THE NEOCONS: A stigma on the face of humanity (1)

PART I _ How the war began?

The war of USA and Muslims started in 1949 and this war started from two teachers.

A child was born in the Asyut province of Egypt in 1906. His father’s name was Haji Qutb Ibrahim and mother’s name was Fatima Hussain binte Usman. His father was a peasant while the mother was a housewife. The child received Quranic education in his childhood and later received bachelors’ degree from Cairo in 1933. After that, he was appointed as Inspector of Schools in ministry of education of Egypt. The ministry sent him to Colorado, USA in 1949 to understand the USA’s education system. He remained in USA for 2 years and in these two years; he received education from Wilson teachers college Washington, Colorado State University and Stanford University of California. During his stay in USA, he had the opportunity to deeply study the American culture and society. This was an era of extremism in USA. The hippie subculture had already emerged by then. People of that era inherited the countercultural values of the Beat Generation, created their own communities, listened to psychedelic rock, embraced the sexual revolution, and used drugs such as cannabis and LSD to explore alternative states of consciousness. On the other hand, a group of people was emerging who wanted the reign of Christianity over the whole world. This school of thought believed that because they had proved their superiority over the whole world by atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, therefore they were fully justified in making the whole world Christian. This group had set Soviet Union and Muslims to be their targets. This inspector of schools from Egypt carefully studied these movements. When he went back to Egypt in 1951, he had turned into a revolutionist personality. He was then against the role of church and liberalism. He was of the opinion that Muslim world if not awakened would be in jeopardy in another 30 to 40 years. He joined ‘Aakhwan-ul-Muslimun’ and started departing his revolutionary knowledge to the youth of Egypt. We stop the story of the first teacher here, for a while.

In 1949, a teacher named Leo Strauss used to teach at Chicago University. He was a political philosopher. He had a very good reputation among peers as an extraordinary speaker. University of Chicago was then under the strong influence of ‘hippies’. These people used to regard peace and brotherhood as their religion. They believed that ‘all humans are equal and religion divides them therefore there shouldn’t be any religions, at all’. Strauss was an orthodox Christian and he didn’t like this movement and he thought that this movement could only be stopped through orthodox ideologies. He believed this movement to be very dangerous for the future of Christianity. He also preached that communism and the muslims were going to be the biggest threats to the Christian world in times to come. Leo founded a group with the people having same beliefs, in Chicago University in 1951 and this group started working on a small scale. This group had a four-point agenda:

· To spread the Christian teachings

· To stop modernism

· To fight the communist ideologies and

· to make people aware of the muslim threat

Lets go back to the first teacher now.

The name of this Egyptian teacher was Syed Qutb. He was blessed with extraordinary writing and speaking abilities. He started polishing Egyptian youth very skillfully. This was the time of King Farook’s regime. He was a total wastrel, a liberal and poor manager of state’s affairs and that was the reason why Egyptian society then was at its worst. Syed Qutb started turning people against him. It was due to Syed Qutb’s teaching which influenced General Muhammad Najeeb and Colonel Jamal Abdul Nasir to over throw the King Farook’s govt……. At first, Syed Qutb completely supported the army rebellion but when even the new army leadership started making Egypt a liberal, modern and neutral stare, he turned against the government. The government of Egypt put him behind bars in 1954 and brutally tortured him. Till that time, CIA had entered into Egypt. CIA also kept torturing Syed Qutb. The government of Egypt kept him in custody for ten years. In 1954, he was released upon the intervention of Iraqi government. But he was kept under observation. His health deteriorated continuously. He was arrested again after a year; a case was filed against him, and after a closed room hearing he was hanged on August 29, 1966 along with two of his disciples. Syed Qutb died but left a huge circle of his disciples which contained both literalities and the ones who were practically involved in preaching. The ones that gained fame include Imam Khomeini, Maulana Moududi, and third one the founder of Al-Qaida and mastermind Ayman al-zawahiri. Ayman Al-Zawahiri spend most of his childhood in the company of Syed Qutb and after his death, he vowed to complete his mission.

Leo Strauss and his disciples migrated to Washington because hippies were against them and they didn’t let them exercise their ideologies fully when they were in Chicago. They thought of getting into the mainstream leadership circle so they could fully exploit the situation. Republican Party was a soft target as they found out and joined the Republicans. The famous among Leo Strauss’ disciples are Dick CheneyDick Cheney, Donald RumsfeldDonald Rumsfeld, Paul WolfowitzPaul Wolfowitz and William KristolWilliam Kristol. Paul Wolfowitz and William Kristol were students of Leo Strauss’ in Chicago University whereas Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney were majorly influenced by his ideologies. Leo Strauss died in 1973 after which his students vowed to complete his mission. The story moves at much faster pace now.

In 1972, Richard NixonRichard Nixon of Republican Party wins elections. Nixon and his foreign minister Henry Kissinger decide to make better relationship with Soviet Union and China but Leo Strauss’ disciples oppose this decision. In 1974 Gerald Ford becomes the president and Donald Rumsfeld becomes his Defense Minister and Dick Cheney becomes his Chief of Staff. This way, Strauss’ students become a part of the government whereas Syed Qutb’s students are declared rebels and government of Egypt starts launching offensives against them. Gerald Ford visits Soviet Union after which the cold war starts. Meanwhile, Anwar Sadat becomes the president of Egypt and visits Israel in 1977. Camp David agreement takes place and a worldwide protest of muslims begin against Anwar Sadat. In 1980, Ayman Al-Zawahiri and his companions announce jihad. They plant their men in Egyptian army and on 16th October 1981 during a ceremony, Anwar Sadat is assassinated. After which Ayman Al-Zawahiri, Abd Al-Salaam Faraj and many others are arrested. One story ends here and another begins when President Reagan takes over the presidential office.

Continue to Part 2