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Al-Qaeda Is a Shadow of Its Former Self

[New York Sun] Youssef Ibrahim - Some say the West must try to "understand" the gripes of Muslims worldwide, placate the Palestinian Arabs, and replace Arab and Muslim dictators with so-called Muslim moderates. But the truth is that the West, and especially America, can do virtually nothing to prevent the inevitable bloodbaths inherent in the skewed Islamic cultures and failed governments that characterize virtually all Muslim societies today. Nor can any amount of indulgence heal the deep gashes that Muslim dictatorships, corruption, and cultural hypocrisies inflict upon the world's 1.2 billion Muslims. In The Looming Tower, Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11, Lawrence Wright of the New Yorker documents in amazing detail how vacuous bin Laden and his cohorts were. They lost every battle they ever engaged in against the Soviets in Afghanistan, were hugely despised by their fellow Afghan fighters, lied about their mythical achievements, and gathered the largest bunch of losers they could find under their tent. Wright also documents how they were recruited, guided, and manipulated by a variety of competing Arab regimes. They received hundreds of millions of dollars from the Saudi royal family and were granted sanctuary by the genocidal Sudanese government and the fanatical Pakistani army and intelligence systems, as well as numerous Arab regimes and thousands of freelance preachers across the Muslim landscape.
2006-09-08 01:00:00
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