Anti-Terrorism – Tony Blair, British Prime Minister, October 2, 2001 Speech to Labor Party

I.          Activating Prior Knowledge
            Terrorism is not easy to define or explain. It often involves discriminate use of violence by groups who believe their cause is just but who face opposition from a superior force. The violence often targets civilians, who are seen as legitimate victims as part of a larger effort to challenge and disrupt a society seen as oppressive. Terrorist methods often depend on relatively modern technologies, such as car bombs or hijacking planes.
            In the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, widely attributed to Osama Bin Laden’s organization, Blair emerged as the West’s most articulate spokesperson. One should note that casualty estimates at this point were higher than what turned out to be the case. Blair explains a widespread reaction to mounting terror and what might be done against it. As he anticipated, Britain and the United States launched a vigorous attack on terrorist activities in Afghanistan in early October. The war was initially backed by many nations around the world, including, although with a number of cautions, moderate Muslim leaders and most Muslim Americans.

II.        Setting A Purpose for Reading
            As you read this article you should be able to identify how Blair defined the West’s position against terrorism. Was the September 11 attacks truly a turning point in world history?

III.       Reading the Text (Read, Re-Read, and Read Again)
     In retrospect, the Millennium marked only a moment in time. It was the events of September 11 that marked a turning point in history, where we confront the dangers of the future and assess the choices facing humankind.
     It was a tragedy. An act of evil …
     I believe their memorial (victims of September 11) can and should be greater than simply the punishment of the guilty. It is that out of the shadow of this evil, should emerge lasting good: destruction of the machinery of terrorism wherever it is found; hope amongst all nations of a new beginning where we seek to resolve differences in a calm and ordered way; greater understanding between nations and faiths; and above all justice and prosperity for the poor and dispossessed, so that people everywhere can see the chance of a better future through hard work and creative power of the free citizen, not the violence and savagery of the fanatic.

Stop! Can you answer the following questions based on what you read? If not, then go back and re-read.  According to Tony Blair, how should we honor the victims of September 11?

            And, of course there are dangers; it is a new situation.
            Every reasonable measure of internal security is being undertaken.
            Our way of life is a great deal stronger and will last a great deal longer than the actions of fanatics, small in number and now facing a unified world against them.
            People should have confidence.
            This is a battle with only one outcome: our victory not theirs.
            What happened on 11 September was without parallel in the bloody history of terrorism.

Stop! Can you answer the following questions based on what you read? If not, then go back and re-read.  What is the author’s purpose for writing this section?
         
     We know those responsible. In Afghanistan are scores of training camps for the export of terror. Chief amongst the sponsors and organizers is Usama Bin Laden.
     He is supported, shielded and given succor by the Taliban regime.
     Be in no doubt: Bin Laden and his people organized this atrocity. The Taliban aid and abet him. He will not desist from further acts of terror. They will not stop helping him.
     Whatever the dangers of the action we take, the dangers of inaction are far, far greater.

Stop! Can you answer the following questions based on what you read? If not, then go back and re-read.  According to this passage, who was responsible for the September 11 attacks?

            Look for a moment at the Taliban regime. It is undemocratic. That goes without saying.
            There is no sport allowed, or television or photography. No art or culture is permitted. All other faiths, all other interpretations of Islam are ruthlessly suppressed. Those who practice their faith are imprisoned. Women are treated in a way almost too revolting to be credible. First driven out of university; girls not allowed to go to school; no legal rights; unable to go out of doors without a man. Those that disobey are stoned.

Stop! Can you answer the following questions based on what you read? If not, then go back and re-read.  What are the accusations made against the Taliban in this paragraph?

            There is now no contact permitted with western agencies, even those delivering food. The people live in abject poverty. It is a regime founded on fear and funded on the drugs trade. The biggest drugs hoard in the world is in Afghanistan, controlled by the Taliban. Ninety per cent of the heroin on British streets originates in Afghanistan.
            The arms the Taliban are buying today are paid for with the lives of young British people buying their drugs on British streets.

Stop! Can you answer the following questions based on what you read? If not, then go back and re-read.  How do the Taliban treat their people? Where do they receive their funding?

            So what do we do?
            Don’t overreact some say. We aren’t.
            We haven’t lashed out. No missiles on the first night just for effect.
            Don’t kill innocent people. We are not the ones who waged war on the innocent. We seek the guilty.
            Look for a diplomatic solution. There is no diplomacy with Bin Laden or the Taliban regime.
            State an ultimatum and get their response. We stated the ultimatum; they haven’t responded.
            Understand the causes of terror. Yes, we should try, but let there be no moral ambiguity about this: nothing could ever justify the events of 11 September, and it is to turn justice on its head to pretend it could.

