H.D.S. GREENWAY
The humiliation bombTHERE ARE MANY reasons why human beings turn to terrorism, but high among them is humiliation -- humiliation that gives rise to "desperation and uncontrollable rage," in the words of terrorism expert Jessica Stern. In her book "Terror in the Name of God," Stern, who has interviewed many terrorists in her research, writes of how perceived humiliation can "add up to a feeling of nearly unbearable despair and frustration and a willingness on the part of some to do anything -- even commit atrocities -- in the belief that attacking the oppressor will restore their sense of dignity." It is a feeling terrorist leaders know well how to exploit.
This may be particularly true of the Arab world, in which a sense of dignity is so important to cultural well-being. In sexual matters, Muslim societies have a more conservative outlook than most Westerners understand. Modesty and decorum are the rule, and observant Muslims are often shocked and revolted by the blatant public sexuality on display in the West. Thus, when American values arrive in the form of indecency, sexual sadism, female torturers, biting dogs, beatings, rapes, and even murder of Muslim prisoners, you have a humiliation bomb of an explosive power that is hard to overestimate. The damage to the United States is incalculable. Some have been comparing these Iraqi prison revelations to My Lai, the atrocity in Vietnam when American soldiers murdered men, women, and children. Seymour Hersh, the journalist who broke the My Lai story more than 30 years ago and has been on the cutting edge of breaking the Abu Ghraib story, says that although My Lai killed more people, what happened in Vietnam was a tactical mistake. Abu Ghraib indicates a strategic mistake. For the effort in Iraq is to win Iraqis, the Arab world, and the world's billion Muslims over to the ideals of Western democracy. This cause has been severely damaged. It is not the hard-core terrorists who cut off the head of Nicholas Berg that I worry about trying to convince. They are beyond persuasion. It will be the uncommitted Muslims who will decide whether we win or lose the war against Islamic fanaticism. It is those who may no longer think the murder of Berg was entirely unjustified that I worry about, the young men whose thoughts may now be turning toward harming Americans, the woman who may now hide a terrorist. It is the moderate Arab, the reformer who will no longer speak out, that I worry about. And I worry that those Iraqis who were relieved when Saddam Hussein was overthrown will now perceive that America is now the enemy that must now be resisted and expelled. There will be more Muslims around the world now than before who believe that Osama bin Laden is right, and recruiting will soar. Continued... |
