Islam - The age of Islamic wars began as the cold war was winding down in the 1980s.

Darren Conway

History 12

Walsh

4-4-02

ISLAM

The age of Islamic wars began as the cold war was winding down in the 1980’s.

In 1980 Iraq invaded Iran and this war caused at least 500,00 deaths and wounded hundreds of thousands more. At the same time, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan generated much hostility, which by 1989 compelled the Soviets to withdraw. This victory was made possible by American technology, money, support and training from Pakistan, and from the help of thousands of fighter, which were manly from Muslim countries.

Then in the 1990’s violence occurred between Muslims and non-Muslims in Bosnia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Chechnya, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Kashmir, India, Philippines, Indonesia, the Middle East, Sudan, and Nigeria. Mujahedin fighters from the Afganistan war were big participants in many of these conflicts as well as in Muslim terrorist organizations in countries throughout the world. In the mid 1990’s, about half the ethnic conflicts in the world revolved around Muslims fighting non- Muslims. Between 1983 and 2000, Muslims were responsible for 12 of the 16 major acts of international terrorism. In counteractions to these acts of terrorism, the United States armed forces have engaged in 17 military operations against Muslims.

The “New War,” as President Bush called the acts of violence on September 11, are actually not that new. This act of violence is merely a continuation and escalation of things that have been happening for years, regarding Muslims. Mainly most acts of Muslim terrorism had been sporadic and small in the number of victims, but however September 11th, was a different case. In 1983, 299 people were killed on the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, 270 killed on Pan Am Flight 103 in 1988, and 224 in the 1998 attack on the U.S. African embassies.

These acts of ...

This is a preview of the whole essay

These acts of violence are clearly goals of Osama bin Laden. He declared holy war on the United States enjoined Muslims to kill Americans indiscriminately and attempted to mobilize Muslims everywhere. He has not succeeded in this effort, in part because of the many divisions within Islam. The United States, on the other hand, has declared a global war on terrorism, but in fact there are many wars by different governments against different terrorists groups. The United States is primarily concerned with Al Qaeda and other governments are concerned with their own local terrorists.

Reactions to September 11th from Americans and other countries were overwhelmingly sympathetic and supportive, making commitments to join with the United States in the war on terrorism. This was particularly true of Britain, Canada and Australia, societies that share a common Anglo culture with Americans, and they quickly committed military forces to this effort. Strong support was also shown from Germany, France and other European people, who formerly disliked America. They saw attacks on America as attacks on themselves.

Almost all Muslims governments condemned the terrorist attacks, undoubtedly concerned with the threat Muslim groups pose. Only Uzbekistan, Pakistan and Turkey provided direct support to the American response and among Arab governments only Jordan and Egypt responded. In most Muslim countries, many people condemned the terrorist attacks; few praised the attacks and a lot denounced the American response. The longer and the more intensely the United States and it allies use their military forces, the more widespread and intense the Muslim reaction will be.

The only way the Muslim wars will end is when its causes change or are changed. The resentment and hostility towards the West could be reduced by changes in U.S. policies toward Israel. But in the long run, improvements in social, economic and political conditions in Muslim countries would be needed. So basically changes need to be made amongst the United States and other eastern countries for any type of improvement to be made. If governments fail to meet the basic welfare and economic needs of their people and suppress them, then this will only allow for rebellious violent opposition, not only to themselves but also to other Western governments that supports them.

I believe that the Muslims hatred for The United States will take years to repair if it can even be fixed. Nothing can change between the U.S and them until what happened on September 11th, is resolved.