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Nora, Samstag, 22. November 2003, 12:29 (vor 7847 Tagen)

SERPENTS OF TERROR

By RALPH PETERS

November 21, 2003 -- WHAT, besides the Muslim
religion, does the medieval theocracy of Saudi
Arabia have in common with democratic Turkey and
its secular constitution?

Both states tried to look the other way as the
Islamic terrorist threat metastasized. The result?
Both have been shocked by terror bombings.

The Saudis thought they were safe because they
paid huge bribes and preach a hate-filled form of
Islam almost as grim as Osama´s. The Turks
imagined that their Muslim identity, combined with
their defiance of America on the eve of Iraq´s
liberation, would buy them goodwill.

Now both states are learning that President Bush
was right: You can´t compromise with evil. There´s
no middle ground. Every nation must choose either
to stand against terror or wait to become its
victim. Appeasement doesn´t work.



Yesterday´s horrific attacks in Istanbul, which
killed at least 27 and wounded more than 450, had
multiple targets. They struck at British interests
during President Bush´s visit to London. But
there´s a bit of good news in the rubble: Istanbul
was as close to London as the terrorists could
get. The War on Terror is working.

Yet the terrorists also struck Turkey, killing as
many Turks as British citizens and hammering the
fragile Turkish economy.

Following the synagogue bombings that attacked
Istanbul´s 500-year tradition of welcoming Jews -
as well as Ankara´s recent cooperation with Israel
- the latest strikes are bound to do grave damage.
Desperately needed foreign investment will
slacken, while Turkey´s vital tourist industry -
painfully rebuilt after Desert Storm - has taken a
serious blow. Every Turk was a victim of these
bombings.

Our sympathies must be with the Turkish people,
despite the recent differences between our
governments. Individually, Turks are hospitable,
honorable and hardworking. They don´t support
violent extremism. And they certainly didn´t
deserve these vicious bombings.

But we needn´t shed any tears for their
politicians.

The heartbreaking thing about today´s Turkey - a
beautiful country of frustrated potential - is
that its grasping leaders have dragged it
backward. Reeling from economic disasters and
social strife two decades ago, and only emerging
from a military coup, Turkey´s spectacularly
corrupt political leaders did what others were
doing across the Muslim world: They played the
Islamic card, tolerating extremist preaching and
making public-relations pilgrimages to Mecca.

As long as it allowed them to cling to power, the
politicians pandered to the fundamentalists. And
as in other corrupt states, the Islamists made
swift headway by running honest local governments
that actually provided the services the state had
always promised but never delivered.

It´s a classic case: Religious extremists built
their power base on secular achievements. And
Kemal Ataturk´s dream of a prosperous, modern
Turkey is crumbling from within.

All the while, Turkey focused obsessively on its
fear of Kurdish freedom, while imagining that its
powerful military and police forces kept it safe
from all other dangers. And why should Islamic
terrorists strike an Islamizing state?

Because even the strictest forms of Islam
practiced in Turkey are too lax for religious
madmen. For Osama and his ilk, even the Saudi
Wahabis are insufficiently rigorous. True Muslims,
to the terrorists, worship their way and their way
only. Everyone who does not accept their heartless
vision is God´s enemy, whether Christian, Jew or
Muslim.

Perhaps the bombings in Istanbul will awaken the
Turkish people to the danger facing all of us. The
War on Terror isn´t a struggle between
Christianity and Islam, but between civilization
and barbarism.

Across the Middle East, political leaders nurtured
the viper of extremism, imagining it could be
tamed. Now the fangs have sunk deep, in Istanbul
and Riyadh. And those who nursed the serpents of
terror are learning just how deep the poison goes.