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  The mission of the Iraqi Institute for Peace is vital and in time the world will recognize the importance of these efforts. However, whenever I meet with religious and community leaders in Europe or America, I often find a great deal of anxiety about the rapid growth of militant Islam outside the Middle East. I get many questions about what many now perceive as the growing threat of cultural invasion. The number of immigrants from the Middle East is growing so rapidly that many in Europe and Great Britain are worried that what happened to America on September 11, 2001, could happen in their countries as well.

  The Paris riots of November 2005 were certainly a wake-up call for many in Western Europe who had been in denial about the dangers of an unassimilated immigrant population. Prior to that, the world witnessed the terrorist attacks in Spain that impacted the national elections in that country. We’re still seeing clashes between Muslims and the police, not just in France, but in Indonesia, India, and other Third World countries. And all these incidents only heighten tensions in the West. The atmosphere is already so volatile, and relationships between Islam and the West have gotten measurably worse since the capture of Saddam in 2003.

  A reflection of the growing concern is the number of books warning of the dangers of Islamic extremism that have been published in the West. Many well-known columnists, commentators, and public figures in Europe, Britain, and America are speaking out more forcefully than ever about what they perceive as the dark side of the Muslim religion. This ought to be a concern for every follower of Islam, even as it has become a growing concern to non-Muslims around the world.

  A Message of Hope

  In March and April of 2005 I attended a twenty-one-day conference in the United States for leaders of all the various religious groups in Iraq—Sunni, Shia, Kurds, Sabbists, Christians, and others—to discuss the proper relationship of religion and politics in a democratic society, and to observe how church-state relations are handled in the United States. In addition to our meetings in Washington, we visited six states to see how religious matters are handled and what the doctrine of “freedom of religion” really means for a constitutional democracy. I must say, it was a very good experience for all of us.

  One of the most informative trips was to Denver, Colorado, where we visited both the Jewish Center and the Islamic Center in that city. For me, the most eye-opening meeting was with Dr. Ahmad Nabhan, the senior imam of the Denver mosque, who told us, “Terrorism is absolutely forbidden in Islam.” During that meeting, Dr. Nabhan said, as he often repeats in his sermons and speeches, “Terrorism is not our way. It is completely out of Islam.”

  This was such an encouraging message, and at the conclusion of his talk, I told Dr. Nabhan that I felt like Christopher Columbus who had just discovered a new world. In this case, I had discovered new hope for peace and reconciliation in Iraq. Of course, this view is not yet the mainstream view in Islam, but I would like to believe that it is a message that will resonate with followers of Islam around the world and soon become the dominant view.

  For Muslims, it’s important to realize that Dr. Nabhan is a graduate of Al-Azhar University in Cairo, which is the world’s oldest university and widely recognized as Sunni Islam’s foremost seat of learning. To have such distinguished credentials, and to have such a strong message of peace and reconciliation, Dr. Nabhan now has a wonderful platform for helping to transform the militant mindset of contemporary Islam. I certainly want to encourage him in his important mission.

  Dr. Nabhan’s definition of Fatah and Jihad were equally surprising, because they were different from the interpretation we often hear. He offered us a marvelous understanding of the importance of peace and coexistence between peoples of all faiths. And best of all, the view of Islam that he described was a model for how all the different ethnic and religious groups in the Middle East can live together without hatred and violence.

  We simply cannot give permission to those who have a different understanding of Fatah and Jihad to exercise their will on society. That view is nothing but a time bomb that can explode at any time and at any place, doing great damage to society. If the followers of radical Islam try to wage war on the rest of the world in this way, it will ultimately destroy our hopes for peace and will push the nations of both the West and the Middle East toward an inevitable clash.

  A Timely Warning

  Whenever I speak to people in Europe and America about these things, I find they are worried not just about Islamic terrorism but also about cultural invasion by followers of Islam. It has been shown recently that the native populations of England, France, Germany, Italy, and the Scandinavian countries are shrinking, while the immigrant population in these countries is expanding. That is not necessarily a problem if the new arrivals are committed to living in peace with their neighbors. But if they refuse to live by the laws and standards of the countries to which they have immigrated, and if they insist on waging war in the name of religion, then the situation will only grow worse.

  Whenever I speak about the peace and reconciliation movement and the changes that are taking place in Iraq today, I’m often asked about militant Islam and the threat of global terrorism. More than once I’ve been asked about the meaning of the Arabic words Fatah and Jihad. What I normally tell them is that to followers of the militant brand of Islam, these doctrines express the belief that Allah has commanded them to conquer the nations of the world both by cultural invasion and by the sword. In some cases this means moving thousands of Muslim families into a foreign land—by building mosques and changing the culture from the inside out, and by refusing to assimilate or adopt the beliefs or values of that nation—to conquer the land for Islam. This is an invidious doctrine, but it’s true that it’s being carried out in some places today by followers of this type of Islam.

