News:

Recently US Senators have met to hammer out a draft resolution that authorizes an American strike on Syria. The duration of the operation is set to 60 days, which can be further extended by 30 days. The draft resolution, which is to be soon voted by Congress, is a response to Obama's bid to seek approval from US law makers. On September 1st 2013, US President Barack Obama said, "Now, after careful deliberation, I have decided that the United States should take military action against Syrian regime targets...I'm also mindful that I'm the President of the world's oldest constitutional democracy. And that's why I've made a second decision: I will seek authorization for the use of force from the American people's representatives in Congress."

Comment:

So once again Americans find their government on the brink of attacking another Muslim country after having already waged war against Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen and Libya in the past decade or so. However, this is not the first time the US has intervened in Syria. In October 2008, American Special Forces conducted a raid into Syria killing 8 civilians. This time, the US intervention will be more prolonged and the resulting civilian deaths will be much higher.

Many facets of America's second impending strike on Syria can be scrutinized and debated, however, there is only issue that really stands out,  and that is the impact of American hegemony and unilateralism on both the region as well as on the prevalent international system.

Even before the Arab spring revolution, anti-Americanism was rife not only in the Arab countries but also in the wider Muslim world. Since then anti-Americanism has reached an all-time high and there is no evidence to suggest that it will subside anytime soon. On the contrary, American military intervention in Syria will only exacerbate such sentiments. This is dangerous not only for America but also for West's relationship with the Islamic world.  These negative sentiments form the basis for intellectual and political awakening in the Muslim world. It forces Muslims to explore ways on how to become intellectually and politically independent of American hegemony and perpetual Western interference.

Another factor closely related to negative American sentiments is America's duplicity over the application of its ideology in the Islamic world. For instance, why does America ignore the 100,000 or so civilians killed at the hands of the Butcher Assad by conventional means  but raises a huge hue and cry when the same butcher kills 1429 Syrians but this time through chemical weapons. Likewise why does America choose to stand by General Sisi and allow him to use American weapons to kill over a thousand Egyptians and not intervene-Sisi is only gently reprimanded. Additionally there is no mention of American intervention in Palestine and Burma where nothing short of genocide is being perpetrated against Muslims. These are just some of the inconsistencies related to the value of human life placed by America. What about the contradictions regarding the implementation of democracy and freedom in the Islamic countries. The coup in Egypt against the democratically elected leader Morsi and the grotesque episode of Abu Ghraib in Iraq have laid bare American hypocrisy over her two ideological idols: Democracy and Freedom.

The combination of anti-American sentiments and America's ideological duplicity has invigorated Muslim minds to view political Islam rather than liberal democracy as a panacea to their problems. The confidence amongst Muslims in liberal democracy and Western solutions has been further diminished by the sustained economic crisis in the West and the revolt against capitalist policies stretching from Europe to Brazil.  Neither have the false Islamic pretenders such as Ennahda, Muslim brotherhood and others have helped the West in their crusade to promote their civilization in Muslim countries. These groups are despised by the masses and are viewed as endorsing capitalism and American hegemony disguised in Islamic garb. Hence, throughout the Arab and Muslim world, more and more Muslims are embracing political Islam as the only exit solution to their colonization by America and the West.

Therefore it is no longer surprising to find Muslim societies across the Islamic world deeply polarized between secular autocrats struggling to maintain the existing order for America and their colonial masters, and the Muslim masses wanting to liberate themselves through political Islam. The polarization has contributed to increasing instability and chaos, and is responsible for much of the political vacuum that pervades the Muslim world. Subsequently, America's primacy has weakened significantly and this means that America has to resort to greater force to maintain some semblance of control in order to protect her vital interests.

The lack of confidence in Western concepts and solutions has made both the implementation and the longevity of political solutions in Muslim countries difficult for Washington. This is despite the fact that America has considerable military might in the region, compliant military generals, and subservient politicians at her disposal. As soon as America takes a political decision it is not long before it unravels and America compelled to rethink. For instance in Syria the US started by supporting Arab monitors initially, which quickly gave way to Annan's Six Point Plan and this was followed by the Lakhdar Brahimi plan, then the Geneva peace plan was born. Now after military strikes it is anticipated that Geneva peace plan 2 will be mooted. America's failure to fashion successful political solution for countries like Egypt, Iraq, Yemen, Libya, Somalia, Afghanistan and Pakistan tells a similar story. In 2006 Pat Buchanan had this to say about America's political failures in the Muslim world. He said, "If Islamic rule is an idea taking hold among the Islamic masses, how does even the best army on earth stop it? Do we not need a new policy?" Several policies later and America is still struggling for a new policy to contain Islam.

