TE Lawrence on the appeal and menace of IS

“We had been hopelessly labouring to plough waste lands; to make nationality grow in a place full of the certainty of God… Among the tribes our creed could be only like the desert grass – a beautiful swift seeming of spring; which, after a day’s heat, fell dusty.”   TE Lawrence 

"...but suppose we were an influence (as we might be), an idea, a thing invulnerable, intangible, without front or back, drifting about like a gas? Armies were like plants, immobile as a whole, firm-rooted, nourished through long stems to the head, we might be a vapour, blowing where we listed. Our kingdoms lay in each man's mind, as we wanted nothing material to live on..."  TE Lawrence

 "The Wahabis, followers of a fanatical Moslem heresy, had imposed their strict rules on easy and civilized Kasim. In Kasim there was but little coffee-hospitality, much prayer and fasting, no tobacco, no artistic dalliance with women, no silk clothes, no gold and silver head-ropes or ornaments. Everything was forcibly pious or forcibly puritanical.   It was a natural phenomenon, this periodic rise at intervals of little more than a century, of ascetic creeds in Central Arabia. Always the votaries found their neighbours' beliefs cluttered with inessential things, which became impious in the hot imagination of their preachers. Again and again they had arisen, had taken possession, soul and body, of the tribes, and had dashed themselves to pieces on the urban Semites, merchants and concupiscent men of the world. About their comfortable possessions the new creeds ebbed and flowed like the tides or the changing seasons, each movement with the seeds of early death in its excess of Tightness. Doubtless they must recur so long as the causes — sun, moon, wind, acting in the emptiness of open spaces, weigh without check on the unhurried and uncumbered minds of the desert-dwellers."  TE Lawrence

“In my case, the effort for these years to live in the dress of Arabs, and to imitate their mental foundation, quitted me of my English self, and let me look at the West and its conventions with new eyes: they destroyed it all for me. At the same time I could not sincerely take on the Arab skin: it was an affectation only. Easily was a man made an infidel, but hardly might he be converted to another faith. I had dropped one form and not taken on the other, and has become like Mohammed's coffin in our legend, with a resultant feeling of intense loneliness in life, and a contempt, not for other men, but for all they do. Such detachment came at times to a man exhausted by prolonged physical effort and isolation. His body plodded on mechanically, while his reasonable mind left him, and from without looked down critically on him, wondering what that futile lumber did and why. Sometimes these selves would converse in the void; and then madness was very near, as I believe it would be near the man who could see things through the veils at once of two customs, two educations, two environments.”   TE Lawrence

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The character of Auda Abu Tayi in the film "Lawrence of Arabia" represents an historic person who was a principal collaborator of Lawrence in the Arab Revolt.  Auda was a sheikh (chieftan) of the Huwaytat beduin tribe.  In one cinematic scene set after the taking of Aqaba, Anthony Quinn (Auda) mentions some matter in which Lawrence differs from him on next moves and cries out "You see, he is not perfect."  He then realizes what he has said and all that it implies.  Art in this case imitates reality very well.

Lawrence may not have been perfect as a man but he was very nearly perfect as a leader of Arab tribal insurgents.  He appealed to all that was deeply felt by them.  At the same time he suffered from the vulnerabilities of those who can be such leaders, especially those operating in a foreign and alien cultural setting.   Self doubt and a premonition of the ultimate failure of the insurgents' political cause is inherent in such ventures.    Sadly, those most capable of such leadership are the most vulnerable to personal catastrophe.  Lawrence was one such.  If one reads "The Mint" it is evident how broken he ultimately was by belief in his own vanity and the weakness of his own character. He sought to hide from that self loathing in the ranks of the RAF as a mechanic but the shadow followed him there.

 In the quotations above from "Seven Pillars of Wisdom," "Aurens" (as the bedu called him) describes the great danger posed by IS as the ultimate expression of Wahhabi fanaticism and intolerance of all others, especially those they consider apostate (murtadd) Muslims and for whom they think only death is a suitable penalty.  Unfortunately, this idea is also like a "gas" drifting across the land.  It has a certain appeal to many Sunni Muslims especially the young, who often feel their lives circumscribed by the onrushing wave of Western culture, a culture  that implies the unreality of all that young Sunnis have been taught to revere.  A rejection of the moderate faith of their fathers seems a path to salvation for many.

