Scritto da The Telegraph
Il generale Jonathan Shaw, ex assistente
capo del gruppo della difesa inglese, ha detto che il Qatar e l'Arabia
Saudita sono responsabili della diffusione dell'Islam radicale.
Il generale Shaw stronca gli alleati arabi occidentali.
Originalmente apparso in “the Telegraph”.
Il Qatar e l'Arabia Saudita hanno
innescato una bomba a tempo per sovvenzionare la diffusione globale
dell'Islam radicale, secondo un ex comandante delle forze inglesi in
Iraq.
Il generale Jonathan Shaw, che si è
ritirato dall'incarico di assistente capo del Ministero della Difesa nel
2012, ha detto in un'intervista al “The Telegraph” che il Qatar e
l'Arabia Saudita sono stati i primi responsabili dell'incremento delle
frange più estremiste dell'Islam che hanno inspirato i terroristi
dell'Isis.
I due stati del Golfo hanno speso
milioni di dollari per promuovere un'interpretazione militante e
prosetilista della loro fede derivata da Abdhul Wahhab, uno studioso del
XVII secolo, basata sul Salaf, cioè sui seguaci originari del Profeta.
Ma i governanti di entrambi gli stati
sono ora minacciati dalla loro stessa creazione più dell'Inghilterra e
dell'America, ha argomentato il Generale Shaw.Lo stato islamico
dell'Iraq e del Levante hanno promesso di rovesciare i regimi del Qatar e
dell'Arabia Saudita, che considerano entrambi come avamposti corrotti
della decadenza e del peccato.
Così il Qatar e l'Arabia Saudita hanno
tutte le ragioni di intraprendere una guerra ideologica contro l'Isis.
Dal loro punto di vista, ha aggiunto, l'offensiva militare occidentale
contro il movimento terrorista è stata probabilmente una prova futile.
“Questa è una bomba a tempo innescata
sotto sembianze culturali. In realtà,il Salafismo di Wahhabi sta
logorando il mondo. Ed è sovvenzionato dall'Arabia Saudita e dal Qatar e
deve fermarsi.” ha detto il Generale Shaw. “Il punto è: bombardare
tutti i popoli è realmente una soluzione a tutto questo? Non credo.
Preferirei che ci concentrassimo di più sulla battaglia ideologica
piuttosto che su quella fisica”
Il generale Shaw, 57 anni, si è ritirato
dall'Esercito dopo 31 anni di carriera, che l'hanno visto a capo di un
plotone di paracadutisti nella battaglia del Monte Longdon, il più
sanguinoso scontro della guerra delle Falklands e supervisionare il
ritiro della Gran Bretagna da Basra, nel sud dell'Iraq. Assistente Capo
di Stato Maggiore della Difesa, si è specializzato nella lotta al
terrorismo e nella politica di sicurezza. Tutto questo lo ha reso
acutamente consapevole dei limiti che l'uso della forza può avere. Egli
ritiene che l'Isis può essere sconfitto solo con mezzi politici e
ideologici. Attacchi aerei occidentali in Iraq e Siria, a suo avviso,
non possono raggiungere nulla se non un temporaneo successo tattico.
Quando si tratta di condurre tale lotta ideologica, il Qatar e l'Arabia
Saudita sono fondamentali. “Il problema principale è che questi due
paesi sono gli unici due paesi al mondo in cui il salafismo wahabbita è
religione di Stato – e l'Isis è una espressione violenta del salafismo
wahabita”, ha detto il General Shaw. La minaccia principale dell'Isis
non riguarda gli occidentali: riguarda l'Arabia Saudita e gli altri
stati del Golfo."
Sia il Qatar che l'Arabia Saudita giocano una piccola parte nella campagna aerea contro l'Isis
contribuendo con due e quattro aerei
rispettivamente. Ma il Gen Shaw ha detto che “dovrebbero essere in prima
linea" e, soprattutto, che dovrebbero essere a capo di una
contro-rivoluzione ideologica contro l'Isis.
La campagna aerea britannica e americana
non può "fermare il sostegno a persone in Qatar e Arabia Saudita per
questo tipo di attività”, ha aggiunto il General Shaw. “Questo è il
punto. Si potrebbe, se funziona, risolvere un problema tattico
immediato. Non è affrontare il problema fondamentale del salafismo
wahabbita come cultura, che credo sia fuori controllo e che è ancora la
base ideologica dell'Isis- e che continuerà ad esistere anche se
fermiamo la loro avanzata in Iraq”.
