Having been asked by a number of people to comment on the tragic events of last Tuesday, I have decided to post this letter on the internet. Like the vast majority of people worldwide I have been shocked and saddened at the loss of so many innocent lives. The sudden removal of husbands, wives, mothers, fathers and even just friends and acquaintances must have a devastating effect on those left behind. The emotion of the moment is one of shock followed by anger and a desire for revenge against the perpetrators of such a monumental crime against humanity. However, here there is a problem. How do you strike back against an unseen enemy hiding under the skirts of possibly friendly powers? How do you root out and destroy what is probably a many-headed hydra with support (albeit minority support) from countries throughout the Islamic world and possibly even beyond? More to the point, what could this attack mean in the greater scheme of things and what should be our response?
We in Britain regard ourselves as America's staunchest ally. We remember well that twice in the 20th century when things were very dark for us indeed, American strength pulled us through. We regard the USA as a kindred nation and her people as family in a way that we do not the European Union. Thus an attack on America is an attack on us too. Indeed as up to 500 Britions died in the collapsing towers, this is quite literally true.
Yet for us there is something of déja vu about all this as well. When Pearl Harbour was attacked by the Japanese America was at peace with herself and had little desire or appetite to enter into war which we had already been fighting for several years. Through the dark days of 1939-42 we knew that Nazism was so great an evil that we could not make peace with it though our cities lay in ruins and our empire was bled dry. After Pearl Harbour America realised that as keeper of the torch of liberty it was not just her own interest but her duty to get involved. Thus in this one, foolish attack on the American fleet, the Japanese admirals had made sure of the destruction of the cruel empire that they served. For with America on the side of the allies it became a certainty that the axis powers would lose the Second World War and that civilized values would prevail. It may turn out that the terrorist attack on America will also have similar far-reaching consequences.
I said earlier that there was a sense of deja vu about the attack on the twin towers and this is not idle rhetoric. We in Britain have been directly involved in the fight against international terrorism for some thirty years or more. Mostly but not always this has been the work of the IRA who, in the name of a United Ireland, have killed and maimed thousands of people: most of them civilians and most of them Irish. In London we have witnessed the blowing up of the Baltic Exchange and the bombing of the skyscrapers at Canary Wharf as well as countless lesser acts of terrorism against people and property. Further north the entire commercial heart of Manchester was ripped out by the bombers as also, with many casualties, was the centre of Warrington.
In Ireland the bombers have, if anything, been even more depraved. A few years ago a bomb was planted by the cenotaph of Inniskillen and timed to go off during the annual remembrance service for the dead of two World Wars. The heartless cowards who planted this device killed and maimed men and women who were remembering with flowers and hymns those who died protecting the liberty of our country. More recently and during the current "cease-fire", members of the "Real IRA" (is this really a separate organization?) exploded a car-bomb in the centre of the Northern Irish town of Omagh killing indiscriminately men, women and children as they went about their Saturday morning shopping. This last outrage was so cruel and unnecessary that we can only conclude that those who planted the bomb are psychopaths. Yes, we know about terrorism in Britain and we therefore share the grief of our cousins in America who can be sure of our whole-hearted support.
The initial response by the British to IRA terrorism was to seek to hunt down the perpetrators and bring them to justice. Our army patrolled the streets of Northern Ireland and interned known dissidents, often without trial. However we found that not only did the bombings and shootings continue, but the very people who had carried out these atrocities became heroes and martyrs. At the same time our troops, who were initially greeted by Catholics as well as Protestants as protectors and saviours, very quickly became targets themselves. We soon learnt that fighting a terrorist war of this kind is far from easy. It is a battle for hearts and minds as much as one one fought with weapons. For this reason we have stopped demonising the Sinn Fein/IRA and recently given its members some say in the running of Northern Ireland. Whether this has been wise remains to be seen.
The problems we in Britain have had with Irish terrorism are in many ways the same but in others very different from those now faced by America. We at least know what the objectives of the IRA are: a United Irish Republic. We know who the leaders of the movement are: Gerry Adams and Martin McGuiness. We know where they come from and our police have, should it be needed, files of evidence against them. In the case of the New York attack there is no such certainty. Nobody can be sure for certain that the attack was organised by Osmar Bin Laden. We don't know who has been harbouring these terrorists or what they are really seeking to achieve. What we do know is that the men (and women?) who carried out these daring acts were very determined individuals. We know this because they were sufficiently motivated to not only kill thousands of innocent civilians but themselves in the process. We can be fairly certain that most if not all of them were Muslim fanatics but unfortunately the evidence suggests that they came from more than one country: Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt and probably others. This, of course, makes it harder to retaliate in kind as we don't want to destabilise countries which at present are friends. To date the leaders of the group to which the terrorists belonged have made no special demands upon America (for example to withdraw from the Persian Gulf). We therefore need to look deeper to ascertain the causes of this Islamic rage and what the terrorists hoped to achieve by destroying up the twin towers and attacking the Pentagon.
