resources, and retaining a global military advantage."

Through the Security Council, the IMF, the Word Bank, and now increasingly the G-8, the US controls all major political and economic affairs of the world. In military matters, "the US accounted for nearly half of the world's total military expenditure in 2003" (Stockholm International Research Institute). Technologically, it is also the most advanced country in the world. Although it does not militarily occupy and rule distant lands like the former European colonial powers, it uses its vast military and economic power to exercise hegemonic control over most of the globe. It has truly become a world empire.

In order to reach this hegemonic position and then to maintain it, the US has set up military bases around the world, deployed hundreds of thousands of troops, stationed powerful fleets in the seas, engineered coups, changed regimes, invaded countries, set up puppet governments, and even launched pre-emptive wars. And who have been the victims of this policy? The answer to this question is clear -- among others, the Muslim countries of the world, because of their natural resources and strategic positions.

No wonder, American interventions, coming after centuries of European colonial rule over most of the Muslim world, which caused untold suffering to millions, entailed economic exploitation on a massive scale, and led to cultural and political subjugation of many nations, is perceived as a continuation of the West's long onslaught against Islam. This policy has created a pervasive sense of injustice, humiliation, and outrage among the Muslims.

This sense of humiliation has been further aggravated by unconditional American military and economic support for Israel, its actions in Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib, and other secret torture centres, and the desecration of the Koran by its military. Hence the birth of a global political movement called Al Qaedaism or modern Jihadism, whose principal aim is to break the West's stranglehold on the Muslim world. For this, it wants the destruction of the apostate regimes and the withdrawal of all Western combat troops from these areas. This movement is focused passionately on Muslim suffering at Western hands.

The followers of this movement (the Jihadists) do not consider the attacks in London as terrorist acts. They argue that they are waging a war against a technologically superior enemy. Since they do not have the capacity to confront the enemy militarily they must resort to guerrilla tactics. And for this cause they are prepared to sacrifice their lives as suicide bombers, which method is generally considered immoral in the West. However, the jihadists point out that from a moral point of view, invading countries and killing civilians is equally wrong, if not more. When they are reproached for deaths of innocent victims caused by their activities in Madrid and London, they mention the names of Falluya, Nayaf, Kaim, Yenin, Tal Afar, and so many other places. What is even more awful is the West's apparent lack of concern for these deaths. John Slodova, an author of a recently published report on the Iraq war, said recently in London, "It remains a matter of gravest concern that nearly two and a half years on, neither the US nor the UK governments have begun systematically to measure the impact of their actions in terms of lives destroyed." I started this article by saying that my heart bleeds for the innocent victims of London, but I must add that I also grieve for the far more numerous deaths caused by Western interventions in Muslim countries apparently to "spread democracy." I find both methods equally reprehensible.

In the Muslim world, there is much scepticism about Western democracy, which preaches human rights and rule of law yet returns Bush and Blair to power in general elections, who in the opinion of many Muslims are the greatest violators of these principles. According to them, the Western concept of democracy lacks international justice, and is based on hypocrisy and double standards.

Now that the US has come to realise the limits of its military power, perhaps it should look at other options to deal with the jihadist problem, for example, start redressing some of the Muslim grievances.

The author is a Daily Star columnist.