Stop! Can you answer the following questions based on what you read? If not, then go back and re-read.  Identify one of the initial reactions that a person might have and Blair’s response. Do you agree with his response? Why or why not?

            The action we take will be proportionate; targeted; we will do all we humanly can to avoid civilian casualties. But understand what we are dealing with. Listen to the calls of those passengers on the planes. Think of the children on them, told they were going to die.
            Think of the cruelty beyond our comprehension as amongst the screams and the anguish of the innocent, those hijackers drove at full throttle planes laden with fuel into buildings where tens of thousands worked.
            They have no moral inhibition on the slaughter of the innocent. If they could have murdered not 7,000 but 70,000 does anyone doubt they would have done so and rejoiced in it?
            There is no compromise possible with such people, no meeting of minds, no point of understanding with such terror.
            Just a choice: defeat it or be defeated by it. And defeat it we must.
            Any action taken will be against the terrorist network of Bin Laden.
            As for the Taliban, they can surrender the terrorists; or face the consequences and again in any action the aim will be to eliminate their military hardware, cut off their finances, disrupt their supplies, target their troops, not civilians. We will put a trap around the regime.
            I say to the Taliban: surrender the terrorists; or surrender power. It’s your choice….

Stop! Can you answer the following questions based on what you read? If not, then go back and re-read.  What types of actions does Blair suggest taking against terrorists? What arguments does he use to support these actions?

            Round the world, 11 September is bringing Governments and people to reflect, consider, and change. And in this process, admist all the talk of war and action, there is another dimension appearing.
            There is a coming together. The power of community is asserting itself. We are realizing how fragile are our frontiers in the face of the world’s new challenges.
            When we act to bring to account those that committed the atrocity of September 11, we do so, not out of bloodlust.
            We do it because it is just. We do not act against Islam. The true followers of Islam are our brothers and sisters in this struggle. Bin Laden is no more obedient to the proper teaching of the Koran than those Crusaders of the 12th century who pillaged and murdered, represented the teaching of the Gospel.
            It is time the west confronted its ignorance of Islam. Jews, Muslims, and Christians are all children of Abraham.
            This is the moment to bring the faiths closer together in understanding of our common values and heritage, a source of unity and strength.
            It is time also for parts of Islam to confront prejudice against America and not only Islam but parts of western societies too.

IV.       Personal Reflection
1.      What were Blair’s views on Islam? Give one statement from the passage that supports your response.
2.      If implemented, how effective would Blair’s ideas have been?
3.      Was 2001 a turning point in world history, as Blair claimed? Give evidence to support your response.

V.        Peer Reflection
Read the responses posted by three students. Did you agree or disagree with their response to question #3? Give at least one reason why or why not?

Pro Terrorism – Osama bin Laden’s 1998 Fatwa (decree)

I.          Activating Prior Knowledge

            Terrorism is not easy to define or explain. It often involves discriminate use of violence by groups who believe their cause is just but who face opposition from a superior force. The violence often targets civilians, who are seen as legitimate victims as part of a larger effort to challenge and disrupt a society seen as oppressive. Terrorist methods often depend on relatively modern technologies, such as car bombs or hijacking planes.

            This passage includes excerpts from Osama bin Laden’s 1998 Fatwa. Osama bin Laden was a member of a wealthy Saudi Arabian family who had broken with his background to lead radical Muslim resistance. By 1998, he was based in Afghanistan, where a new regime, the Taliban, gave him shelter and support while pursuing an extremely intolerant version of Islam. The whole context built upon the disruption of Afghanistan by the failed Soviet invasion of the 1980’s by the ongoing attacks on Iraq and military presence in the Arabian Peninsula by the United States and Britain after the 1991 Gulf War, and by longstanding tension between Israel and the Palestinians. The 1998 fatwa, a terrorist declaration of war, explains some of the thinking behind this new, unorthodox, and frightening military movement.

II.        Setting A Purpose for Reading

            As you read this article you should be able to identify and explain the three charges against the United States of America, Osama bin Laden lays out in the 1998 fatwa. When this document was published on the Internet and some Middle Eastern newspapers, how might it have contributed to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks?

III.       Reading the Text (Read, Re-Read, and Read Again)

Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders
World Islamic Front Statement
23 February 1998

Praise be to God, who revealed the Book, controls the clouds, defeats factionalism, and says in His Book: “But when the forbidden months are past, then fight and slay the pagans wherever ye find them, seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in every stratagem (of war)”: and peace be upon our Prophet, Muhammad Bin-abdallah, who said: “I have been sent with the sword between my hands to ensure that no one but God is worshipped, God who put my livelihood under the shadow of my spear and who inflicts humiliation and scorn on those who disobey my orders.”

