Jihad and the Wolfowitzes of the World

Jihad Abu Az Zamman

without tanks, without cruise missiles, without

satellites, without a navy. They win without
airplanes and without the support of a superpower.
All they have at their disposal is merely a belief...

So, how did it really happen? How could a tiny paramilitary group such as Hezbollah manage to
shake the almighty, American-supported Jewish state; something that the Arab states have
relentlessly failed at doing for almost six decades?

In fact a similar question may be raised in reference to Iraqi insurgency. While it is rather evident
that Saddam’s army was defeated by the overwhelming Anglo-American destructive power,
Islamic resistance is winning the battle on the ground both in Iraq and Afghanistan. Neither
America nor Britain seem able to come up with a reasonable excuse for the growing number of
deadly attacks against their invasion forces.

Though the armies of Arab states are occasionally defeated in the battlefield, though too many
Arab statesmen happen to follow the path drawn by Washington with resolute determination,
Islamic resistance, which is not recognised in any national form, is there to fight back. Moreover,
Islamic defiance is unbeatable. The Israelis have been watching the growing wall of Muslim
resistance for over two decades. In Palestine it is the Hamas and in Lebanon it is the Hezbollah. In
this theatre, Islamic militants deliver one blow after the other to Israel. Similarly, the American
army is chased on a daily basis by insurgency both in Iraq and Afghanistan. As much as the far
more powerful Soviets failed in Afghanistan, neither Israel, nor America nor Britain have the
capability of responding effectively to the emerging Islamic guerrilla warfare.

Once and for all we better face it. Arabs are far from being at their very best if they are operating
in the format of a ‘national state’. The Arab soldier may lack the necessary will to die for an idiotic
flag. Both in the case of Saddam’s Iraq or Nasser’s Egypt, once within a conflict, a growing gap
reveals itself between the charismatic, assertive, far over the top demagogue leader and some
serious malfunctioning performance in the battlefield. Unlike the American, British, French, and
Israeli soldiers who have proved throughout history to have some real tendency towards collective
suicide for some empty promises shaped as ‘ideology’, the Arab platoon is slightly behind in
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exhibiting this kind of idiotic national patriotic militant zeal. He may as well be just too clever for
those kind of deadly games.

Should it be a big surprise? Not at all. Nationalism is a European concept, it has very little to do
with the Arab mentality, history and general affairs. National patriotism has never made serious
headway into the Arab psyche. The division of Arabia and the Middle East into small national
states with borders and flags has never been a natural evolvement of the indigenous Arab people
themselves. Instead it was the outcome of some international political manoeuvring imposed upon
Arabs by the superpowers. The slicing of the near east into small national states was intended to
serve the interests of Western imperial forces. In practice it was Britain and France who drew up
the borders of the Middle East already in 1916 (The Sykes-Picot Agreement) and it was America
who joined in later just to reshape those borders to guarantee Israel’s safety as well as a constant
oil supply.

With the lack of crude nationalist zeal, it isn’t a big surprise that Arab state armies fail to provide
the goods in the battlefield. Yet, the Hezbollah, the Hamas and the insurgents in Iraq and
Afghanistan are agonising the Western armies. They manage to do so just with light weaponry:
without tanks, without cruise missiles, without satellites, without a navy. They win without
airplanes and without the support of a superpower. All they have at their disposal is merely a
belief, namely Jihad.

Looking at Iraq (or what is left of it), at Bin Laden (the myth), at the Hamas (the democratically
elected Palestinian government) and the Hezbollah (the ultimate success story) it is rather clear.
The Arab wins when and only when he fights as a Muslim, as a believer. Unlike the shallow
Westerner soldier who gives his life for empty manmade slogans, the Muslim would give his life
for a divine cause. I will spit it out: if there is any meaningful notion behind ‘Arab nation’ this
notion is Islam. The Muslim takes orders from the Almighty Lord. I may admit that if I myself,
being a secular had to choose between the call of a retarded American president and the Lord, I
would obviously go for the latter.