Il Gen Shaw ha detto che l'approccio del
governo verso l'Isis è stato fondamentalmente sbagliato. “La gente sta
ancora trattando questo come un problema militare, cosa che è, a mio
avviso, fraintendere il problema”, ha aggiunto. “La mia preoccupazione
sistemica è che stiamo ripetendo gli errori che abbiamo fatto in
Afghanistan e in Iraq: stiamo mettendo i militari troppo al centro nella
nostra risposta alla minaccia senza affrontare la questione politica
fondamentale e le cause. Il pericolo è che ancora una volta stiamo
affrontando il trattamento dei sintomi e non delle cause.
Il General Shaw ha detto che il
principale obiettivo dell'Isis era di rovesciare i regimi stabiliti del
Medio Oriente, non colpire obiettivi occidentali. Si è domandato se
l'omicidio dell'Isis di due ostaggi britannici e due americani fosse una
giustificazione sufficiente per la campagna.
“L'Isis ha fatto la sua grande
incursione in Iraq nel mese di giugno. L'Occidente non ha fatto nulla,
nonostante migliaia di persone uccise”, ha detto il Gen Shaw. “Che cosa è
cambiato nell'ultimo mese? Decapitazioni in TV di occidentali. E quello
ci ha portato a cambiare improvvisamente la nostra politica e a
lanciare attacchi aerei.”
Ritiene che l'Isis potrebbe aver ucciso
gli ostaggi al fine di provocare una risposta militare dall'America e
dalla Gran Bretagna che potrebbe poi essere raffigurato come un assalto
cristiano sull'Islam. “Quale possibile vantaggio ha l'Isis a portarci in
questa campagna?” ha chiesto il Gen Shaw. Risposta: unire il mondo
musulmano contro il mondo cristiano. Abbiamo giocato nelle loro mani.
Abbiamo fatto quello che volevano che noi facessimo.”
Tuttavia, l'analisi di Gen Shaw è una
questione aperta. Anche se ne avessero la volontà, i governanti
dell'Arabia Saudita e del Qatar potrebbero non essere in grado di
condurre una lotta ideologica contro l'Isis. Il Re Abdullah di Arabia
Saudita ha 91 anni ed è solo sporadicamente attivo. Il suo successore
prescelto, il principe ereditario Salman, ha 78 anni e già lo si crede
di essere in declino per senilità. La leadership ossificata del regno
rischia di essere paralizzata per il futuro più prossimo.
Intanto in Qatar, il nuovo emiro, Tamim
Bin Hamad Al-Thani, ha solo 34 anni in una regione che rispetta l'età.
Su questa falsa riga, consigliata da Harrow e Sandhurst, ha l'autorità
personale di condurre una controrivoluzione ideologica all'interno
dell'Islam, senza dubbi.
Dato che l'Arabia Saudita e il Qatar
quasi certamente non possono fare ciò che il Gen Shaw ritiene
necessario, l'Occidente può avere altra scelta se non di intraprendere
un'azione militare contro l'Isis con l'obiettivo di ridurre, se non
eliminare, la minaccia terroristica.
Ho solo l'orribile sensazione che stiamo
facendo il peggio. Stiamo agendo in un modo che non comprendo”, ha
detto il Gen Shaw. “Io sono contro il principio di attaccare senza un
progetto politico chiaro. “
Traduzione di Alice L. per civg.it
UK General: Qatar and Saudi Arabia 'Have Ignited a Time Bomb' by Backing Terror
19 novembre 2015
General Jonathan Shaw, Britain's former
Assistant Chief of the Defence Staff, says Qatar and Saudi Arabia
responsible for spread of radical Islam
General Shaw slammed the West's Arab "allies"
Originally appeared in The Telegraph
Qatar and Saudi Arabia
have ignited a “time bomb” by funding the global spread of radical
Islam, according to a former commander of British forces in Iraq.
General Jonathan Shaw, who retired as
Assistant Chief of the Defence Staff in 2012, told The Telegraph that
Qatar and Saudi Arabia were primarily responsible for the rise of the
extremist Islam that inspires Isil terrorists.
The two Gulf states have spent billions
of dollars on promoting a militant and proselytising interpretation of
their faith derived from Abdul Wahhab, an eighteenth century scholar,
and based on the Salaf, or the original followers of the Prophet.
But the rulers of both countries are now
more threatened by their creation than Britain or America, argued Gen
Shaw. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) has vowed to
topple the Qatari and Saudi regimes, viewing both as corrupt outposts of
decadence and sin.
So Qatar and Saudi Arabia have every
reason to lead an ideological struggle against Isil, said Gen Shaw. On
its own, he added, the West's military offensive against the terrorist
movement was likely to prove “futile”.
“This is a time bomb that, under the
guise of education, Wahhabi Salafism is igniting under the world really.
And it is funded by Saudi and Qatari money and that must stop,” said
Gen Shaw. “And the question then is 'does bombing people over there
really tackle that?' I don't think so. I'd far rather see a much
stronger handle on the ideological battle rather than the
physical battle.”
