1 – 0 in Favor of al-Qaida

The 9/11 masterminds accomplished a great deal: The cultural war is revved up and running and we’re dismantling our model of society.

Geert Wilders, the Dutch right-wing populist and Muslim-hater, will make his grand debut at ground zero on Saturday, the star guest of the 9/11 demonstration protesting the construction of an Islamic cultural center to be built just two blocks from where the twin towers once stood. Thousands will enthusiastically cheer Wilders if he calls again for the Koran to be forbidden, accuses Mohammed of being a child molester or compares Islam to fascism, because many Americans now share the anti-Koran views presented in the film “Fitna.” Sixty-eight percent of Americans want to forbid construction of the mosque at its present site and 49 percent hold a negative opinion of Islam in general.

It’s hardly surprising that many Muslim organizations in America have been frightened into canceling their end of Ramadan celebrations. Is this nation, with its guarantee of religious freedom and once the refuge of choice for those fleeing persecution for their beliefs, really still “the land of the free?”

In the United States, as well as in the rest of the world, freedom has been thrown under the bus in the nine years since the 9/11 attacks. Those who masterminded the brutal attack on the World Trade Center have good reason to celebrate. They succeeded in destabilizing their enemies in the West; we play the “clash of cultures” game with them. Worse, we are tampering with the very basis of our liberal society out of sheer fear they might harm us.

Terrorists are terrorists simply because they’re too weak to directly seize power. Instead, they carry out attacks with the objective of creating fear among the people, provoking them into panic reactions and thus producing those conditions that bring them closer to their goal. Classic examples of this would be the assassination of Austria’s Archduke Ferdinand by the Serbian nationalist Gavrillo Princip in 1914. That was the cause of the First World War, but it eventually culminated in a sovereign, Serbian-dominated Yugoslavia. Another example is the assassination of Israel’s Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin by a Jewish extremist in 1995; that was the beginning of the end for the Middle East peace process.

The Panic-Stricken West

The 9/11 masterminds have thus far enjoyed considerable success because the West has indeed reacted they way they hoped: Fright, mindless panic and blind rage. The United States and its allies are involved in two bloody and costly wars. The Iraq war, now ended at least in name, cost the United States a minimum of $1 trillion and 4,400 American soldiers lost their lives in it. In addition, it also cost America its image as a benevolent giant, thanks to things like Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo. The war in Afghanistan is now shaking the NATO alliance to its core, with partners such as the Netherlands and Canada jumping ship. Others are still standing in line, eager to stop burdening trans-Atlantic relations already strained by the Iraq war. For them, the goal now is only a face-saving exit strategy. NATO won’t so lightly enter into any similar military adventures in the future. 9/11 has caused even deeper wounds in our civilian society. We feel threatened by the other culture and view it as an enemy. Three out of four Germans are more or less worried about the spread of Islam, as envisioned by Thilo Sarrazin, for example. That interferes with the absolutely necessary international debate and distorts it.

Paradise for Demagogues

Agitators like Wilders exploit this fear mercilessly. Currently, the man from Venlo is politically acceptable in Dutch society. Top liberals and conservatives alike flirt with him because he represents their ticket to power in a coalition government. The fact that Wilders repeatedly calls for trashing the constitution and ignoring human rights seems to be merely incidental.

What is it that makes our Western society so worthwhile? Hasn’t it always been self-determination and tolerance of dissent? How are we supposed to lecture countries like Iran or fundamentalist Saudi Arabia about their persecution of religious minorities while we deny Muslims the right to build mosques and minarets?

Time to Pause for a Moment

In the main, since the terrorist attacks of 9/11 we accept the invasion of our personal rights without protest. Governments capture and store our telephone and email activity. Intelligence services are allowed to sift through our bank accounts and travel arrangements so they can easily put together profiles of our activities. In addition, ever-present television cameras constantly watch us and soon x-ray scanners at airports will go even further, in all probability.

Osama Bin Laden is the idol of tens of thousands of angry young Muslims in countries like Pakistan, Indonesia, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, all past allies of the United States. Many people no longer see Western society as worthy of emulation. Why should they follow our lead when we’re obviously so willing to doubt our own basic values?

The West has been driven by al-Qaida’s dark threats for nine years now. This is the time to pause for a moment and to think about what constitutes the core of our society.