Jamie

Weinstein

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December 2, 2008

The Massacre in Mumbai: The Work of Maniacal Evil

Last week, on the streets of Mumbai, we saw yet again the face of terror. We saw the face of deliberate destruction. We saw the face of maniacal evil.
 

While the details of Mumbai's massacre are still being sorted out, this much we know. We know that the killers intentionally targeted Americans, Britons and Jews. We know that the terrorists deliberately attacked, among other sites, a hospital. And we know that the savages that shocked our consciences last week were inspired by the same wicked ideology that has inspired radical Islamists to kill innocents in the past, from New York to Madrid to London and far beyond.

Whether these killers formerly belonged to the previously unknown terrorist group Deccan Mujahideen or were members of a better-established organization, the nature of their attack illuminates clearly enough to us what animated their wickedness. Make no mistake, what we saw in Mumbai last week was not the result of "grievances" perpetrated by India or the United States or Israel. No, the perpetrators were most certainly motivated by an Islamist ideology which seeks to institute a cruel, medieval vision of Islam on the world. They seek to upend governments in Muslim countries that they consider insufficiently "Islamic" and destroy Western liberal societies whose version of freedom disgusts them.

Yes, friends, President Bush was right. These terrorists do hate our freedom. Their goal is to establish their own conception of "freedom."

To understand their perverse version of freedom, it is helpful to turn to the late Egyptian Islamist theorist Sayyid Qutb. In his most famous work Milestones, the influential Islamist thinker advocated for offensive Jihad in order to "to wipe out tyranny and introduce true freedom to mankind." That doesn't sound too bad until you discover how Qutb defines freedom and tyranny. He writes, "The peace which Islam desires is that the religion (i.e. the Law of the society) be purified for God, that the obedience of all people be for God alone, and that some people should not be lords over others." To achieve this, the faithful must "annihilate all those political and material powers which stand between people and Islam . . ."

Freedom to Qutb and to the Jihadis that currently threaten the West can only be achieved when all forms of "servitude" to worldly leaders and values are eliminated and man submits himself fully to what these killers determine to be Allah's laws. If this sounds to you more like a mission to establish religious tyranny than any conception of freedom that is familiar in the West, well, then you are on the right track.

It is fun to blame others for the crimes of Jihadis, but the reality is that such diversions of blame are truly bewildering. What grievance could possibly justify terrorists targeting sick people in a hospital? What grievance could justify murdering innocent Indians on the streets of Mumbai? What possible grievance could justify the intentional killing of a rabbi and his wife living in India for the purpose of helping others? What grievance in the world could help us understand the murder of a young American girl and her father who were in India on a spiritual journey?

And the cruel torture that was performed on those massacred in the two hotels targeted by the terrorists – what possible grievance justifies that? "Of all the bodies, the Israeli victims bore the maximum torture marks," a doctor who conducted post-mortems on the victims was reported to have said. "It was obvious that they were tied up and tortured before they were killed. It was so bad that I do not want to go over the details even in my head again." I suppose the "grievance" that justified this torture was that these people had the audacity to be Jews and live in a Jewish state?

This sickening ideology cannot be accommodated. It must be defeated. This loss of humanity is not the result of any grievance, but is driven by the aforementioned hideous ideology, which ultimately seeks to establish religious tyranny all around the world. This ultimate goal is far-fetched to say the least, but when you believe you have a religious mandate to pursue such a mission, rationality goes out the window. 

As Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice heads over to India, she should first and foremost emphasize that the American people stand with Indians in their time of tragedy. She should also emphasize that their fight against terror is our fight and that last week's terrible attack is a tragic reminder that the war against terror is far from finished.

If, as some analysts believe, the terror attack in Mumbai was perpetrated in order to draw India and Pakistan into a war, perhaps a nuclear war, then Rice should also work to prevent such a catastrophe from coming about. But the burden of responsibility lies with the Pakistani government. While facts are still being processed, it is already clear that many, if not all, of the terrorists came from Pakistan. While it is unlikely that the current elected Pakistani government had any knowledge of the attacks, it is quite possible that the Pakistani intelligence service, the ISI, had some connection.

Pakistan must get serious about cracking down on terror. No more nice words followed by inaction should be tolerated.

But for now, let us remember those innocent Indians and foreigners whose blood was strewn on the streets of Mumbai. Their only crime was living their life like the rest of us.

© 2008 North Star Writers Group. May not be republished without permission.

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