Category Archives: Terrorism Issue

Rebuff the Radicals

Terrorism Issue, Yemen



The Egyptian televangelist Amr Khaled with a group of young Yemeni performers at the opening ceremony of a new campaign to combat religious extremism in Yemen. Yemen Times photo

by Tom Finn. Yemen Times, November 25, 2010

ADEN, Nov. 23 — A campaign has been launched by the Yemeni government to win over Yemeni hearts and minds, in a battle to confront extremist ideology and favour Islam’s moderation.

The project was launched on Wednesday at an opening ceremony in Aden attended by the Deputy Prime Minister and representatives from the Ministries of Tourism, Culture and Justice.

As well as an array of performances by Yemeni children, the ceremony included a speech by Amr Khaled, the world renowned Egyptian televangelist, whose organization, the Right Start Foundation, will be leading the two week project to confront religious extremism in Yemen. Continue reading Rebuff the Radicals →

Worse than Vietnam

Afghanistan, Iraq War, Obama Administration, Terrorism Issue, Yemen


by Robert Wright, The New York Times, Opinionator, November 23, 2010

“We did the Cole and we wanted the United States to react. And if they reacted, they are going to invade Afghanistan and that’s what we want … . Then we will start holy war against the Americans, exactly like the Soviets.”
— Mohammed Atef, military commander of Al Qaeda, in November of 2000

You have to give the people at Al Qaeda this much: They plan ahead. And they stick with their goals. If bombing the U.S.S. Cole failed to get American troops mired in Afghanistan, maybe 9/11 would do the trick?

You might say. Last week at the NATO summit President Obama pushed the light at the end of the tunnel further down the tracks. By the end of 2014, he now tells us, American combat operations in Afghanistan will cease.

It’s not as if we need those four years to set any records. At just over nine years of age, this war is already the longest in American history. And this Saturday we’ll eclipse the Soviet Union’s misadventure in Afghanistan; the Soviets brought their own personal Vietnam to an end after nine years and seven weeks.

Is Afghanistan, as some people say, America’s second Vietnam? Actually, a point-by-point comparison of the two wars suggests that it’s worse than that. Continue reading Worse than Vietnam →

Yemen is Not a Terrorist Factory

Anthropology/Sociology, Development, Journalism and Media, Terrorism Issue, Tribalism, Yemen


Yemen is not a terrorist factory
By Daniel Martin Varisco, Special to CNN, November 8, 2010

Editor’s note: Daniel Martin Varisco is a professor of anthropology at Hofstra University and has visited Yemen over a dozen times for development consulting and research since 1978. He moderates Tabsir, an academic blog on Islam and the Middle East.

(CNN) — Domino theorists love the Middle East. Because of this, a number of media pundits have recently added the little-known country of Yemen as a front in the unsettled aftermath of George W. Bush’s War on Terror.

First came the overthrow of the Taliban in Afghanistan, then a protracted war there and in Iraq. Iran is still in the hawkish gun-sights of conservative pundits, but the focus has now shifted to Yemen, a country most Americans could not find on a map. Is Yemen really the terrorist haven we should fear the most?

For the rest of my post on the CNN blog, click here.

Those Yemeni parcels

Anthropology/Sociology, CyberOrient, Islamophobia, Journalism and Media, Terrorism Issue, Yemen


Armed Yemeni police stand guard next to the closed UPS office Thursday, Nov. 4, 2010, in Sanaa, Yemen

[Webshaykh’s Note: The latest from Greg Johnsen, one of the most informed commentators on AQAP and one who needs to be much more widely read.]

Initial Notes on AQAP’s statements
by Gregory Johnsen, Waq al-Waq, Friday, November 5, 2010

I have just finished a first reading of the three statements AQAP posted to jihadi forums earlier today. The one that is getting the most attention – not surprisingly – is the one that takes credit for two parcel bombs and the downing of a UPS plane in Dubai in September.

But for me, by far the most interesting statement is #27, which denies that AQAP had anything to do with two bombs outside a sports club in Aden on October 11. I will return to this below, and talk about why I think this statement is so significant. but first a couple of notes.

Note 1: Statement #28 talks about the fighting in Mudiya on October 14, 2010. I wrote about this fight here, in which the brother of the governor of Abyan was killed. Now we have AQAP’s version of the fighting, interesting details, but probably only to me. So I’ll save you the full discussion.

