The Narrative Got Him
Thomas Friedman, in The New York Times, asks what was behind Major Hasan's mass murder, and concludes it was "The Narrative":
The Narrative is the cocktail of half-truths, propaganda and outright lies about America that have taken hold in the Arab-Muslim world since 9/11. Propagated by jihadist Web sites, mosque preachers, Arab intellectuals, satellite news stations and books -- and tacitly endorsed by some Arab regimes -- this narrative posits that America has declared war on Islam, as part of a grand "American-Crusader-Zionist conspiracy" to keep Muslims down.Yes, after two decades in which U.S. foreign policy has been largely dedicated to rescuing Muslims or trying to help free them from tyranny -- in Bosnia, Darfur, Kuwait, Somalia, Lebanon, Kurdistan, post-earthquake Pakistan, post-tsunami Indonesia, Iraq and Afghanistan -- a narrative that says America is dedicated to keeping Muslims down is thriving.
Although most of the Muslims being killed today are being killed by jihadist suicide bombers in Pakistan, Iraq, Afghanistan and Indonesia, you'd never know it from listening to their world. The dominant narrative there is that 9/11 was a kind of fraud: America's unprovoked onslaught on Islam is the real story, and the Muslims are the real victims -- of U.S. perfidy.
Have no doubt: we punched a fist into the Arab/Muslim world after 9/11, partly to send a message of deterrence, but primarily to destroy two tyrannical regimes -- the Taliban and the Baathists -- and to work with Afghans and Iraqis to build a different kind of politics. In the process, we did some stupid and bad things. But for every Abu Ghraib, our soldiers and diplomats perpetrated a million acts of kindness aimed at giving Arabs and Muslims a better chance to succeed with modernity and to elect their own leaders.
Since 9/11?
How about since 600AD
lujlp at December 4, 2009 1:36 AM
Forget those acts of Kindness. I feel no more help.... after Indonesia Tsunami and Pakistan Earthquake(s) and having charity agencies being told to tone own their presence but keep giving them money. American and the west give millions to tens of millions of dollars, while other Muslim countries give minimal. I want fucking gratitude not suspicion that we are trying to poison them or convert them.
They think their lives are so bad with America wait until they are not there to help. Let's them wait for Chinese help.
John Paulson at December 4, 2009 4:41 AM
Very much agreed with John Paulson opinion as above. America already help these ungrateful and uncivilised people too much. Just see how these extremely narrow minded, backward, troublesome, selfish, quarrelsome and unhelpful asiatics fare on their own.
WLIL at December 4, 2009 5:18 AM
Friedman's just another Muslim apologist who just cannot admit the truth: Islam's holy book commands followers to wage holy war until the world is Muslim. I don't know whether it's political correctness or physical fear that causes them to respond this way, but the longer it continues, the longer we won't come to grips with the real problem, the ideology itself. In a sane world, we would, at the very least, be calling upon Muslims living in our midst to disavow the specific belief above or risk deportation as elements dangerous and incompatible with our society.
Given that Obama's entire strategy with respect to Islam is to abjectly grovel in apology for the very perceptions Friedman writes about, it'll be real interesting what he and his fellow apologists write when the next inevitable attack on Americans from Islamists abroad takes place.
cpabroker at December 4, 2009 5:20 AM
Friedman gets no credit for being late to the party. He is the perfect embodiment of conventional wisdom which is always conventional but not at all wise.
I started to read his "flat world' book and about 10 pages in, I realized that his depth of intellect is as shallow as a kiwi fruit's skin. How he got to the position he's in utterly escapes me. He's not even an exceptional writer. Plod, plod, plod. "Ain't I BRRRRiliant!"
BlogDog at December 4, 2009 5:56 AM
The following were committed by Muslim male(s) extremist(s) between the age of 17 and 40:
1968 murder of Bobby Kennedy.
1972 murder of Israeli athletes in Munich
1979 US embassy takeover in Iran
1983 Marine Barracks destruction in Beirut
1985 cruise ship Achille Lauro hijacking and the killing of an American in a wheel chair
1985 TWA flight 847 hijacked in Athens and a US Navy diver killed
1988 Pan Am flight 103
1993 World Trade Center bombed for the first time
1998 US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania bombed
2001 9/11
2002 Daniel Pearl murdered
2009 Fort Hood Texas massacre
Anyone see a pattern ? They are coming to get us and we have a reason to be paranoid about it.
Nick at December 4, 2009 6:55 AM
Well, I'm glad to see that someone like Friedman gets this, even though as BlogDog points out, he's late to the party. And yes, that narrative long predates 9/11. As luj says, Islamic hatred of the rest of the world is as old as Islam itself, although the particularly anti-American strain of it probably goes back to WWII, when most of the Arab nations were either captured by, or collaborated with, the Nazis.
This is the second thing I've seen from Friedman recently that suggests that the clue-bat may have at least grazed his head. I hope he keeps thinking along these lines.
Cousin Dave at December 4, 2009 6:57 AM
Friedman works for the New York Times. What did he have to say when that paper ran Abu Ghraib stories on the front page for over a month? By his math, the paper should run a million times as many front page stories highlighting US soldiers and diplomats doing acts of kindness towards the Muslim people of the world. Do you think that is going to happen? I sincerely doubt it. So, is Friedman’s newspaper a major contributor to the narrative he decries? Sure seems to fit.
Dan K. at December 4, 2009 8:00 AM
Leave a comment