To begin to understand the motivations of the terrorists, we have to try to see the world through their eyes. For those growing up in the arid regions of the Middle East, the wealth, comfort, strength and prosperity of America contrasts unbearably with their own poverty. Many draw comfort from the Islamic religion which teaches that provided they fulfil their duties they will go to heaven and enjoy there the paradise denied to them in this life. As they are taught that all non-believers are misguided and will very likely go to hell, it is but a small step to demonise the west and to see America as the ‘Great Satan’ whose baleful influence is responsible for their own poverty. Far from viewing America as the land of the free, they see it as a den of vice and iniquity whose poisonous influence is corrupting the world. According to Islamic law usury (i.e. the lending of money at interest) is a sin. To fundamentalist Mulims therefore the World Trade Centre, where many banks and finance departments had their offices, did not represent freedom of trade but rather evil. The very height of the twin Towers was a reminder of the Tower of Babel that God himself destroyed as a punishment for man's hubris in trying to reach heaven. Seen through this perverted logic, then, the destruction of these towers could appear to be a holy act as it was tearing out very the heart of what they see as a latter-day "Babylon".
This, however, is not the whole story. Many, perhaps most, Muslims are outraged that America gives support and succour to Israel, which they view as a terrorist state occupying Islamic lands. Economically and militarily the Israelis have shown themselves to be superior to the states which surround them and this hurts Arab pride. The situation is further exacerbated by the fact that the Israelis are a brusk people who answer force with force. They are an easy people to dislike as they make little attempt at hiding feelings of contempt for their Arab neighbours. Tit-for-tat is the name of the game in the Levant and this leaves little opportunity for forgiveness on either side.
The focus for inter-communal hatred is the city of Jerusalem, which came back under Jewish control as recently as 1967. To the Jews it is, of course, the city of David and Solomon and the natural capital of Israel. Yet to the Muslims this is the third holiest city of Islam and cannot therefore be surrendered permanently to the Jews. The Haram ash-Sharif, where the Al Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock are, is a holy precinct to both religions. From here the Muslims believe Mohammed took his night-journey to heaven, making Jerusalem only slightly less holy than Mecca and Medina. However the Haram ash Sharif is also the ‘Temple Mount’, the site where once stood the ancient Jewish Temple of Solomon which many Israelis would like to see rebuilt. As to do this and reconsecrate the site to Judaism would necessitate the demolition of the Dome of the Rock, we can easily see why the ownership of Jerusalem is such a bone of contention.
In my opinion these conflicts are not entirely man made. A careful reading of the Bible reveals that there are many prophecies relating to Jerusalem at "the end of days". I believe that that time has come. With the "Opening of the Stargate" (for details of what this means see the series of articles on opening the stargate I believe the world has entered into the time of tribulation that was spoken of by Jesus himself in Chapter 24 of St Matthew's Gospel. The word "tribulation" comes from the Latin tribula, the sort of triple-ended flail used in Roman times to thresh corn so that the edible kernels could be separated from the chaff. We are, I believe, into this period of threshing and should therefore expect surprises (such as the terrorist attack on New York) to come upon us with little or no warning. As I have written in Signs in the SkyI do believe that we are entering into the end-game of this present period of world history and that testing times are ahead.
How we approach such times is a matter of conscience. It is not enough that we point the finger of blame at Afghanistan, Iraq or any other identifiable target of hatred. We must also look to our own back yards to see how we have allowed wickedness to grow unchecked in our midst. The UK, US and other western countries need to do what they can to root out terrorist organizations at home as well as abroad. However we also need to wage war more vigilantly against home-grown vices too. We must not give up our fight against the menace of drugs. We must tackle problems of forced prostitution and overly lax laws on abortion and perversion. We must crack down on the internet profiteers who swamp the world wide web with pictures and movies of brutality, promiscuity and paedophilia. We must set our own houses in order and do our best to make the world safer for our children to grow up in. In the protection of our society and our cultural values we must deal fairly but firmly with illegal immigrants. Where possible we must depose the corrupt, tyrannical regimes that have impoverished their countries of origin and forced them to seek a life elsewhere.
We also need to treat the earth with more respect and to recognise that its resources are finite. On planet earth we all have to breath the same air and if this gets hotter and more polluted because of industry then it affects America as much as the rest of us. Tearing up the Kyoto agreement was not a sensible thing for the US government to have done and has definitely sent the wrong message to the world about American attitudes on climate change.
I personally believe that over the next ten to twenty years we are going to see earth-changes of a magnitude we have never dreamt of. Global warming will be part of this but I also believe there will be massive earthquakes and other natural disasters as well as wars and terrorism. How we respond to these events will test us to the limit. This will be the tribulation, the sorting of the wheat from the chaff. At the end of this time it is my hope and belief as a Christian that a better world—one under the guidance of the retuning Christ spirit—will emerge. This ‘new order of the ages’, proclaimed so loudly on the back of every dollar bill, will be that which is symbolised by the New Jerusalem of the Book of Revelation. As getting from here to there will be a choppy ride, we had better fasten our seat-belts.
Meanwhile God bless America: the hope of the free.
(If you would like to discuss these issues or any other relevant matters, please join my Yahoo Forum. You will find details about this if you click the 'forum' link on the menu bar.)
Copyright © 2000 Adrian G Gilbert