However, it is rather obvious that the Wolfowitzes of this world fail to realise that Arab
nationalism as defined in independent states is basically a myth. They mistakenly consider the
Arab territorial landscape as a genuine national reflection of some real authentic ethnic aspiration
as well as geo-political considerations. In fact, such a perception has nothing to do with reality.
Lebanon and Syria are one country, at least in the eyes of very many Syrians and Lebanese. The
north of Palestine is no different from Lebanon and the West Bank has been long considered a
unified territory with Transjordan. When Lebanon is demolished by the Jewish state’s air might
and around a third of its population is displaced, the Syrians would be the first to provide
humanitarian support. When Gaza is murderously and indiscriminately bombarded by the IDF, the
Hezbollah would be there to open a second front and to ease the pressure on their Palestinian
brothers. When American and British expansionist forces insist upon robbing Iraqi oil, it is the
Muslim brotherhood who would stop them rather than the Iraqi army. Arab resistance is in practice
an exercise in Islamic brotherhood. For those who still fail to get the picture, Jihad goes far beyond
any Western sense of local national patriotism. Jihad is cosmic, yet it is personal.

While the Wolfowitzes of this world would insist upon dominating the Arab world in the name of
democracy and some other quasi liberal ideas, it is the Islamic freedom fighter who crosses lands
and seas just to serve the American GIs with the ultimate performance of human devotion. While
the Wolfowitzes of this world insist upon transforming Britain and America into an Israeli mission

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force, it is the Muslim brotherhood that gives us good reason to believe that eventually, when the
time is ripe, peace will prevail.

For those amongst us who refuse to acknowledge what Islam is all about, I will mention that the
Arabic ‘root’ of the word ‘Islam’ is Salama which originates from the words Peace and/or
Submission, a submission to God and peace to all humanity.

Indeed Jihad itself is a word that bears further analysis. It stems from the Arabic root word J-H-D,
which means ‘strive.’ Other words derived from this root include ‘effort,’ ‘labour,’ and ‘fatigue.’
Essentially Jihad is an effort to practice religion in the face of oppression and persecution. At its
highest form it is fighting the enemy of Muslims and Islam. Certainly, Condi, Bush, Olmert and his
Jewish state are the bitterest enemies of Islam. And yet, Islam defines the boundaries of Jihad.

The Quran tells us (Quran 2:190-193):

• Fight in the cause of Allah those who fight you, but do not transgress limits; for Allah loves not
transgressors.
• And slay them wherever you catch them, and turn them out from where they have turned you out;
for tumult and oppression are worse than slaughter; but fight them not at the Sacred Mosque,
unless they (first) fight you there; but if they fight you, slay them. Such is the reward of those who
suppress faith.
• But if they cease, Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.
• And fight them on until there is no more tumult or oppression, and there prevail justice and faith
in Allah; but if they cease, let there be no hostility except to those who practice oppression.

In short, unlike the brutal Israeli aggression and the murderous American zeal that know no limits,
Islam restricts violence, furthermore, its aim is not domination, but peace. This will obviously
happen when Israeli occupation is ended and Palestinians return to their land and home. This will
happen when Zionised Anglo-American colonialism is totally defeated. This message is clear and
not open to negotiation.

Looking at the Hezbollah, at the Hamas and the insurgent war in Iraq doesn’t leave much room for
doubt. While many Arab nations have been defeated, Arab brotherhood, i.e., Islam is winning. If I
were an Israeli who lived in occupied Palestine I would be rather worried. The excessive use of
power and indiscriminate killing of Lebanese, Palestinians and UN peace keeping soldiers is the
direct outcome of deep Israeli anxiety. The Zionist tactic is failing and they all know it. Their army
doesn’t provide the goods anymore. By now, you may be able to guess why. Nationalism is foreign
to Jews almost as much as it is foreign to Arabs. In fact, Zionism ceased being a local national
movement a long time ago. Since the Balfour Declaration (1917) more and more Zionists operate
as a Jewish Ethnic lobby promoting Jewish global interests. For more than a while Zionism is not
interested solely in Eretz Israel i.e., ‘promised land’, instead, it intends upon transforming our
universe into a ‘Promised Universe’. This idea is known as Neoconservatism and its largely Elder
Zionist messengers who spread it are active in London (http://eustonmanifesto.org), NYC and
Washington (http://www.newamericancentury.org).