On the international front, America's repeated threats to go it alone in Syria have grossly undermined the confidence in the international system. In truth American intransigence to unilaterally invade Iraq in 2003 was the beginning of the end of the international system and a death blow to the UN. As the world increasingly moves towards pre-1920 international framework for dealing with each other-when great powers ruled and international law was just a notion- international law and the UN will no longer be relevant to settle dispute between nations.

Finally, America and its allies in the West have worked tirelessly to craft an international system that for the past 60 odd years has prevented the Muslims masses from establishing their state-the Caliphate. And now by America's own handiwork the Muslim masses are being repeatedly attacked and this has bludgeoned to death any inclining Muslims masses had towards liberal democracy, and ignited their passion for the re-establishment of Caliphate.

The precedence of "humanitarian" intervention established by America, and the subsequent decline in the nation state model together with the fragmentation of the international law all provide a fertile foundation for the Caliphate to not only swiftly unify fifty-five Muslim countries under a single political authority, but also to intervene around the global to protect Muslim populations and spread Islam.

The Caliphate will also reform international relations and dispel the current drivers behind the upkeep of today's international system  such as one rule for the West and another rule for the rest, where might is right and fabricated evidences  are norm to wage preventative wars. Regarding the latter, the belligerence of America and other European states towards the world will be immediately dealt with by the Caliphate, In such cases no evidence will be required as their crimes against humanity are well documented and recorded. In sum, America through its blind arrogance is paving the way for the 21st century to belong to the Caliphate.

قَاتِلُوا الَّذِينَ لَا يُؤْمِنُونَ بِاللَّهِ وَلَا بِالْيَوْمِ الْآخِرِ وَلَا يُحَرِّمُونَ مَا حَرَّمَ اللَّهُ وَرَسُولُهُ وَلَا يَدِينُونَ دِينَ الْحَقِّ مِنَ الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْكِتَابَ حَتَّى يُعْطُوا الْجِزْيَةَ عَنْ يَدٍ وَهُمْ صَاغِرُونَ)) التوبة 29

"Fight those who believe not In Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the Religion of truth, (even if They are) of the people of the Book, until They pay the Jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued." [TMQ 9:29]

Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by

Abed Mustafa

It was revealed last week that the Coalition, under the leadership of Opposition Leader Tony Abbott, if elected, would seek to ban Hizb ut Tahrir and prevent its members abroad from visiting Australia, one from among a range of proposed policies related to Islam and Muslims.

Headlines:

• Egypt Strikes Tunnels to Gaza
• Pentagon Knew in 2012 that It would Take 75,000 GROUND TROOPS to Secure Syria's Chemical Weapons Facilities
• The US Is Doing an Awful Lot of Spying on Pakistan
• Indonesian Muslims Hold Anti-Miss World Protest

Details:

Egypt Strikes Tunnels to Gaza

Egyptian forces struck tunnels that connect Gaza and Egypt, according to local residents in Rafah. Reuters video showed explosions in the area followed by smoke clouds in Rafah on the border between Gaza and Egypt. The strike explosion took place at around sunset. About 80 percent of tunnels used to smuggle goods and arms into the Gaza Strip from Egypt are no longer functioning due to a crackdown by the Egyptian military after it ousted President Mohamed Morsi, a United Nations official said in July. Cairo moved to destroy the tunnels after militants in the Egyptian Sinai desert killed 16 of its soldiers a year ago. Egypt said some of the gunmen had slipped into Sinai from nearby Gaza, an accusation denied by Hamas, who controls the strip. Gaza relies on the network of tunnels for vital goods including fuel, cement and food. Hamas, which taxes much of the traffic through the underground passages, has been hit hard by the losses. Ordinary Palestinians, many of them dependent on U.N. aid handouts, have seen prices for staple goods skyrocket. Israel still maintains strict control of all imports into Gaza to prevent arms reaching Hamas, which refuses to recognize the Jewish state and has often clashed with it. Under international accords, merchandise cannot be imported via Egypt. [Source: Voice of America]