They are violent?  Islam was spread with the sword.  The Prophet himself fought in the early wars of Islam.  It is not hard for fanatics to find justification in the early history of Islam.  pl

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_career_of_Muhammad 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_State_of_Iraq_and_the_Levant#Ideology_and_beliefs 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auda_abu_Tayi 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TE_Lawrence 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_Revolt 

 

Comments

[FB Ali]

Col Lang,

One new factor that adds to the appeal (and staying power) of the present Salafi/Wahhabi wave is the pressure of armed Western power on their lands and societies. Previously, it was just the spread of Western ideas and culture that they fought against.

The start of this wave can be ascribed to the Brzezinski-inspired jihad against the Soviets in Afghanistan. The Wahhabis of Saudi Arabia suddenly woke up to the great potential carried by their wealth allied to fanatical jihadis. (If they had a sense of humour they would find it funny that the US protects their power base even as it fights their creation in some places while aiding it in others by squeezing their opponents).

[Aka]

col,
Considering the islamic laws (according to Wikipedia), ISIS does not seems to be doing anything that is expressively prohibited by their religion. And we will probably get called islamaphobes.

While many muslims are against the ISIS and its methods, what is the possibility that equal number (all over the world) would see IS as a sort of a utopian "kingdom of heaven"?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_military_jurisprudence#Ethics_of_warfare

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prisoners_of_war_in_Islam#Women_and_children

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ma_malakat_aymanukum

[turcopolier]

AKA

"ISIS does not seems to be doing anything that is expressively prohibited by their religion" That is not really true since "what is Islam" is a matter of consensus among some group of Muslims it is not possible to say what is or is not "prohibited" in general. pl

[turcopolier]

FB Ali

"The start of this wave can be ascribed to the Brzezinski-inspired jihad against the Soviets in Afghanistan. The Wahhabis of Saudi Arabia suddenly woke up to the great potential carried by their wealth allied to fanatical jihadis." Even more ironic is that the Saudis backed only one of the seven mujahid groups. The other six were supported through ISI by the US. The Saudis also poured money into the medaris where Wahhabi and Deobandi Islam were taught to the Taliban. These medaris were all in Pakistan. pl

[David Habakkuk]

Colonel Lang and F.B. Ali,

Pardon my ignorance – this is a period of history about which I know little, and I am hesitant about exposing the full extent of my ignorance. But while I am familiar with the acronym 'ISI' I am not familiar with 'ISU'. Are they one and the same, and if not, who are 'ISU'?

[Swerv21]

IMO this latest wave of Wahhabism has taken root in fields left fallow after Pan-Arabism was uprooted. I cannot help but think that despite its shortcomings, pan Arabism was an effective counterweight to salafism. It is not a coincidence that many of the intellectuals Involved in Pan-Arabism were minorities and Christians in the levant who saw in pan Arabism a way out of sectarianism.

Pan-Arabism had many shortcomings but I also believe that it was seen as a threat and undermined both by the west and opposing regimes within the ME. Pan-Arabism was effectively destroyed as a project, partly a casualty of the Cold War. We are now harvesting the bitter fruit of that seasons work.

[FB Ali]

It was also fortunate for the US and the Saudis that the ruler in Pakistan was Gen Zia-ul-Haq, son of a small-time mullah, with aspirations to restore (his version) of Islam in Pakistan and beyond.

Zia was an Armoured officer, a branch of the service whose officers were especially 'liberal'. Many of them in his regiment made it a point of regularly inviting him to join their drinking sessions in the Mess bar. Of course, he had the last laugh on them.

[turcopolier]

swerve 21

I could not agree more and that would have included the
Baath. pl

[turcopolier]

David Habakkuk

Did I write that? pl

[turcopolier]

swerve 21

"Your dad?" pl

[FB Ali]

I think Col Lang meant ISI.

He is quite right that the US funneled support (via money) through the ISI. Someone told me that when he once visited the DG of the ISI, the latter opened one of his filing cabinets that was filled with packets of 100-dollar bills.

The US also made a lot of officers very rich!

[FB Ali]

It depends on which version of Islamic law one looks at.

The Grand Mufti of Al Azhar recently condemned the actions of the IS as violating "long-established principles of Shariah".

http://tinyurl.com/o48uevr

[Babak makkinejad]

Col. Lang:

I believe there was also a number of times that Jihad had been declared in North Africa by one group of Muslim tribes against the inhabitants of the cities.