Stop! Can you answer the following questions based on what you read? If not, then go back and re-read.  What major religion is being discussed? What holy text is referred to in the reading? Explain the meaning of the last sentence in the paragraph.

            The Arabian Peninsula has never – since God made it flat, created its desert, and encircled it with seas – been stormed by any forces like the crusader armies spreading in it like locusts, eating its riches and wiping out its plantations. All this is happening at a time in which nations are attacking Muslims like people fighting over a plate of food. In the light of the grave situation and the lack of support, we and you are obliged to discuss current events, and we should all agree on how to settle the matter.

Stop! Can you answer the following questions based on what you read? If not, then go back and re-read.  In this paragraph, Osama bin Laden makes two analogies with regards to European countries and the United States of America. Identify one of the two analogies and explain the comparison.
          
No one argues today about three facts that are known to everyone; we will list them, in order to remind everyone:

First, for over seven years the United States has been occupying the lands of Islam in the holiest of places, the Arabian Peninsula, plundering its riches, dictating to its rulers, humiliating its people, terrorizing its neighbors, and turning its bases in the Peninsula into a spearhead through which to fight the neighboring Muslim peoples.

If some people have in the past argued about the fact of the occupation, all the people of the Peninsula have now acknowledged it. The best proof of this is the Americans’ continuing aggression against the Iraqi people using the Peninsula as a staging post, even though all its rulers are against their territories being used to that end, but they are helpless.

Stop! Can you answer the following questions based on what you read? If not, then go back and re-read.  According to this passage, what was the first reason for the fatwa? Summarize in your own words. Do you agree or disagree with this argument? Why or why not?

            Second, despite the great devastation inflicted on the Iraqi people by the crusader-Zionist alliance, and despite the huge number of those killed, which has exceeded 1 million…despite all this, the Americans are once again trying to repeat the horrific massacres, as though they are not content with the protracted blockade imposed after the ferocious war or the fragmentation and devastation.

            So here they come to annihilate what is left of this people and to humiliate their Muslim neighbors.

Stop! Can you answer the following questions based on what you read? If not, then go back and re-read.  The second charge is that the crusader-Zionist alliance is responsible for over a million deaths in the region. What is the crusader-Zionist alliance he is referencing? (You may need to do a little research.)

            Third, if the Americans’ aims behind these wars are religious and economic, the aim is also to serve the Jews’ petty state and divert attention from its occupation of Jerusalem and the murder of Muslims there. The best proof of this is their eagerness to destroy Iraq, the strongest neighboring Arab state, and their endeavor to fragment all the states of the region such as Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Sudan into paper statelets and through their disunion and weakness to guarantee Israel’s survival and the continuation of the brutal crusade occupation of the Peninsula.

Stop! Can you answer the following questions based on what you read? If not, then go back and re-read.  Based on the information in this paragraph, what is Osama Bin Laden’s view of Judaism and Israel? Give evidence to support your response.

            All these crimes and sins committed by the Americans are a clear declaration of war on God, his messenger, and Muslims. And ulema have throughout Islamic history unanimously agreed that the jihad is an individual duty if the enemy destroys the Muslim countries. This was revealed by Imam Bin-Qadamah in “Al-Mughni,” Imam al-Kisai in “Al-Badai,” al-Qurtubi in his interpretation, and the shaykh of al-Islam in his books, where he said: “As for the fighting to repulse [an enemy], it is aimed at defending sanctity and religion, and it is a duty as agreed [by the ulema]. Nothing is more sacred than belief except repulsing an enemy who is attacking religion and life.”

Stop! Can you answer the following questions based on what you read? If not, then go back and re-read.  What was the author’s purpose in identifying various authors and their writings in this paragraph?

            On that basis, and in compliance with God’s order, we issue the following fatwa to all Muslims:

            The ruling to kill the Americans and their allies – civilians and military – is an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it in any country in which it is possible to do it, in order to liberate the al-Aqsa Mosque and the holy mosque [Mecca] from their grip, and in order for their armies to move out of all the lands of Islam, defeated and unable to threaten any Muslim. This is in accordance with the words of Almighty God, “and fight the pagans all together as they fight you all together,” and “fight them until there is no more tumult or oppression, and there prevail justice and faith in God.”

Stop! Can you answer the following questions based on what you read? If not, then go back and re-read.  What does Osama bin Laden command Muslims to do in this paragraph and based on whose authority are they to commit these actions?

IV.       Personal Reflection

1.      What are the major arguments presented in this fatwa?
2.      How did this document influence the events of the terrorists on September 11?
3.      Write a response to the fatwa.

V.        Peer Reflection

1.      Read the responses posted by three students and comment on their response to the fatwa.