A Clash of Civilizations

©2001 by Dale Franks

In the aftermath of the September 11th attack, American Muslims were quick to declare that those who engage in terrorism are a tiny minority of bad apples in the Islamic world.

Well, maybe so. After all, every society has its bad apples. But I think the difference is clear between a society in which the bad apples are a few deviants who operate beyond the pale of their own societies, and a society in which their acts are celebrated by impromptu street demonstrations. And I think one can rationally discriminate between the two.

I am pleased, of course, to hear Muslim leaders, both here and abroad, publicly condemning these terrorist attacks. Yet, those condemnations do not, however, wipe out the scenes of street demonstrations in celebration of them in several Arab countries, and in Seattle. And, since Arab governments are to a greater or lesser extent despotisms, one cannot, I think, place too much reliance on those official government statements as a valid indication of what they truly believe, and more than one could rely on Soviet statements as a realistic reflection of the true feelings of the Russian people.

The Muslim demonstration in Seattle, which was officially sanctioned by the Somali Muslim community there, is also an indication to me that this strain of thought is far more prevalent among American Muslims than we would like to believe. I suspect the reason we haven't seen more of it is because the Muslim community as whole recognizes that discretion is the better part of valor for Muslims who live in the US.

It seems to me, however, that if there are public demonstrations in support of the bad apples, then they are simply not perceived as bad apples in the eyes of their society, but quite the reverse. If they were, then one doubts that their acts would be celebrated. As such, I regard those officialcondemnations with skepticism.

A glaring example of this is Yasir Arafat's response to these attacks. While he condemned them to a Western audience, the official Arab-language newspaper of the Palestinian Authority celebrated them. I suspect that the PA's position as expressed to the Palestinian people is more authentic than the crocodile tears Arafat sheds for Western consumption. The fact that he feels the need to celebrate these attacks for a domestic audience indicates to me that, rather than being a tiny minority of Muslims, those who support this type of terrorism make up a substantial portion of the Arab
population.

If so, then rooting out Usama bin Laden or the leadership of Hezbollah will be nothing but a temporary solution at best, because it means we are truly engaged in a contest between a diametrically opposed civilizations. That implies a struggle much more cruel and long lasting than most people are willing to contemplate.

Conflict between two civilizations is not inevitable. There is no rational reason why such a conflict must exist. But, if Civilization 1 wishes to go to war against Civilization 2, then Civilization 2 has a problem on its hands, whether it wishes to or not.

By the same token, we are engaged in a conflict with a good portion of the Islamic world because they wish us to be. It was not, after all, Westerners who invaded the Arab world in 1948, 1956, 1967, and 1973. It wasn't Westerners who were lobbing rockets into Arab villages from southern Lebanon in 1982. It isn't Westerners who are hijacking airplanes, blowing up suicide bombs in crowded public places, or destroying skyscrapers. It wasn't Westerners who took hostages from an Arab embassy in 1980. It was quite the reverse.

The difference between the Islamists and us is that the conflict can disappear in an instant if the Islamists wish it to. We, on the other hand, cannot make this conflict disappear short of absolute surrender, no matter how much we might wish it. We must, therefore, pursue our enemies with zeal, until they submit or are destroyed.

That is not the choice we prefer. It is nevertheless, the only choice open to us if we expect our civilization to survive.

The story of the Romans has a sad ending. As the years passed, Rome lost the clarity of vision that made it such a powerful society. Eventually, the Empire fell and the barbarians moved in.

There is a warning in this for us, too. Unless we can find the clarity of purpose and strength of will that the Romans displayed when faced with the Carthaginian threat, then our enemies will dance through the streets of Washington like the Goths through Rome.

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