Gen Shaw, 57, retired from the Army
after a 31-year career that saw him lead a platoon of paratroopers in
the Battle of Mount Longdon, the bloodiest clash of the Falklands War,
and oversee Britain's withdrawal from Basra in southern Iraq. As
Assistant Chief of the Defence Staff, he specialised in
counter-terrorism and security policy.
All this has made him acutely aware of
the limitations of what force can achieve. He believes that Isil can
only be defeated by political and ideological means. Western air strikes
in Iraq and Syria will, in his view, achieve nothing except temporary
tactical success.
When it comes to waging that ideological
struggle, Qatar and Saudi Arabia are pivotal. “The root problem is that
those two countries are the only two countries in the world where
Wahhabi Salafism is the state religion – and Isil is a violent
expression of Wahabist Salafism,” said Gen Shaw.
“The primary threat of Isil is not to us in the West: it's to Saudi Arabia and also to the other Gulf states.”
Both Qatar and Saudi Arabia are playing
small parts in the air campaign against Isil, contributing two and four
jet fighters respectively. But Gen Shaw said they “should be in the
forefront” and, above all, leading an ideological counter-revolution
against Isil.
The British and American air campaign
would not “stop the support of people in Qatar and Saudi Arabia for this
kind of activity,” added Gen Shaw. “It's missing the point. It might,
if it works, solve the immediate tactical problem. It's not addressing
the fundamental problem of Wahhabi Salafism as a culture and a creed,
which has got out of control and is still the ideological basis of Isil –
and which will continue to exist even if we stop their advance
in Iraq.”
Gen Shaw said the Government's approach
towards Isil was fundamentally mistaken. “People are still treating this
as a military problem, which is in my view to misconceive the problem,”
he added. “My systemic worry is that we're repeating the mistakes that
we made in Afghanistan and Iraq: putting the military far too up front
and centre in our response to the threat without addressing the
fundamental political question and the causes. The danger is that yet
again we're taking a symptomatic treatment not a causal one.”
Gen Shaw said that Isil's main focus was
on toppling the established regimes of the Middle East, not striking
Western targets. He questioned whether Isil's murder of two British and
two American hostages was sufficient justification for the campaign.
“Isil made their big incursion into Iraq
in June. The West did nothing, despite thousands of people being
killed,” said Gen Shaw. “What's changed in the last month? Beheadings on
TV of Westerners. And that has led us to suddenly change our policy and
suddenly launch air attacks.”
He believes that Isil might have
murdered the hostages in order to provoke a military response from
America and Britain which could then be portrayed as a Christian assault
on Islam. “What possible advantage is there to Isil of bringing us into
this campaign?” asked Gen Shaw. “Answer: to unite the Muslim world
against the Christian world. We played into their hands. We've done what
they wanted us to do.”
However, Gen Shaw's analysis is open to
question. Even if they had the will, the rulers of Saudi Arabia and
Qatar may be incapable of leading an ideological struggle against Isil.
King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia is 91 and only sporadically active. His
chosen successor, Crown Prince Salman, is 78 and already believed to be
declining into senility. The kingdom's ossified leadership is likely to
be paralysed for the foreseeable future.
Meanwhile in Qatar, the new Emir, Tamim
bin Hamad al-Thani, is only 34 in a region that respects age. Whether
this Harrow and Sandhurst-educated ruler has the personal authority to
lead an ideological counter-revolution within Islam is doubtful.
Given that Saudi Arabia and Qatar almost
certainly cannot do what Gen Shaw believes to be necessary, the West
may have no option except to take military action against Isil with the
aim of reducing, if not eliminating, the terrorist threat.
“I just have a horrible feeling that
we're making things worse. We're entering into this in a way we just
don't understand,” said Gen Shaw. “I'm against the principle of us
attacking without a clear political plan.”
UK General: Qatar and Saudi
Arabia 'Have Ignited a Time Bomb' by Backing
Terror
19 novembre 2015
General Jonathan Shaw, Britain's former
Assistant Chief of the Defence Staff, says Qatar and Saudi Arabia
responsible for spread of radical Islam
General Shaw slammed the West's Arab "allies"
Originally appeared in The Telegraph
Qatar and Saudi Arabia have ignited a
“time bomb” by funding the global spread of radical Islam, according to a
former commander of British forces in Iraq.
General Jonathan Shaw, who retired as
Assistant Chief of the Defence Staff in 2012, told The Telegraph that
Qatar and Saudi Arabia were primarily responsible for the rise of the
extremist Islam that inspires Isil terrorists.
