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| 1946 Analysis: “Moslem States Represent a Potential Threat to World Peace” |
| 2006-02-13 |
| By Daniel Pipes How did the U.S. government perceive Islam as a political force in the old days? For an answer, I propose a look at a “confidential” 76-page study (declassified in 1979) published sixty years ago tomorrow by the Military Intelligence Service of the U.S. War Department. The 1946 report, which I have posted online in pdf format (warning: it is a large document that may be slow to load), is the inaugural issue of a series of weekly reports titled simply Intelligence Review. This series presents “current intelligence reflecting the outstanding developments of military interest in the fields of politics, economics, sociology, the technical sciences, and, of course, military affairs.” Chapter headings in this first issue include: “Transition of Major Powers to Peacetime Military Systems,” “Manchuria: Soviet or Chinese Sphere?” and “Wheat: Key to the World’s Food Supply.” Of particular interest is an 11-page chapter that deals with “Islam: A Threat to World Stability.” It opens with some bleak observations: With few exceptions, the states [in the Muslim world] are marked by poverty, ignorance, and stagnation. It is full of discontent and frustration, yet alive with consciousness of its inferiority and with determination to achieve some kind of betterment. Two basic urges meet head-on in this area, and conflict is inherent in this collision of interests. These urges reveal themselves in the daily news accounts of killings and terrorism, of pressure groups in opposition, and of raw nationalism and naked expansionism masquerading as diplomatic maneuvers. The report then explains these two urges and rightly begins by focusing on the long shadow of the premodern period. Rest at link. |
| Posted by:ed |
| #3 Because then we had just been through a major war and knew deep in our gut just evil an enemy could be. I just got my new issue of Smithsonian and there is an article on Sayyid Qutb and his stay in that cesspit of lax American morals in the early '50s. Greeley Colorado. Now we know that the currrent problems did not start yesterday but if a magazine* like this is waking up to the problem then there is hope *I don't know if you can call the Smithsonian political but its not exactly the New Repulic either |
| Posted by: Cheaderhead 2006-02-13 18:02 |
| #2 How could our intelligence services have been so correct 60 years ago, but today are unable to tell the time of day? |
| Posted by: Bobby 2006-02-13 17:53 |
#1 With few exceptions, the states [in the Muslim world] are marked by poverty, ignorance, and stagnation. It is full of discontent and frustration, yet alive with consciousness of its inferiority and with determination to achieve some kind of betterment. Two basic urges meet head-on in this area, and conflict is inherent in this collision of interests. These urges reveal themselves in the daily news accounts of killings and terrorism, of pressure groups in opposition, and of raw nationalism and naked expansionism masquerading as diplomatic maneuvers.And NOTHING'S CHANGED in 60 years. Except they've gotten more dangerous weapons. From us. >:-( |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2006-02-13 16:45 |