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THE ROVING
EYE
Self-service
jihad
By Pepe Escobar
BRUSSELS - It could be that
corner shop selling beer after hours, or that
bakery. It could be a kiosk offering cut-rate fees
for calls to Morocco or Egypt: they could all be
al-Qaeda sleeper cells, only a five-minute walk
from Brussels' Gare du Midi - the central train
station. European Union terrorism analysts and
Moroccan experts 
on Islamism agree that al-Qaeda's
operational headquarters in Europe are now located
in Belgium and the Netherlands.
According to
Moroccan analyst Mohamed Darif, Moroccans are now
positioned at decision-making levels in al-Qaeda
cells operating in Europe, Saudi Arabia and Iraq.
Logistical and financial support networks for
al-Qaeda in Europe now transit among the
300,000-strong Moroccan diaspora in Brussels and
Amsterdam. Recruitment is on the rise - among the
pious as well as among born-again Islamists, among
the delinquent as well as among young immigrants
who see jihad as the way to redeem themselves from
their sins. At the same time, the exodus to jihad
lands is also on the rise. It's not only
destination Iraq; more and more so-called "white
Moors" - white Muslims carrying European Union
passports - are leaving for jihad training in
Chechnya.
Both German and French secret
services are now concentrating on young, EU
Muslims who leave for jihad training in Iraq and
come back to Europe to join or start sleeper
cells. The British for their part are
concentrating on individual jihad - extremely
autonomous groups who either manage to contact or
be contacted by an al-Qaeda operative so they can
discuss targets and logistical support.
Abdallah Rami, another Moroccan expert,
says there's one thing more important than the
rush towards the Iraqi training ground and its
wealth of information regarding urban warfare,
clandestine networks and the privatization of
means of mass destruction. Even more powerful,
Rami says, is the appeal of "individual jihad":
"Thanks to the Internet, an individual may become
radical, acquire a terrorist education and prepare
and execute an attack all by himself, without ever
being in contact with al-Qaeda." This is what
self-service jihad is all about.
The
moderate Sunni Arab world could not but panic. The
spread of self-service jihad has led major
Arab-language media like al-Hayat and Asharq
al-Awsat to start debating "Islamo-fascism". But
the debate would be more profitable if it
concentrated on al-Qaeda's foreign policy. Just
like Washington neo-conservatives, al-Qaeda seems
to be engaged in regime change - fighting to place
rulers, especially in the Arab world, who do not
clash with its political ambitions, even if such
leaders don't subscribe to al-Qaeda's worldview.
Contrary to the official line of both the
George W Bush and Tony Blair governments, it's not
hatred of Western values and freedom that drives
the Salafi-jihadis. This is a fight for political
power. Al-Qaeda is profiting immensely from the
fact that average, moderate Muslims in the Middle
East as well as in Europe have become so enraged
by the excesses of the US imperial adventure in
Iraq that for them the only counter-measure is to
become a jihadi.
The big
picture
As far as the London bombings are
concerned, the al-Qaeda-Pakistani connection is
now firmly established. The operation may have
been planned in Pakistan in March 2004,
immediately after the Madrid bombing. Muhammad
Siddique Khan, the oldest of the bombers (it's not
proven they were suicide bombers; they may have
been deceived) has been linked to Libyan Abu Faraj
al-Libbi, a high-profile new generation al-Qaeda
operative recently captured in Pakistan.
EU analysts are seriously considering what
in intelligence circles is regarded as al-Qaeda's
master plan, a document called "Al-Qaeda strategy
up to the year 2020", probably written by Egyptian
war strategist Muhammad Mekkawi. Mekkawi talks
about the establishment of a jihadi battleground
ranging from Afghanistan to Syria and Lebanon.
Iraq of course is crucial in the overall strategy.
Al-Qaeda wants nothing less than control of
Baghdad. In the past few days, the numbers once
again have proved that what happened one day in
London is what reality is all about in Iraq: 17
bombings in 72 hours, more than 40 suicide
bombings - and counting - in July alone, including
the ghastly spectacle in Musayyib, south of
Baghdad, where more than 100 people were killed
and 130 injured when a suicide bomber blew up a
fuel tanker near a crowded marketplace, right in
front of a Shi'ite mosque.
Last week, the
interior and justice ministers of the 25 EU
members gathered in Brussels for an extraordinary
summit on terrorism. They decided to enforce an
EU-wide mandate to obtain evidence, keep
individual cellphone records for one year, and
improve EU-wide information exchanges between
police, surveillance and justice bodies.
But the EU is still far from adopting a
US-style Patriot Act. EU-based humanitarian or
charity organizations are not as controlled as
they are in the US.
Dutchman Gijs de
Vries, in effect the EU's Mr Counterterrorism, is
worried: what has been decided has to be put in
practice as soon as possible. Many of the 25 still
have not approved their own anti-terrorist
legislation. On the other hand, some members, like
France, are toughening the police state. Nicolas
Sarkozy, France's controversial interior minister,
wants to intensify the expulsion of preachers,
accelerate the education of "made in France"
imams, keep all video-surveillance tapes in stock
and expand to the whole EU the conservation of
telephone records. French jihadi candidates to
Iraq recently discovered in a northern Paris
neighborhood might as well relocate, probably by
taking the Thalys train to Belgium or the
Netherlands.
Most new-generation jihadis
didn't care about Islam before they became
born-again Islamists. Most are well-educated,
middle class and even married - like the London
bombers. They may continue to cause terror inside
Europe because of the policies of the governments
there - be they Spanish, British, Italian or
Danish - which they consider humiliating to
Muslims, not because they have been indoctrinated
by a fiery Salafi cleric in London or Paris.
Al-Qaeda has never cared about Western "values" or
"freedom". One just has to listen carefully to
Osama bin Laden and his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri.
They've always repeated the same themes: if you
bomb our cities, we will bomb yours; if you leave
our lands, stop planting corrupt leaders and stop
plundering our resources, we will stop.
(Copyright 2005 Asia Times Online Ltd. All
rights reserved. Please contact us for information
on sales, syndication and republishing.) |
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