I just do not recall which one was it that resulted in the complete destruction of the irrigation systems left in North Africa from the Roman times.

Likely cause was that the jihadists killed so many people at that time that there was no one left to tend to the irrigation systems.

And then their tribal structure that saw wealth in camels, sheep and goat probably did not make them aware of the value of agriculture.

That system has not been restored to this day. I believe that North Africa has not been able to recreate the agricultural productivity of the Romans to this day either.

[turcopolier]

FB Ali

Yes, ISI. I changed it. I supplied just about all the combat intelligence that ISI gave the non Sayyaf mujahid groups for operations since CIA was incapable of it. This was for actual operations against Soviet 40th Army. In that period CIA DO was dominated bu former US Armed Forces NCO case officers like Anderson and Bearden. I could name quite a few more but they have not given me obvious offense . They had succeeded the Ivy WASP aristos who created the CIA after service in OSS. The last thing these ex-enlisted and minimally educated people wanted was interference from professional military officers. This got really rough at times. A number of retired officers of my acquaintance tried to join the DO and were warned off through threats of "referral" to DoJ for "war crimes" in VN. Strangely, no such "referrals" occurred after these officers stopped trying to join CIA. So, the US support to ISI for the mujahid war against the Soviets was run by ignorant grasping fools. This all occurred because the armed forces were barred from covert ops in a situation short of war. Much the same crew have made a lot of money as CIA and DoD contractors in the recent wars. pl

[Michael Hammill]

This is very good on ISIS

http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/why-isis-threat-saudi-arabia-wahhabism’s-deferred-promise

[FB Ali]

Col Lang,

On the topic of the anti-Soviet jihad, it was a prime example of how the appeal of jihad can destroy old tribal structures - something that is now happening in Syria and Iraq.

The tribal belt of Pakistan had a very strong tribal structure from time immemorial. The British built their system of control of the area on it - tribal leaders were given funds for their tribes, their authority and status was enhanced wherever possible, but they were made responsible for the good behaviour of their tribesmen, which they ensured using old tribal customs. Pakistan continued this policy, even removing all troops from the area.

When the jihadi recruiters came with their religious calls to jihad, and young tribesmen joined up to fight, the authority of the maliks (tribal leaders) began to erode. When these young, indoctrinated, battle-hardened men came back from the war, it was completely shattered. The whole structure of governmental control broke down.

The same thing happened in Afghanistan, until then essentially a tribal society. That is why it is so hard to get a state functioning there now.

[turcopolier]

FB Ali

As I have written below the Americans in CIA DO who were the conduits to the non Sayyaf mujahid groups were ignorant former sergeants in US armed forces intelligence. As you know, CIA is an agency completely separate from the armed forces. These men succeeded to the mantle of authority from their Ivy WASP masters and hated officers. I represent all the groups they disliked. I told them a number of times that they were destroying traditional tribal structures but to no avail. pl

[pbj]

Col. Lang,

Great quotes, very apropos. Thanks!

[turcopolier]

pbj

If you had led tribesmen in combat you would see how truly great Lawrence was. Glubb and I discussed this at length and agreed that this was true. Lawrence was a tragic genius. pl

[Tyler]

The moral clarity of IS is refreshing when you compare it to the moral relativism and fear of giving offense that pervades so much of the West.

It is also, of course, horribly wrongheaded. It seems like we are set up for a Hegelian conflict.

[curtis]

Many thanks for the insight to that period. Makes sense to me how it all came about.

[The beaver]

Colonel,

Just for my curiosity, was CIA operative Gust Avrakotos who worked with Charlie Wilson a good fellow or was he one of those who succeeded the WASPs?

[McGee]

Hi Pat,

As an ex Army Intel NCO am beginning to take offense....just kidding. Know exactly what you mean, though not sure you would have fared any better with the Ivy League Wasps?

[The beaver]

Colonel

OT: Something is boiling in Tripoli, Libya.
Islamists took over the airport and now it seems that 15 of them were killed during two airstrikes

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/militia-airstrikes-libyas-capital-kill-15-25095461

[turcopolier]

Whoever

I know nothing of Stavropulous but I expect he was one of those people. You need educated people to do this kind of work. pl