by Austin Bay
January 8, 2003Someone needs to tell Washington state Senator Patty Murray that
Osama bin Laden's daycare centers are helping foment terror, not stop it --
and the ideal someone is a liberal Democrat who knows America needs
left-wing hawks.
But first, meet Jemaah Islamiya (JI), Al Qaeda's nom de guerre
in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. JI seeks to establish an Islamic state
extending from southern Thailand through the Filipino and Indonesian
archipelagoes. Last October's Bali night club bombing was JI's
headline-grabbing handiwork.
And part of JI's long-term strategy is funding youth schools.
Just before Christmas, I returned from Southeast Asia, where I
was working on a forthcoming magazine article on the terror war in the
region. One afternoon, a Malaysian scholar walked me through JI's "childhood
education" program, something Murray's staff failed to do for her.
The short version is money. JI uses the terror payola "from Arab
sources" to muscle out public and Muslim moderate education programs in
Malaysian villages.
It's symptomatic of an intra-Islam religious and cultural
conflict. I've heard Malaysian and Indonesian Muslims complain of "the
Arabization of our religion." Arabization is a highly nuanced term, but the
general drift among the people I interviewed is it represents a movement
toward an aggressive anti-Western, anti-secular and, frankly,
racially-tinged ideology. Here's the race angle JI preaches: Singapore is a
Chinese city, which is why it needs to be smashed by an Islamic uprising.
JI-funded schools teach hate, not reading. Over tea, the
Malaysian scholar reinforced his point, telling me undermining the schools
"preys on a (strategic) weakness in Malaysia."
Then I returned to the states to read Sen. Patty Murray's
comments.
If you aren't aware of them, that's a telling point, and it
ultimately relates to a strategic weakness in my country, the United States
of America.
Here's what Murray had to say about Osama bin Laden, on Dec. 19:
"We've got to ask, why is this man (Osama bin Laden) so popular
around the world?," Murray said. "He's been out in these countries for
decades, building schools, building roads, building infrastructure, building
daycare facilities, building health-care facilities, and the people are
extremely grateful. We haven't done that."
I know, it's jaw-dropping. A U.S. senator exalts a terrorist
who's funded a propaganda infrastructure designed to destabilize Third World
nations and teach kids to kill Muslim moderates and Americans.
It's easy to smack her with sarcasm, and say, hey Patty, you
don't know a soccer field from a battlefield. Sleepless in Seattle ain't the
same as Breathless in Baghdad.
But Murray's comments and the lack of criticism from her liberal
pals is indicative of a very serious American strategic weakness, one that
Al Qaeda preys upon just as it preys upon Malaysian and Indonesian
vulnerabilities.
America desperately needs a new generation of defense Democrats,
liberals with clear heads and sharp swords. America needs them now. Sam Nunn
is retired. Sen. Henry "Scoop" Jackson is dead. Gary Hart, now billing
himself as a defense guru, helped kill Scoop politically in 1972 and 1976.
Richard Perle, still a registered Democrat, is anathematized by liberals as
a prince of darkness, instead of the defense whiz he is.
But no major Democrats have publicly condemned Murray's outrage.
Silence doesn't cut it, folks. Perhaps a stonewall prevents "political
damage" to her, but it continues to seed deep doubts about Democrats on
national security. Sure, in a well wrought counter-terror strategy, daycare
centers can complement destroyers, but that wasn't Murray's message.
A U.S. senator's office so out of touch that it doesn't know Al
Qaeda's and Jemaah Islamiya's game is inexcusable. The general lack of
critique from the national media also suggests a national media culture
still not aware of 9-11's historic challenge.
Maybe Hart can recreate himself. Perhaps former Gen. Wes Clark,
if he shakes his Clinton umbilical, is the liberal warrior who can rebuild
the Harry Truman-wing of his party. But to rebuild and recreate means
damning the Democrats' Patty Murrays, whose myopic and highly politicized
domestic focus leads them to laud a vicious American enemy.
