It's Arafat, Hussein and the Assads -- Atheists all, says NR Guru

orget Osama bin-Laden, Al Qaeda and a wave of Islamic theocratic fanaticism sweeping the Middle East and threatening to destabilize regions from the Balkans to South Asia and beyond. Forget, too, the endless chants of praise to Allah, promises of a stable of dark-eyed concubines and virgins for those who die in religious battle or "jihad" against the infidel. The bulk of international terrorism is due not to Islamic theocratic zeal and religious intolerance, says conservative wordsmith William F. Buckley, but rather "well-known atheists who live un-Muslim lives and have persecuted unto death the Muslim movements in their countries."

   The guilty "Atheists" in Buckley's post-September 11 spin scenario are Yasser Arafat of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, Saddam Hussein of Iraq, and Syria's powerful Assad family.

   Atheists all?

   Buckley made the charges in his December 14, 2001 column "A Way To Go" ("It's the Regime, Stupid") published in his National Review magazine. Considered a founding member and icon in the modern American conservative movement, Buckley has also been a staunch defender of the Christian faith, beginning with his critique "God and Man at Yale," through his historic debate with Atheist Madalyn Murray O'Hair, and now his latest spin trying to deflect the September 11 terrorist attacks in Washington and New York onto -- not Koran-quoting zealots, but rather -- Atheists.

   Where did he get such a notion?

   Buckley begins by citing a recent article by Boston University professor of international relations Angelo M. Cordevilla -- a "tough hombre" -- in the latest issue of the Claremont Review of Books. The publication is affiliated with the conservative Claremont Institute, and this "tough hombre" proposes bellicose moves in the global arena to combat terrorism, beginning with "a declaration of war against the Assad regime by the U.S., Israel, and Turkey." Buckley goes on to inject his own nostrums, and summarizes Cordevilla's points about the "war on terrorism," homeland security and the task of destroying elements of the al Qaeda organization. It's often unclear which idea belongs to which writer, but both men seem be on the same ideological and strategic frequency.

   Then Buckley asserts that "The principal sponsors of the terrorists are not religious fanatics." A quote follows, possibly referring to a statement from Cordevilla -- that Arafat, Saddam Hussein and the Assad family of Syria are "icons of Islamism despite the fact that they are well-known atheists..."

   No proof to this claim is offered, and Buckley proceeds to urge us to "Destroy those regimes," and realize "that attempts to appeal to moderation don't work, and in fact, reach back to bite us.," September 11, then, is re-cast not as a militant Islamic Jihad by interests intent on establishing a post-modern Koranic Caliphate of sorts throughout the Muslim world, but terrorism by "atheists."

   Attaching the "A-word" to any of these individuals is a formidable task, but one not neglected by either Christian fundamentalists even further to the right than Buckley, but some Islamic militants as well. The case for saying that Arafat, Hussein or the Assads are Atheists, appears based on a paucity of evidence. To the contrary...

   ¶    Laurie Myloroie, author of the book "Study of Revenge: Saddam Hussein's Unfinished War Against America," is one of those who argues that Iraq is a key component in Osama bin Laden's network (or what might remain of it), a view not shared by all Arabists and intelligence officials. Even so, Myloroie recently told the Voice of America as recently as October 5, 2001, "Both bin Laden and Saddam are Sunni Muslims." That accounts, in part, for Hussein's hostility toward his Shi'ite neighbors in Iran. In terms of cementing his power in Iraq and making that country a major player in Middle East politics, of course, Hussein will gladly use religious rhetoric, symbols and institutions when it is in his interest to do so. Iraq is more "secular" in certain respects than other nations in the region, and Myloroie noted that Hussein rose to power "by suppressing all religious institutions and religious leadership that they thought would be independent from (his) control." Arguing against the connection between bin Laden and Hussein is a quote from the Al Qaeda founder insisting that Hussein is an "atheist" and that his "God" is the Ba'athi Party which controls the government.

   And there is more. Since the Gulf War, Hussein has embarked on a carefully scripted campaign of courting Islamic religious interests, and has even constructed the world's largest mosque as a symbol of his new union between church and state.

   ¶    Hafez-al-Assad headed the military directorate of the Syrian Ba'athi Party (which has been at odds with its opposite numbers in Iraq), and in 1970 overthrew the government of president Nur al-Din a;l-Atasi. Three years later, riots erupted after Assad -- elected president for a seven-year term in a popular plebiscite -- dropped a requirement from the nation's constitution that the president must be a Muslim. Assad was accused of heading an "atheist" regime.

