ON THE WALLABY- 15th July 2007

”The tenets originally professed by the Wahabees have been described as a Mahomedan Puritanism joined to a Bedouin Phylarchy, in which the great chief is both the political and religious leader of the nation .With the Soonnees the Wahabees are on terms of tolerable agreement, though differing on certain points, but from the Sheas, they differ radically, and their hatred, like all religious hatred, is bitter and intolerant. But the most striking characteristic of the Wahabee sect, and that which principally concerns this narrative, is the entire subservience which they yield to the Peer, or spiritual guide” - William Taylor Our Crisis: Or Three Months at Patna during the Insurrection of 1857,1858

AS SUN TZU WROTE 27 CENTURIES AGO – “KNOW THY ENEMY” AND IT IS A LESSON WE STILL HAVE TO LEARN IN IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN

History, as I have written often in these Bulletins, is a marvellous teacher. The tragedy however is that all too few people in positions of power either read it or appreciate it and consequently, the world bowls along making the same mistakes time after time.

There is no more greater example of that than the wars “we” are currently engaged in in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The former, as I see it, leads down only one road and that is, as it was with Vietnam, a staggering blow to American prestige and power and the latter, a war that if we do indeed take lessons from history, maybe can be won.

Sometimes in life it really is a case of “back to the future” and the quotation I have used for this OTW comes from a book that I have just finished reading and which should be mandatory reading for anyone with an interest in Middle eastern affairs.

The book I refer to is that penned by Charles Allen entitled God’s Terrorists: The Wahhabi Cult and the Hidden Roots of Modern Jihad and it traces the origins on the Arabian Peninsula and then into 19th century India ( now India and Pakistan) and Afghanistan of the Wahhabi sect, the choice of Osama Bin Laden.

The Perseus Book Club states as the introduction of this book :

“In today's post-9/11 world, the everyday news shows us images of fanatic fighters and suicide bombers willing to die in holy war, martyrs for jihad. But what are the roots of this militant fundamentalism in the Muslim world?

In this insightful and wide-ranging history, Charles Allen finds an answer in the eighteenth-century reform movement of Muhammed ibn Abd al-Wahhab and his followers--the Wahhabi--who sought the restoration of Islamic purity and declared violent jihad on all who opposed them, Moslems and pagans alike.

As the Wahhabi teaching spread in the nineteenth century, first, to the Arabian peninsula, and then, to the region around the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, their followers brought with them a vicious brand of political ideology and militant conflict.

The Wahhabi deeply influenced the rulers of modern Saudi Arabia and their establishment of a strict Islamic code. A more militant expression of Wahhabism took root in the mountains of Afghanistan and Pakistan, where fierce tribes have waged holy war for almost two hundred years.

The ranks of the Taliban and al-Qaeda today are filled with young men who were taught the Wahhabi theology of Islamic purity while rifles were pressed into their hands for the sake of jihad. God's Terrorists sheds shocking light on the historical roots of modern terrorism and shows how this dangerous theology lives on today.”

Unlike their US counterparts, the British in “the days of The Raj” (and from where came the quotation I have used, written by one of Englands foremost political officers in India at that time ) in the main understood the problem.

I have always had a strong interest in India and that region, fueled between my fathers travels there exporting Remount horses to the Maharajahs and the Indian Army and the books of Rudyard Kipling and others.

When the British ran India, for all their errors they did commit, at least “the enemy” knew that if one Guardsman was sent up the Khyber Pass area and was “knocked off”, then a whole army would follow – the classic “speak quietly and carry a big stick” approach – a feature glaringly missing in President Bush’s psyche and actions!

I also, whilst a schoolboy in Sydney, got an insight into this psychology through the person of Major Netcher, a former Indian Army Officer and one the most loved Masters at Scots College where I was (supposedly) educated.

When a student transgressed, it had to be a really major blue to earn a caning (and he was very good at that when provoked) for Major Netcher preferred to have a phycological effect in that he would make you stand on a chair at the morning tea break every day for a week.

It was funny the first day, slackening the second and by the fifth, you never made that action again I can assure you!

To quote Sun Tzu, “know they enemy” and the one real point I think that escapes us in the West is, whereas we have in the main clear delineation between Church and State, in Islam they are one of the same.

This is the major point of Charles Allen’s book and the British actions in India. They realized this and approached the whole Wahhabi zealot problem in a different direction to the US forces today - and with completely different results.

This is a battle that will not be won in a few short years, for fundamentalism, no matter whether it be Islamic, Christian or Jewish based, takes ages to erode and eradicate and all three faiths have amongst them many who see value in formenting the brew!

Read this book and learn to "know they enemy".

Carpe diem

Tony

Tony Fountain

Professional Speaker, auctioneer and author

tony@fountainandco.com

PO Box 897,Bowral NSW 2576 Australia

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