16 Dec, 2016

Washington Post columnist openly warns of “Trump’s coming war against Islam”

Imtiaz Muqbil

The Deputy Editorial Page Editor of the Washington Post has sounded a stark warning that the incoming Trump administration is set to trigger a “War against Islam” that could lead to a potentially devastating “civilizational conflict”.

In a column published on Dec 11, Jackson Diehl, a 38-year veteran reporter and foreign correspondent of the reputed newspaper, cites the appointments of people with a public record of anti-Muslim demagoguery to key security positions in the Trump administration, and points out exactly what they plan to do next.

Writes Mr Diehl, “The outlines of what might well be called the Trump crusade are easily located in the rhetoric of Stephen K. Bannon, Michael T. Flynn, Jeff Sessions and other Trump appointees. They describe a “long history of the Judeo-Christian West struggle against Islam,” as Bannon put it, or “a world war against a messianic mass movement of evil people,” as Flynn, the incoming national security adviser, has written.

Outlining exactly how this strategy will be implemented, the Washington Post journalist says that it will mean more support for dictators and monarchs in the Islamic world and other “showy ways to challenge Iran.”

However, he says, the “average citizens across the Muslim world” will likely be most affected.

“Trump’s civilizational conflict will be experienced not by Shiite militias or Sunni terrorists — who will surely welcome it — but by average citizens across the Muslim world. They will see it in the “extreme vetting,” if not an outright ban, they will be subjected to in seeking to enter the United States. And they will feel it in the ramping up of U.S. support for dictators and monarchs who are judged by Trump to be tactical allies in the civilizational war.”

He forecasts that the strategy will lead to more terrorism, not less.

“It’s not hard to foresee the consequences of this movement. Muslims who despise jihadists and long to modernize their countries with free markets and democratic institutions will be alienated from their potential Western partners. The Islamic State and al-Qaeda, which all along have promoted the idea of civilizational war with the West, will gain new recruits, both in the Middle East and among Western Muslims.”

Mr Diehl concludes: “Bush and Obama tried to transform the Muslim Middle East, or U.S. relations with it, and failed. Trump’s aim will be to quarantine and repress the region and its religion. The worst foreseeable outcome is that he will succeed.”

The warning published on Dec 11 comes just a few days after the December 5, 2016 speech by outgoing President Barack Obama on his Administration’s “Approach to Counterterrorism”, in which he overtly warned of the consequences of acting “like this is a war between the United States and Islam.”

Mr Obama said, “We are fighting terrorists who claim to fight on behalf of Islam. But they do not speak for over a billion Muslims around the world, and they do not speak for American Muslims, including many who wear the uniform of the United States of America’s military. If we stigmatize good, patriotic Muslims, that just feeds the terrorists’ narrative. It fuels the same false grievances that they use to motivate people to kill. If we act like this is a war between the United States and Islam, we’re not just going to lose more Americans to terrorist attacks, but we’ll also lose sight of the very principles we claim to defend.”

Read Mr Diehl’s commentary in full here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/trumps-coming-war-against-islam/2016/12/11/edf3241c-bd60-11e6-91ee-1adddfe36cbe_story.html?utm_term=.bdd1144c93ab

Read President Obama’s speech in full here: https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2016/12/06/remarks-president-administrations-approach-counterterrorism

EDITOR’S COMMENT

Will the travel & tourism industry heed this unequivocal warning by a reputed columnist in one of the world’s most respected newspapers?

I wouldn’t bet on it.

Let the record show, however, that Travel Impact Newswire is the only travel publication with the courage to flag this upcoming disaster in line with the principle of prevention being better than cure.

2017 is NOT going to be a Happy New Year, not by a long shot. If readers thought the Bush presidency was bad, all I can say is, “they ain’t seen nothing yet.”

I have been warning about an American “War on Islam” long before the Washington Post. These warnings were published over several years in a column that was gagged in July 2012 by the editors of the Bangkok Post. I defied that gag order by publishing nearly all my back columns on my website. Readers can access those warnings by clicking here www.travel-impact-newswire.com and doing a search for the keywords “War on Islam”.

I hate to say it, but I am about to be proved right — very, very right.

Although it will be massively impacted by a War on Islam, the travel & tourism industry has no backbone to confront demagogue, despotic geopolitical leaders in the supposedly democratic West.

As per the standard operating procedure, the industry will 1) stick its head in the sand; and 2) wait for the problems to occur.

When the crap hits the fan, industry leaders will swing into action with the next five-point standard operating procedure: 1) Condemn terrorism; 2) Call for even more safety and security measures; 3) summon “crisis managers” to lecture on how to clean up the mess; 4) praise the “resilience” of the travel & tourism industry and its never-failing ability to bounce back; and 5) organise more talk-shops on crisis management and safety-and-security measures.

They will never have the guts to seek accountability for governmental policy mistakes and failures that are the root cause of violence, conflict and terrorism in the first place.

Let the record show, however: I warned you. Do nothing at your peril!