But time is running out for Neocon philosophy as well as its practitioners. I do not know whether
history repeats itself in general but somehow, as far as Jewish History is concerned, the same tale
keeps rewriting itself: it is a story of an obsessive relentless will to power that always ends in
tragic circumstances. It happened in the Middle Ages in Spain, it happened in17th century Poland
and Ukraine (Bogdan Chmielnitzki), it happened in 20th century Europe and it seems as if
something dramatic is about to happen in America.
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When the American Jewish Committee (AJC) is manifestly engaged in dragging America into war
in Iran all in the name of world Jewry (http://www.ajc.org/atf/cf/{42D75369-D582-4380-8395-
D25925B85EAF}/Al_Qaida_Iran_Hizballah.pdf). When the Wolfowitzes of this world happened
to be the architects behind the criminal war in Iraq, one may find oneself wondering whether Jews
themselves ever learn anything from their own history. I really prefer not to think about what is
going to be the outcome of the current blunt Jewish war waging. Considering the emerging
American defeat in Iraq and growing international isolation, it is just a question of time before a
charismatic American figure points the finger at the Israeli lobby. Devastatingly enough, it isn’t
only Jews, many of them totally innocent, who are going to suffer when that happens. By the time
all the Wolfowitzes of this world realise that it is time to evade the American vengeance (what may
evolve into a new Jewish tragedy namely Coca Colacaust), they will probably try to escape to
Palestine, God Forbid.

Clearly, Zionists and their Jewish state are highly engaged in perpetrating a new world war, we
have a good reason to believe that Olmert didn’t rule out the possibility that the current conflict in
Lebanon may lead towards a further escalation with Syria and Iran. It obviously didn’t stop him.
Why should it stop him? As soon as the Israelis started to drop bombs on Beirut Bush and Blair
rushed to support Israel’s right to defend itself.

The Wolfowitzes of this world have different names for the conflict they themselves created. They
often call it a cultural clash and they are pretty good in wrapping their naked murderous zeal with
some quasi humanist reasoning. More than anything they love to present themselves as the
messengers of democracy. Yet, if indeed their notion of democracy is anything like the ‘single-
race Democracy’, practiced in their dearly beloved murderous Israel, it isn’t that surprising why
their ideas do not gain ground anywhere.

Seemingly, for the sake of keeping their little racist Jewish state alive, the Wolfowitzes are happy
to wage an all out war against Islam. So far Condi, Bush and Blair are showing support. The
Wolfowitzes are over the roof but how to say it, half a million Lebanese have lost their homes as a
result.

Somehow, the Wolfowitzes of this world always fail to internalise that human beings are morally
orientated creatures. Indeed nations and people can live through some evil phases. Not that many
years ago it happened in Germany, it now happens in America. Yet, human beings have something
the Wolfowitzes lack. They have an ethical correction mechanism; humans regret their
wrongdoing, they have a conscience. America lived through McCarthyism but recovered, it still
tries to deal with its racist past and current racial discrimination, it has been dealing with its war
crimes in Vietnam. America, no doubt will shake itself of its Zionist murderous phase. It just
doesn’t have any other choice. When this happens the Wolfowitzes of this world will have to hide
behind the rock and tree, and the rock and tree will say: “oh American, there is a Wolfowitz behind
me, I am scared, take him away! Help, help!”

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July 28, 2006 Jihad Abu Az Zamman is an Israeli-born musician and writer, and a proponent of a
secular and democratic one-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in which the two
peoples live in one state as citizens with equal rights and responsibilities.