Note 2 : Another thing that I have noticed is the change in references to President Ali AbdullahSalih now and in the pages of Sada al-Malahim back when it was under the editorial guidance of al-Qahtani, who was killed in an airstrike. Continue reading Those Yemeni parcels →

It’s the Occupation, Stupid

Afghanistan, Arab-Israeli Conflict, Iraq, Iraq War, Islam and Christianity, Islamophobia, Osama Bin Laden, Terrorism Issue


[Webshaykh’s Note: In the current online issue of Foreign Policy there is an excellent essay by Robert Pape on the post 9/11 missteps and how a faulty narrative has not only bogged us down into two unwinnable wars, but also not made us safer from terrorism. Click here for the full article; I excerpt the ending here.]

by Robert Pape, Foreign Policy, October 20, 2010

Put differently, adopting the goal of transforming Muslim countries is what created the long-term military occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan. Yes, the United States would almost surely have sought to create a stable order after toppling the regimes in these countries in any case. However, in both, America’s plans quickly went far beyond merely changing leaders or ruling parties; only by creating Western-style democracies in the Muslim world could Americans defeat terrorism once and for all.

There’s just one problem: We now know that this narrative is not true.

New research provides strong evidence that suicide terrorism such as that of 9/11 is particularly sensitive to foreign military occupation, and not Islamic fundamentalism or any ideology independent of this crucial circumstance. Continue reading It’s the Occupation, Stupid →

When the humor bombs …

Iraq, Iraq War, Journalism and Media, Terrorism Issue


Scene from the show

Laugh! There is a Bomb in your Car
by Sinan Antoon, al-Jadaliyya.com, September 11, 2010

Ramadan is a very special time of year for Muslims and it is impossible to overestimate its socio-cultural importance. Additional time and effort are invested in its daily rituals and practices. Familial and social bonds are augmented and celebrated. Traditional games used to be an important facet of the month’s celebratory and festive mood culminating in the feast marking the month’s end. While these games are still popular and are still played in many parts of the Islamicate world, they have been largely eclipsed by visual entertainment. Thus, Ramadan is the month to watch TV and follow the new shows and soap operas. It is the month with the highest rates of viewership as families and friends gather around TVs. Stations and satellite channels invest heavily in their Ramadan productions. It is also the perfect time of year to take the political and cultural pulse. For Iraqis, Ramadan has been more of a challenge this year than it usually is. The country is still without a government after more than five months of fruitless negotiations. Despite claims to the contrary, the government has failed miserably in providing security for its citizens as suicide attacks continue. Continue reading When the humor bombs … →

The Surprising Effect of Religious Devotion on Suicide Attacks

Arab-Israeli Conflict, Ethics, Islamic Rituals, Israel, Palestine, Terrorism Issue


2007 suicide blast at Baghdad hotel

by Matt J. Rossano, The Huffington Post, September 27, 2010

We all have our personal “theories” about what motivates religious terrorists. To go from personal theories to real ones, we need to study the issue scientifically. One recent study draws the provocative conclusion that ritual participation more than religious belief may be behind suicide attacks.

From a scientific standpoint a suicide attack represents an extreme form of parochial altruism — a self-sacrificial act made on behalf of one’s in-group, involving aggression against an out-group. Religious belief, some have argued, is the prime motivator for such an attack. The attacker believes that his or her sacrifice will lead to a glorious reward in the afterlife (e.g., Islam’s famous 70-some-odd virgins-awaiting). This explanation can be called the “belief hypothesis,” and it would predict that those who demonstrate increased devotion to religious beliefs or deities would be more supportive of suicide attacks. In the context of a recent study (Ginges et al., Psychological Science, 20, p. 224), devotion was measured by prayer frequency. Thus, those who prayed more were assumed to be more devoted, and some preliminary analyses confirmed that this was indeed the case. Continue reading The Surprising Effect of Religious Devotion on Suicide Attacks →

Nawal El Saadawi on Osama Bin Laden

Afghanistan, Gender and Sexuality, Osama Bin Laden


Nawal El Saadawi


Nawal El Saadawi: Leftist support of Taliban is short-sighted

by Sahar Saba, Viewpoint, Pakistan, September 10, 2010

Award-winning Egyptian writer and feminist Nawal El Saadawi hardly deserves an introduction. Author of over forty books—-translated to over 30 languages—-she has inspired women all over the world but particularly in Muslim world with her writings as well as courageous struggle against obscurantism. She has faced threats to her life, was fired from job by Egyptian authorities and imprisoned, has seen her books banned, even went in exile but has been steadfast and vocal when it comes to women rights and socialism.

Sahar Saba: Osama bin Laden’s act nine years ago became instantly popular all over the Muslim world. Now after nine years, in your assessment, how has the Muslim/Arab world benefitted or suffered as a result of September 11?

Nawal El Saadawi: After nine years of September 11, nobody has benefitted from Sept 11 except global and local powers who started the colonial oil war and triggered religious conflicts in the Arab region. Continue reading Nawal El Saadawi on Osama Bin Laden →