In an article published on April 1, 2008, in the Arab liberal e-journal Elaph, Iraqi liberal Khudayr Taher, who now lives in the U.S., wrote that American intelligence has done a great service to humanity in helping to defeat Nazism, communism, the Taliban, and Saddam Hussein, and that cooperating with the CIA is a moral and religious obligation.
The following are excerpts: [1]
"I Have the Pleasure of Being the First Arab to Write About the Bright Side of the CIA"
"When we in the Arab world look at others we are accustomed to projecting our own faults onto them. We pull out rash and gratuitous ready-made judgments that are without basis in reality. In so doing, we do wrong to ourselves and to others.
"When the subject of the CIA comes up, [we] fling out a handful of descriptions and accusations that have nothing to do with reality. The CIA is a national [security] apparatus whose mission is different than that of the intelligence apparatuses in Arab states. It is an apparatus that defends the national interest, and not the ruling regime.
"The CIA has a bright side to it, and… it has done [a great service to] humanity and civilization. However, the counter-propaganda of the Communists, the pan-Arabists, and the Islamists obscures this accomplishment. It is difficult for the Arab mind to see this bright side of the CIA, laden as it is with demagoguery, superstition, and slogans hostile to Western civilization, and to America in particular.
"I have the pleasure of being the first Arab in the history of the Arab press to write about the bright and civilized side of the CIA. I alone bear the moral and political responsibility for the contents of this article, in which I wanted to show to what extent ideological propaganda distorts [one's perception of] the rival. I also wanted to spur the reader to engage in informed and realistic political analysis, far from the frenzy of the rabble and their ideological slogans."
"A Great Part of the Defeat of Communism Was Due to the Monumental Efforts of the CIA"
"The Agency inaugurated its activities under another name [i.e. the Office of Strategic Services] with its entry into the fierce war against Hitler's criminal Nazi regime. The defeat of Nazism and the liberation of humanity from its evil are considered the first of the CIA's noble achievements. It did a service to humanity and saved millions… from Hitler's evil.
"Then, together with the emergence of the evils of the communist danger to civilization and freedom, the CIA was founded under its current name. It began its noble battle against the danger of communism, [both] as an ideology and as repressive and dictatorial political regimes that herded their peoples into prisons and to the gallows. These regimes extinguished human dignity under a pretext [provided by] insane slogans that were far from any logic and the self-evident truths of [human] life.
"This ended with a great victory for Western civilization, its humanist philosophy, and its social laws, which protect the rights of man and offer him the greatest respect and the greatest measure of justice, rights, and social solidarity ever known to humanity. A great part of the defeat of communism was due to the monumental and noble efforts of the CIA throughout the Cold War."
"The War on Terror Is the Best Jihad for the Sake of Allah"
"Then came the age of the war on terror, and the Agency played a large role in crushing and deposing the Taliban regime and the Saddam regime, in liberating their peoples, and granting them liberty. And the Agency continues to brave the hazards of the fierce battle against the virus of the terrorism perpetrated by the parties of political Islam with the support of Iran and Syria.
"If we examine the efforts and achievements of the CIA rationally and in [good] conscience, we will find them to be noble and honorable activities that were always to the benefit of all the world's peoples and to the benefit of civilization, security, and stability. Putting an end to Nazism, communism, the Taliban, and Saddam, and the persistence in the war on terror - all of these are courageous and honorable activities that do a service to all peoples, without exception…
"It saddens me to say that I do not personally have any connection or ties to the CIA. [I say it saddens me] since I consider cooperating with American intelligence - or with the intelligence agencies of Britain, France, Germany, and other Western countries - to be a moral and religious imperative incumbent on all honorable people, in order to combat the crimes of terrorism, and in order to protect human lives, the achievements of civilization, public liberties, security, and stability.
"The war on terror is the best jihad for the sake of Allah, so as to protect the lives of humans [and] their beautiful civilization."
Endnote:
[1] www.elaph.com, April 1, 2008. For previous articles by Khudayr Taher, see MEMRI Special Dispatches No. 1737, "Iraqi Liberal Khudayr Taher: My Journey from Darkness to Light; America Is the Prophet of Liberty," October 12, 2007, Iraqi Liberal Khudayr Taher: My Journey from Darkness to Light; America Is the Prophet of Liberty ; and No. 1650, "Arab Liberals on the 'Terrorist Doctors' Plot in the U.K.," July 11, 2007, Arab Liberals on the "Terrorist Doctors" Plot in the U.K..