  On one occasion I was confronted by a young woman who was very angry because Muslims in her community were spreading these radical teachings in the schools while, at the same time, calling their militant view of Islam a “religion of peace.” She told me, “Islam is a religion of peace if we’re willing to surrender our nation, our customs, our religious beliefs, and our identity to these people. It’s peaceful if we submit to living under Sharia law. But if we’re not willing submit to them, then it’s war, military conquest, or terrorism, and I’m fed up with it.”

  I listened politely, because I knew that this is happening in some places. But I told her, “Please understand that there are many Muslims who don’t accept this view of Fatah and Jihad any longer.” And I went on to tell her about the work of Dr. Nabhan in Denver, who teaches that, “Terrorism is absolutely forbidden in Islam.” That message is gaining acceptance among educated Muslims in many places, and that’s why we can’t afford to give up on the prospects for peace and reconciliation.

  In my work, I deal with Muslims of many persuasions almost every day. Many of them are close friends and I have great respect for them and their beliefs. I don’t have a problem with the fact that they’re Muslims, but I do have a problem with the beliefs of those who believe that Fatah and Jihad are commanded by Allah, and that they have a right and a duty to conquer the world in this way. I am committed to working for peace and reconciliation in the Middle East, but these ideas are absolutely contrary to any hope of peace. So that’s where I part company with some of them. But to understand this problem, a little perspective may be in order.

  Fatah by Demographics

  In the eighth century AD, the Moors of North Africa invaded and conquered Spain. They did it under the banner of Islam, and they remained in control of much of the Iberian Peninsula until they were eventually defeated and evicted by force in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Muslims have never forgotten this and it’s a source of resentment for the West. It’s unlikely such a thing could ever happen again. A military invasion will not succeed, but in countries such as England today, we can witness a modern nation in the process of being conquered by the militant form of Fatah, in a slow, systematic, and unrelentin
g overpowering of British culture.

  The way of life in Great Britain has been transformed by followers of Islam. This is also true in countries such as France, Germany, and the Netherlands, as well as the Scandinavian countries, which have been undergoing changes for decades, and they don’t know how to react. Some of them are trying to pass laws or change policies now, but millions of Muslims have immigrated to those countries from Africa and the Middle East. Millions more have now been born there, as the British have recently discovered, and some of the new residents are not interested in the customs, history, or languages of those countries.

  Many of these people have not assimilated with the culture, but have created a culture within a culture. This is what we witnessed in Britain in July and in France in November 2005. The young men who carried out the bombings and the riots in more than 300 French cities were born and raised in Europe. They were citizens by birth, but they were attracted to the militant strain of Islam. They belonged not to Europe but to the Islamic Motherland, and they were following an older and more dangerous view of Fatah and Jihad.

  What we’re seeing in many places is a “demographic revolution.” Some experts have projected that by the year 2040, fully 80 percent of the population of France will be Muslim. At that point, the Muslim majority will control commerce, industry, education, and religion in that country. They will also, of course, control the government, as well, and occupy all of the key positions in the French Parliament. And a Muslim will be president. This is what we’re seeing happening in many countries, including the United States. It only seems to be slower in the United States because America is such a large and ethnically diverse country already.

  This is a big public relations problem for Islam, and it must be addressed very soon. Violence and conquest are doctrines handed down by militant mullahs and imams, and what many in the West have said to me is that they’re worried that those who subscribe to this brand of Islam are trying to take over the world by force. To deal with their fears and concerns, I believe there ought to be more teachers like Dr. Nabhan, a highly regarded imam and scholar, who is dedicated to teaching the followers of his faith to live in peace with their neighbors.

  Recently there has been a backlash in America against the immigration explosion of the last several years. It’s mainly due to the large numbers of illegal aliens pouring into the country from Latin America, but there’s a growing awareness of the numbers of immigrants from other parts of the world. This shows up strikingly in town councils and government offices where the foreign-born population is now electing their own people as mayors, council members, and even congressmen and senators.

  In Michigan, as just one conspicuous example, the demographic shift toward a Muslim population is changing the cultural balance so much that in some places it’s difficult to find a native English speaker. Very soon Muslims will be the majority and European-Americans will be displaced, and they will have to move away from the places where they were born, leaving everything they’ve known behind. In such places, second and third-generation American-born Muslims are now in the majority, and some of these people are as committed to the older view of Fatah and Jihad as the new arrivals. So this is another area where the moderate voices need to be heard.