Pentagon Knew in 2012 that It would Take 75,000 GROUND TROOPS to Secure Syria's Chemical Weapons Facilities

Securing Syria's chemical weapons stockpiles and the facilities that produced them would likely require the U.S. to send more than 75,000 ground troops into the Middle Eastern country, MailOnline learned Wednesday. That estimate comes from a secret memorandum the U.S. Department of Defense prepared for President Obama in early 2012. U.S. Central Command arrived at the figure of 75,000 ground troops as part of a written series of military options for dealing with Bashar al-Assad more than 18 months ago, long before the U.S. confirmed internally that the Syrian dictator was using the weapons against rebel factions within his borders. ‘The report exists, and it was prepared at the request of the National Security Advisor's staff,' a Department of Defense official with knowledge of the inquiry told MailOnline Wednesday on condition of anonymity. [Source: UK Daily Mail]

The US Is Doing an Awful Lot of Spying on Pakistan

The $52.6 billion U.S. intelligence arsenal is aimed mainly at unambiguous adversaries, including al-Qaeda, North Korea and Iran. But top-secret budget documents reveal an equally intense focus on one purported ally: Pakistan. No other nation draws as much scrutiny across so many categories of national security concern. A 178-page summary of the U.S. intelligence community's "black budget" shows that the United States has ramped up its surveillance of Pakistan's nuclear arms, cites previously undisclosed concerns about biological and chemical sites there, and details efforts to assess the loyalties of counter­terrorism sources recruited by the CIA. Pakistan appears at the top of charts listing critical U.S. intelligence gaps. It is named as a target of newly formed analytic cells. And fears about the security of its nuclear program are so pervasive that a budget section on containing the spread of illicit weapons divides the world into two categories: Pakistan and everybody else. The disclosures - based on documents provided to the Washington Post by former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden - expose broad new levels of U.S. distrust in an already unsteady security partnership with Pakistan, a politically unstable country that faces rising Islamist militancy. They also reveal a more expansive effort to gather intelligence on Pakistan than U.S. officials have disclosed. The United States has delivered nearly $26 billion in aid to Pakistan over the past 12 years, aimed at stabilizing the country and ensuring its cooperation in counterterrorism efforts. But with Osama bin Laden dead and al-Qaeda degraded, U.S. spy agencies appear to be shifting their attention to dangers that have emerged beyond the patch of Pakistani territory patrolled by CIA drones. "If the Americans are expanding their surveillance capabilities, it can only mean one thing," said Husain Haqqani, who until 2011 served as Pakistan's ambassador to the United States. "The mistrust now exceeds the trust." [Source: Washington Post]

Indonesian Muslims Hold Anti-Miss World Protest

Indonesian Muslim hard-liners staged a protest on Tuesday in the country's capital to try to stop the holding of the Miss World pageant this weekend on the resort island of Bali. More than 200 members of several Muslim hard-line groups organised by the Islamic Society Forum staged a rally and march to the MNC Tower, the building that houses the local organiser of the contest. They held up banners with "Reject Miss World that exploits women" and "Go to hell Miss World" on them, and shouted "Allah Akbar," outside the building, which was guarded by 300 police. "This is an insult and humiliation of women," Muhammad Al Khathath, an Islamic Society Forum leader, told the crowd. "Muslims should reject the Miss World contest," he said. The demonstration was peaceful and broke up after protest leaders met with the pageant organisers. Last week, the Indonesian Ulema Council, the country's most influential clerics group, urged the government to cancel the event, saying the exposure of skin by women in such a competition violates Islamic teachings, even after organisers agreed to cut the bikini competition and instead outfit contestants in more conservative sarongs. The chairwoman of the Miss World Organisation, Julia Morley, earlier confirmed that none of the contestants would wear a bikini. [Source: South China Morning Post]

Mukhtarat from The Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir   Issue No. 22 Dhul Qiddah 1434 AH