   Even so, Syria partnered with Egypt in 1973 to declare war on Israel -- a conflict with deep cultural, religious and historical roots.

   Assad's Ba'athi ideology resulted in Syria being considered part of the "Soviet camp" in the final years of the Soviet Union; but in respect to religion, as with the case of Hussein in Iraq, Assad thought in terms of power and political consolidation. Following the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran, Muslim groups staged popular uprisings throughout the region and Shi'ite doctrine was seen as both a religious and political threat. The Syrian army quashed riots in Aleppo, Homs and Hama, and Assad began making public declarations concerning his country's Islamic roots. Members of the Muslim Brotherhood tried to assassinate Assad in 1980, and later in the year when the Iran-Iraq war began, Syria backed the clerical regime in Iran -- a move said to reflect the conflict between Ba'athi groups in Damascus and Iraq.

   Even with the alliance between Assad's government and the theocracy in Tehran, the Muslim Brotherhood again tried to stage uprisings in hopes of establishing its own clerical regime. When Syria withdrew from several areas of Lebanon following attacks by the Israeli army, this resulted in the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem issuing a fatwa against Assad for presumably treating the Palestinian Liberation Organization poorly.

   In June, 2000, the older Assad died and was succeeded by his son, Bashar, who began a program of minor political reforms. During a papal visit last year to Damascus, Assad accused Jews of "trying to kill the principles of all religions," and noted that Jews had supposedly murdered both Jesus Christ and the Muslim prophet Muhammad. The religious dimension behind the pope's historic visit to Syria was complicated further when international Christian leaders expressed their disapproval.

   One example of how the Assads embraced religion occurred in December, 1999 when the government called for public prayers asking God to deliver rain in the midst of an acute draught ravaging the country. CNN noted, "Muslim clerics and officials reiterated Assad's call for prayer and reminded Syrians of 'the sacred blessing that is water.' Muslims were asked to perform a "purifying fast for three days..."

   ¶    Charges that PLO leader Yasser Arafat is an "atheist" are equally problematic. The accusation is made occasionally by apocalyptic Christians, and ministries engaged in aggressive missionary work in Israel such as the Ark of Salvation group. They insist, in the words of one cleric, that the Palestinian Covenant is "an excuse in pure unadulterated atheist Marxism," and note that terms like "Islam," "Allah" and "Muhammad" are absent. Indeed, the Covenant (adopted in 1964 and revised in 1968), "Al-Mihaq Al Watani Al-Filastini" does not include this language.

   Whether the PLO is "secular" is a subject of contentious debate. Right-wing Israelis often insist that the Arafat organization is indistinguishable from militant Islamic groups. Indeed, the logo on many PLO publications often depicts the region on the Temple Mount known as the Dome of the Rock, a devotional locus for Muslim, Christian and Jewish believers. Arafat prays in public, and even if the PLO is "secular" to some extent, this does not mean that Arafat, or any other PLO official, is an "atheist."

   In fact, "atheist" is a term used in Middle Eastern discourse to often refer to those who believe in religions other than the peculiar and discreet faith of the individual making the accusation. A Shi'ite may use the term against a Christian or Jew (and perhaps even vice versa!). Regimes that do not reflect a "correct" theocratic bent, or have secular components -- such as women not being required in Iraq to wear a burqa -- can lead to misuse of the term. In the Middle East alphabet soup of labels and descriptions, "atheist" means different things to different speakers. A "secularist" -- or an individual accused of being one -- can easily be branded an "atheist" without much need for further explanation.

   But if anyone associated with a command of language and fluidity of discourse should know better, it should be William F. Buckley. He is considered the man that popularized the use of terms like "oxymoron" in everyday American parlance, and both admirers and critics note his talent at "beating people over the year with a thesaurus." A "secularist" or individual who embraces a different religion, especially one who navigates the treacherous political waters of the Middle East though, is not automatically an "atheist." If anything, the shabby charge serves to divert us from a blatant truth -- that the violence of September 11 was the result, in part, of religious fervor, and the designs of those who would transform the earth into a theocracy.

   "Atheists" conducting a religious Crusade or Jihad? Now there's an oxymoron from the man who should know better.

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