Raymond Ibrahim's Blog, page 23

Osama Bin Laden: Chicken or Egg?

To posit the significance of Osama bin Laden's demise, we must first decide which came first — the chicken or the egg? Quaint as it is, this question is fundamentally an inquiry into the nature of cause and effect. In our context, did Osama bin Laden...

The Muslim World's Inferiority Complex

What if an entire civilization developed an inferiority complex? What ramifications would that have on the rest of the world? How would such paranoia play itself out in the interaction of civilizations? An Arabic op-ed titled "The Broder Dilemma and...

What to do, what to do...

Now that Obama has decided not to release photos evidencing the fall of Osama bin Laden, al-Qaeda has another option than merely heroizing the "martyred" OBL: insist on the contrary—that he never died, that it's just another infidel conspiracy to...

Bin Laden and the Eternal Hydra of War

As we ponder the significance of Osama bin Laden's death, it is well to reflect that Islamists are not the cause of hostilities; they are but symptoms of a much greater cause. Individually killing them off—which is nice—is like a doctor temporarily...

Job Opening: New Global Jihad Leader Wanted

With the killing of Osama bin Laden, we return to the age old question: which came first, the chicken or the egg? Or, in our context, which came first—the jihadist vision or the jihadist? The ideology or the ideologue? Did Osama "create" the ideology of...

Islam's Christian Scapegoats

After mentioning the sort of atrocities Christians in Pakistan suffer—including being killed by "blasphemy" laws, constantly "abused in public and harassed in the street by groups of Muslim youths," ostracized and impoverished by the government—a recent...

Were Conquered Christians Really Liberated Muslims?

Imagine if a top American historian appeared on the MSM insisting that the only reason Europeans conquered the Americas was to "defend" the Native Americans—who somehow had adopted Christianity centuries before Jesus was born—from being persecuted by...

The Silent Extermination of Iraq's 'Christian Dogs'

Last week an Iraqi Muslim scholar issued a fatwa that, among other barbarities, asserts that "it is permissible to spill the blood of Iraqi Christians." Inciting as the fatwa is, it is also redundant. While last October's Baghdad church attack which...

Destroying One Koran vs. Destroying Many Christians

The now infamous Koran burning by Florida pastor Terry Jones has created hysteria in the Muslim world. In Afghanistan alone, some twenty people, including U.N. workers, have been killed and beheaded to screams of "Allahu Akbar!" Western leaders around...

Ideals Trump Interests in Obama's Libya Policy

President Obama's recent explanation for militarily engaging Libya is yet another example of how U.S. leaders increasingly rationalize their policies via sentimental and idealistic platitudes, rather than reality or the long view—or just plain common...