On the occasion of the 35th anniversary of the 1973 war between Arab countries and Israel and the seventh anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, the Sudanese daily Al-Intibaha published a column by 'Othman Fuad 'Othman arguing that the Arabs have a distorted perception of these events. 'Othman wrote that the 1973 war is perceived as an Arab victory when in fact it ended in defeat, whereas 9/11 is perceived as a defeat for the Muslim nation, when in reality these "blessed attacks" were a "great victory" for the Muslims. 'Othman added that the distorted view of 9/11 is the result of psychological warfare waged against the Arabs by the "Zionist-Crusaders."
Following are excerpts from his article:[1]
The 1973 October War Was a Defeat, Not a Victory
"The Zionist-Crusader war against the Muslim nation is in full force; it is an all-out war taking place on every front. It takes many diverse forms – from the military occupation and settlement [policy] in Palestine, through ideological warfare and cultural plunder, to attempts of normalization [aimed at] overpowering and defeating the entire Muslim world.
"One of the most dangerous forms of war [waged by] the Zionists against our Muslim nation is psychological and ideological warfare, aimed at breaking our morale, crushing our fighting spirit and stamping out any thought of resistance. The Zionist propaganda has infiltrated the very heart of the Muslim world, taking over Egypt, the Arabian Peninsula, and Iraq. It reaches us through its vast media machine, its skilled intelligence apparatuses, and its extensive human, material, and technological resources, which allow it to implement its evil agenda, inculcate its false claims, and plant its deceptive concepts in the Muslims' consciousness.
"The greatest act of deception perpetrated by the Zionist propaganda machine against the Muslim nation is the falsification of early and modern Muslim history, and the eradication of momentous events that had a clear impact on the history of the Islamic world. For example... an event that modern Arab history glorifies with songs and poems is the October 1973 war, which has come to be regarded as a victory over the Zionist enemy. True, the heroes of the Egyptian army managed to surprise the Zionist enemy, crush the Bar Lev Line, cross the Suez Canal, and reach the Sinai. But unfortunately, this early victory was transformed into a defeat by the traitors, agents, and jaded politicians who were part of the Egyptian leadership at the time...
"[Considering] the humiliation, the fiasco, and the downfall of the Egyptian army at the end of the war, can we [really] call the October War a victory and celebrate it? Does it make any sense to treat the horrible massacre of the Egyptian army in the Sinai as a victory over the Zionist enemy?...
"The political victory [that the Egyptians claim to have achieved in this war] is [also] non-existent... Any sensible person knows that [what counts] is not the event itself but its outcomes. The event in question was the October War, and its outcome was the signing of the Camp David Accords, which ended the fighting between Egypt and Israel... [However,] the most important clause in the accords has come to be a bone in the throat of Egypt and of the Muslim nation in general.
"The accords gave Sinai back to Egypt, but [Egypt's] sovereignty there is deficient, since the accords forbid the [Egyptian] army from entering [the region]... The accords also normalized political relations between Egypt and Israel, and established reciprocal diplomatic, cultural, and trade relations between them. This was a crushing blow to the united front of Arab and Islamic resistance that was struggling against the treacherous plan of appeasement and capitulation.
"The accords broke down the psychological barriers which had prevented normalization and had thwarted the attempts to defeat the Muslim nation... [In addition,] they included an annual U.S. handout of flour to Egypt, which has collapsed the Egyptian agricultural sector...
"[But] the biggest catastrophe caused by the Camp David Accords is the elimination of the largest Islamic force – namely Egypt – from the Arab-Islamic-Israeli conflict, and the removal [of Egypt] from the arena of jihad aimed at liberating Al-Aqsa and purging the despoiled land of Palestine of the filthy Zionist enemy. The Camp David Accords have tied Egypt's hands, [preventing it] from participating in any struggle against the Zionist enemy – even from providing humanitarian [aid], such as distributing medicine and food to the besieged people of Gaza...
"[However,] despite the conspiracy, and the attempts to mislead people and numb their brains, the Egyptian people have not bought the lie of the 'October victory.' On the contrary, they have fought to change the humiliating reality imposed by the Camp David Accords – [for instance,] when 'Aboud Al-Zummar, [Khaled] Al-Islambouli and their comrades attacked the designer of these accords, [the late] Egyptian president Anwar Sadat..."