  I was deeply saddened by the bombings that happened in London in July 2005, and I’m especially sad for the loss of life. After the bombings, many English people, including many liberals who had been in denial, reacted strongly to what they perceived as the militant form of Fatah and Jihad. Over the following weeks, there were verbal attacks on these teachings in British and other European publications, calling for dramatic reforms at all levels of government. Maybe this will be enough to convince Muslim leaders both in Europe and the Middle East that changes need to be made in the way that these doctrines are taught and understood. But it is certain that we will need a new dialogue and a new commitment to reconciliation in order to restore stability in these places.

  Knowing Who to Trust

  Denying reality is not just an English problem or a French problem. It’s a problem everywhere, and it’s very troubling to me that President George Bush is under attack in your country for his decision to wage a preemptive war against terrorism around the world. Your president and his commanders, including Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld, understand that the terrorists are determined, ruthless, and relentless. The men who want to destroy your culture were not satisfied with 9/11, and they’re going to attack again if they possibly can. The only way to prevent that from happening is to go now and find these people, wherever they are, and stop them.

  I can assure you that the people who are intent on destroying America won’t be stopped by appeasement. They are not interested in political solutions. They don’t want welfare—their animosity is not caused by hunger or poverty or anything of the sort. They understand only one thing: total and complete conquest of the West and the destruction of anyone who does not bow to them and their dangerous and out-of-date ideology of hate and revenge.

  You need to remember that Hitler was not satisfied with Yugoslavia or Poland when the English prime minister Neville Chamberlain stupidly gave those countries to him. He wanted to conquer the world, and it required overwhelming military superiority and a long and brutal war to finally stop him. Millions died because too many people in the West believed that diplomacy and appeasement would do the job. The enemy you face today is not so easy to find as Hitler, and he may not be as easy to defeat. But believe me, you will not stop this enemy until you take the war to him and stop him in his own territory, by any means necessary, including direct action and overwhelming military force.

  What I want to say next is not easy for me to say but I think I must say it anyway. One of the nicest things about the American people is that you are generous and friendly people, and because of this you are sometimes naïve and overly trusting. You want to be friendly, so you open up to people and then you’re surprised when they stab you in the back. Many brave young soldiers have died in Iraq for this reason, but I think this is also a big part of the problem with the State Department and others in government who fail to understand the true nature of this enemy.

  To be more specific, for the Americans to survive in a place like Iraq, where violence and corruption are a way of life, you must do two things: you must be cautious and discerning about the people you deal with, and you must listen to the people you know you can trust—who will not lie to you—but will help you to navigate in an environment that is strange and unfamiliar to you.

  Without the input of people from the area who understand these ancient cultures, you will constantly be making mistakes, and many times those mistakes will come at the cost of innocent human lives. It would take a lifetime to understand the culture of a country like Iraq, and honestly, it may take much more than that. By that I mean it takes generations to accumulate the knowledge, the history, the traditions, and the mental disposition of our people as it has been passed down to us from father to son and mother to daughter for thousands of years.

  This is not something Americans naturally understand. Or perhaps I should say, it’s not something many Americans have experienced. Your nation is very young; your culture is barely three hundred years old. In some ways you exhibit the innocence of children, which can be a wonderful quality. It’s one of the things we like best about Americans. But young people can also be rash and hasty, assuming they know more than they do, and this can be dangerous for you now. So please take the time to develop friendships with people from these cultures who can help you avoid some of the pitfalls you will encounter.

  My advice, in light of all of this, is simply that your diplomats, military officers, and others who do business in any part of the world where there are long-established and ancient cultures, need to be well informed about those nations and their history; and then they should spend as much time and money as necessary to find people whom they can trust. And when they do, they need to listen to those people and heed their advic
e. In a world where finding the way forward can often seem like a jigsaw puzzle, it’s essential to have friends you can trust.

  CHAPTER 12

  A TIME FOR PEACE

  There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:

  a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, . . .

  a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate,

  a time for war and a time for peace.

  — Ecclesiastes 3:1–2, 7–8 niv

  Because of the work I do, I have to have bodyguards at all times. One day when I was working at home, one of them came to me and said there was a car with four young Muslims going back and forth in front of my house, and they were taking video pictures of my property. We knew what that meant: it’s a common tactic of terrorists who are planning to blow something up. So my bodyguards, who are all big, strong Assyrians from the north, jumped in their cars and chased them down. They raced all through the streets of Baghdad at high speeds, three cars of them, and they finally caught them and brought them back to the house so I could question them and find out what they were doing.

  When I saw the four young men, I knew these were not ordinary terrorists. They had long beards and Muslim clothing, but they were different. When I asked what they were doing, they admitted that they were planning to blow up my house. I knew I had to decide what to do with them and the options were clear. I called the prime minister and told him what had happened and he told me, “By all means, Georges, take them to be interrogated by intelligence officers at the ministry of the interior. God only knows what they may be able to tell us.”