The two Gulf states have spent billions
of dollars on promoting a militant and proselytising interpretation of
their faith derived from Abdul Wahhab, an eighteenth century scholar,
and based on the Salaf, or the original followers of the Prophet.
But the rulers of both countries are now
more threatened by their creation than Britain or America, argued Gen
Shaw. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) has vowed to
topple the Qatari and Saudi regimes, viewing both as corrupt outposts of
decadence and sin.
So Qatar and Saudi Arabia have every
reason to lead an ideological struggle against Isil, said Gen Shaw. On
its own, he added, the West's military offensive against the terrorist
movement was likely to prove “futile”.
“This is a time bomb that, under the
guise of education, Wahhabi Salafism is igniting under the world really.
And it is funded by Saudi and Qatari money and that must stop,” said
Gen Shaw. “And the question then is 'does bombing people over there
really tackle that?' I don't think so. I'd far rather see a much
stronger handle on the ideological battle rather than the
physical battle.”
Gen Shaw, 57, retired from the Army
after a 31-year career that saw him lead a platoon of paratroopers in
the Battle of Mount Longdon, the bloodiest clash of the Falklands War,
and oversee Britain's withdrawal from Basra in southern Iraq. As
Assistant Chief of the Defence Staff, he specialised in
counter-terrorism and security policy.
All this has made him acutely aware of
the limitations of what force can achieve. He believes that Isil can
only be defeated by political and ideological means. Western air strikes
in Iraq and Syria will, in his view, achieve nothing except temporary
tactical success.
When it comes to waging that ideological
struggle, Qatar and Saudi Arabia are pivotal. “The root problem is that
those two countries are the only two countries in the world where
Wahhabi Salafism is the state religion – and Isil is a violent
expression of Wahabist Salafism,” said Gen Shaw.
“The primary threat of Isil is not to us in the West: it's to Saudi Arabia and also to the other Gulf states.”
Both Qatar and Saudi Arabia are playing
small parts in the air campaign against Isil, contributing two and four
jet fighters respectively. But Gen Shaw said they “should be in the
forefront” and, above all, leading an ideological counter-revolution
against Isil.
The British and American air campaign
would not “stop the support of people in Qatar and Saudi Arabia for this
kind of activity,” added Gen Shaw. “It's missing the point. It might,
if it works, solve the immediate tactical problem. It's not addressing
the fundamental problem of Wahhabi Salafism as a culture and a creed,
which has got out of control and is still the ideological basis of Isil –
and which will continue to exist even if we stop their advance
in Iraq.”
Gen Shaw said the Government's approach
towards Isil was fundamentally mistaken. “People are still treating this
as a military problem, which is in my view to misconceive the problem,”
he added. “My systemic worry is that we're repeating the mistakes that
we made in Afghanistan and Iraq: putting the military far too up front
and centre in our response to the threat without addressing the
fundamental political question and the causes. The danger is that yet
again we're taking a symptomatic treatment not a causal one.”
Gen Shaw said that Isil's main focus was
on toppling the established regimes of the Middle East, not striking
Western targets. He questioned whether Isil's murder of two British and
two American hostages was sufficient justification for the campaign.
“Isil made their big incursion into Iraq
in June. The West did nothing, despite thousands of people being
killed,” said Gen Shaw. “What's changed in the last month? Beheadings on
TV of Westerners. And that has led us to suddenly change our policy and
suddenly launch air attacks.”
He believes that Isil might have
murdered the hostages in order to provoke a military response from
America and Britain which could then be portrayed as a Christian assault
on Islam. “What possible advantage is there to Isil of bringing us into
this campaign?” asked Gen Shaw. “Answer: to unite the Muslim world
against the Christian world. We played into their hands. We've done what
they wanted us to do.”
However, Gen Shaw's analysis is open to
question. Even if they had the will, the rulers of Saudi Arabia and
Qatar may be incapable of leading an ideological struggle against Isil.
King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia is 91 and only sporadically active. His
chosen successor, Crown Prince Salman, is 78 and already believed to be
declining into senility. The kingdom's ossified leadership is likely to
be paralysed for the foreseeable future.
Meanwhile in Qatar, the new Emir, Tamim
bin Hamad al-Thani, is only 34 in a region that respects age. Whether
this Harrow and Sandhurst-educated ruler has the personal authority to
lead an ideological counter-revolution within Islam is doubtful.
Given that Saudi Arabia and Qatar almost
certainly cannot do what Gen Shaw believes to be necessary, the West
may have no option except to take military action against Isil with the
aim of reducing, if not eliminating, the terrorist threat.
“I just have a horrible feeling that
we're making things worse. We're entering into this in a way we just
don't understand,” said Gen Shaw. “I'm against the principle of us
attacking without a clear political plan.”
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