The 9/11 Raid Was a Victory
"The second example [supporting] our claim regarding the Zionists' role in falsifying facts and rewriting history... is that of the 9/11 attacks, which targeted the American tyranny [by striking at] the symbols of its power and the sources of its strength. The Al-Qaeda fighters attacked with their planes, [toppling] the towers of the World Trade Center and turning the fortress of the Pentagon into a heap of rubble. Thousands were killed or wounded in these attacks. The third plane was on its way to strike the [U.S.] president at his residence, but fell before it could reach its destination...
"When I began to collect [data] to expose the Zionist plot, I reached the conclusion that the best example supporting my claim was the fraud and the lie [used by the Zionists] to empty the 9/11 victory of content and to portray this great triumph as a great defeat brought upon the Muslim nation by Al-Qaeda. This lie was spread by secularists and agents, by the hired pens of the Marines, by evil intellectuals, and by the greedy, the ignorant, [or] the naïve. [It was spread by] by those who have been blinded by Western secularism, and by victims of culture clash, cultural robbery, and ideological invasion...
"My goal in this article is to prove that the September [11] raid was a victory, not a defeat. Everyone knows that most of the events discussed in the global media since the 1940s have had to do with the war between the Arabs and the Israeli enemy. [These media reports] always refer, justly or unjustly, to the pan-Arab movement that has dominated the national struggle [for decades]. This has emptied the Palestinian problem of its religious content, denying its global Islamic character. [Moreover,] the Arabs have come to be stereotyped as primitive and reactionary Nazi terrorists, who have no ideology or banner except those of Arab racism.
"[However], the September [11] attacks placed Islam at the top of the global agenda. They brought it out of the [realm of theoretical discussion] and out of the hallways of secular pan-Arab politics, and set it in its proper place: [in a position of] pioneering leadership and impact on world events. [Even] if that is the only achievement of the September [11] attacks – it is enough.
"The attacks alerted the people of the West to [the advent of] this new future [based on] divine values and directives. Despite the intensive media assault on Islam and its symbols in the wake of 9/11, miraculously, the peoples of Europe, Russia, and America rushed to the Islamic centers, looking for every scrap of information they could find about Islam and its teachings – so much so that the Islamic centers [soon] ran out of materials on the tenets of Islam.
"Within a few months, the mosques and Islamic centers filled with visitors and individuals who embraced Islam by the multitude. They were joined by thousands of Muslims who returned to their faith after having forgotten it – [Muslims who had] forgotten their origins [and], assimilated into Christian European society, and had been on the verge of losing their identity and religion. When the security and supervision apparatuses [started to] pressure them and use racial discrimination against them, they remembered the power of their faith and returned to the path of Islam.
"According to reports by Western strategic studies institutes, Islam is infiltrating the very strongholds of Christianity, and is threatening [Christianity's] continued hegemony in Europe. [In fact,] academic studies show that in some European countries, Muslims will become a majority within a few years."
The September 11 Attacks Restored the Honor of the Muslim Nation, Proving It Could Defeat Its Enemies
"Additionally, one of the great benefits of the September [11] events is that they restored the Muslim nation's honor and self-confidence, and demonstrated to the entire world the ability of this jihad-fighting nation to cause the gravest harm and inflict the greatest blows on enemies that attack it, teaching them a lesson they [can] never forget.
"These blessed attacks proved to the world that Islam offers justice, compassion and peace to those who wish to [live] peacefully with it, but has tools of jihad and sacrifice with which to deter the leaders of the infidels and to take revenge on attackers and oppressors.
"As for the outcry raised... by the enemies of Islam and their agents, who said that [the attacks] were a crime against Islam since they brought pressure upon Muslim individuals, groups and organizations – this is a biased and misleading claim that should be rejected out of hand, because reality belies it, established historical facts disprove it, and Islamic teachings and values expose its depravity.
"Among the uncontested divine traditions and fundamentals is the conflict between truth and falsehood, and the duty of [participating in] the struggle between the believers and the enemies of the faith. This [struggle] will continue until the end of days, as long as the human race remains upon the Earth.
"Reality shows that enmity towards Allah and His Messenger, and that the war against [all of Allah's] messengers – from Noah, Moses, Jesus, Abraham, John [the Baptist] and [his father] Zacharias to the Messenger [Muhammad], who were [all] besieged and subjected to torture, massacre and abuse merely for believing in Allah – [that this war] has been waged by [a series of enemies, from] the Mongols and [their leader] Hulagu Khan to the Crusaders and the imperialists, who destroyed our culture in Andalusia, Iraq, and elsewhere.
"Did not all of these massacres precede the 9/11 attacks?.."
Endnote:
[1] Al-Intibaha (Sudan), October 5, 2008.
