HEAVEN IS THE BATTLEGROUND
(Why Algeria is Important)
The observations of Lt Col Staunton Coerr, USMC, over a decade ago were certainly prescient. Updating his list of scattered entities, we can now add self radicalizing individuals — the disturbed, lone vigilante who sacrifices himself for the caliphate, assuring himself a spot in paradise. Coerr does not reveal the idea because there is no one idea, rather a confusing and continuously changing blend.
The most animating is ultimately a spiritual one, misguided and distorted by anger, hatred and alienation. The goal: to bring about sovereignty of God to a materialistic, vulgar, hyper-individualistic westernizing world. The critique echoes the preachers on Christian radio stations bemoaning the slow death of Christianity in a culture obsessed with sex, money and six-pack abs. It was implicit in Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s (hero of the anti-Communists) upsetting condemnation of our narcissistic, consumer bloated culture in his 1978 Harvard commencement address. Now, add the thousands of angry Afghans whose lives have been upended.
Algeria in the 1990s offers a microcosm of what is happening in the world today. At that time, many observers in France feared that its former colony might become an Islamist State. Like the Arab Springs of yesteryear, there were many legitimate grievances fueling the Algerian insurgency that started simmering in the 1980s and exploded in the ’90s. Yet the Algerian government prevailed over the GIA (Group Islamique Armé), who committed all the crimes of ISIS and its look alikes today. Why were the Islamo-fascists, as they were called by Oran’s Bishop Pierre Claverie, ultimately defeated? I suggest five reasons that are broadly relevant today as the United States and other countries face this contagion now taking hold in Africa, the Middle East and around the world:
No foreign boots. The so-called “apostate” military rulers were not contaminated by any visible presence of France or the US government that could have fanned the call for jihad. The minimal role of Western helping hands was not in the open.
Revulsion of the citizenry. The original urban base of support for the terrorists disappeared over time. Hospitality and protection of foreign guests and minorities, especially priests and monks are obligations of their faith. Ultimately, ordinary Algerians rejected the murderous violence exercised in the name of Islam. For many, the killings of the French Trappist monks in 1996 was the last straw, dividing even the terrorists. During the “Black Years,” over 50 imams were assassinated for denouncing the terrorists.
Demoralization and killing terrorists. Algerian counter terrorism elements, and infiltration of GIA emirates caused divisions and doubts about the righteousness of their cause. Theological knowledge became the ultimate weapon. Would heaven or hell be the ultimate destination of the terrorists? This matters for the committed Islamist warrior.
Authoritative knowledge. Knowledge and interpretation of the Koran and Hadiths became the ultimate battleground. Prominent religious authorities in the Middle East finally spoke out after seeing Islam being befouled by the massacres. Saudi Arabia’s Grand Mufti Abdul Aziz bin Baz openly condemned in 1999 (via cell phone conversations with insurgents) the GIA’s vigilante jihad (jihad must be declared by the ulema) and issued fatwas that reached the maqis. Conservative Sheik Nacer-Eddine Albani’s deathbed fatwa condemning GIA behavior as un-Islamic was particularly demoralizing. He was considered by Islamists to be a conservative interpreter of the law, but he believed that the only jihad worthy of the name is the jihad for knowledge.2
Reintegration. The Algerian government took a conciliatory attitude toward terrorists who laid down their arms voluntarily, calling them “lost sheep” (les égarées) , making it easier to reintegrate them into society. This may be one reason why Algeria today has the lowest number of recruits of all the Arab nations joining ISIS, a mere 200, compared to 6,000 from neighboring Tunisia.3
The piecemeal war in which The United States and European nations are embroiled is a politico-religious war for the soul of Islam. Critical to determining the outcome of this struggle will be wise leadership in the West and close cooperation with Muslim and non-Muslim allies. Without restraint and finesse in dealing with a multi-faceted, constantly morphing virus, the Long War has all the potential of a Chinese finger trap for the West.
To Col. Coerr, I give the last word:
America reacted to 9/11 exactly as Bin Laden knew and hoped we would — with a huge, public, angry, unilateral lashing out at Muslim lands…in doing so, we allowed him to become the voice of the Muslim world in the face of First World mechanized overkill…It is as if Bin Laden had read Boyd: Enmesh your enemy in a world of uncertainty, doubt, confusion disorder, fear panic and chaos [Emphasis by author.]
We have barely begun to know our enemy, much less ourselves.
NOTES
[1] Fifth Generation Warfare, Lt Col Stanton Coerr, Marine Corps Gazette, 1/09
[2]Religion Terror and Error ( US foreign policy and the challenge of spiritual engagement), by Douglas Johnston, Praeger 2011, pgs. 155–162
[3] Has Algeria Taken Anti Vaccine, http:// www.irinnews.org/analysis/2016/09/28/ Jenny Gustavson
