The Wikileaks Documents” .. Modern Rebellion Against Modern Armies

On 11 September 2001, Mujahid Sheikh Usama bin Laden declared war against the Western Imperialism led by the United States of America. It was an amazing declaration on the part of a small and remote group, and (Sheikh Usama) employing a dazzling technique through the airplane (attacks); exploiting the anxiety of fear in the hearts of the infidels and resorting to the most modern technology and methods; establishing new theories of war to achieve noble goals which brought benefits not only to his group, but to a large Ummah faithful to Allah alone.

This war is different from those to which previous nations were accustomed with regards to methods, capabilities, means, goals and objectives. This is a war, as Colin Powell said: “Between a First World air force and a Fourth World army; between B-1 bombers and men on horseback.” How could those simple people endure this war – and how have they recovered their balance, then expanded and spread (!) – unless this was a New War in its criteria.

In traditional wars – for example – the enemy attacks his opponent at sensitive points, impacting him politically, economically and morally. In the war against al-Qaeda, however, the United States did not find a strategic goal in this war to declare. The intense bombing and the destruction of villages and cities contained no significance and led to nothing but “a readjustment of the sand”. They drew up a goal and gathered the largest coalition in history to “capture or kill Sheikh Usama bin Laden”, may Allah protect him. In no time, the international coalition “re-spun” the declared goal to other goals that change from year to year!

As Wilhelm Grewe said: “Powerful nations always determine the shape of the international system to serve their interests. In the 16th Century, Spain redefined the basic understandings of justice and global expansion to justify the genocide of the indigenous peoples on the American continent. Then in the 18th Century, France developed the modern definition of borders and balance of power consistent with its continental strength. In the 19th Century, Great Britain invented new principles pertaining to piracy, neutrality and colonialism, consistent with its defined interests as the controlling power at that time. As for the position of the United States of America today, it is greater than its predecessors.”

After the events of September 2001, none dared to defy its might or decisions; argue with it or even refrain from aiding or supporting it! The United States, which had itself established international law at a time when it needed to firmly anchor itself, began to lose its connection to international law as it is understood and applied by others, and drew up new exceptional rules for itself alone. The entire world lined up with it, aiding and abetting it in waging war against that Muslim troop which had declared the “War of the Downtrodden” aspiring for justice, equality and freedom for their Ummah.

It was a new war in which a group of noble individuals rose up, fighting to defend their honorable and shining creed by undermining the pillars of the entire global imperialist regime in the age of globalism and American unilateralism, when it was assumed to be likely that international struggles would diminish so that the unilateralist could control nations and civilizations, and plunder their treasures in peace.

The unipolar international regime responded fully to the collective injustice against the small, Muslim group. No country in the world was excluded from standing with and aiding America. International organizations, national intelligence services and their financial, military, security and media apparatuses stood against al-Qaeda. They even used a “politicized al-Azhar” and the “Saudi Rulers’ Council of Scholars” as their trumpets in the war against the Mujahideen. Here, however the magic backfired on the magician and the Mujahideen won hearts and minds. Most people know of – and they are certain of – the true picture of evil, imperialist America. The truth of al-Qaeda’s view has become established: America is the head of all evil.

In this war, the United States has used two methods at the same time: “Winning Hearts and Minds” and “Search and Destroy”. It is a new kind of destructive war in an age of freedom, human rights and international law!

In this war, sham elections were held in Afghanistan and their fraudulence were proven to the world. Run-off elections were held without the perpetrators of the fraud being held to account. The challenger withdrew before the run-off round was held and the victor in the first fraudulent (election) – which the United Nations confirmed – remained. In spite of this, the countries of the “civilized” would recognize President “Karzai” and brazenly deal with him while their peoples are content with this evil!

Nations have been occupied and ruined, and their peoples destroyed with the blessing of the United Nations and the nations of the developed world, and neighboring countries merely under suspicion of possessing prohibited weapons – to the downtrodden. Independent countries have been bombed by aircraft and their children killed – with the blessing of the world and the blessing of the bombed countries themselves! Their crimes against the rights of oppressed peoples are considered a great deed. When America wants to arrest someone, no one can prevent her. When someone wants to arrest one of her soldiers, no one can do that!

With all this tyranny, of which only a small part has been mentioned, America and its allies have not achieved anything worth bragging about. The most amazing event of this war is that American imperialism bowed its head before weak opponents when no one expected them to constitute any danger worth heeding. This is a new war in the history of nations, with new methods employed and new goals. An unjust global gathering loses its strength and poise day after day against a small band which is victorious day after day. “With Allah is the decision, in the past and in the future.”

Modern armies have become more cohesive in this age than they were in past times. This is due to the authority of their commanders and the crude feet of those dominating national policies, as well as the intertwining of their interests with international interests and men of multinational influence. Therefore, attempts by armies to revolt have become much more difficult. Additionally, there is the aspect of scientific progress which enables regimes by swift methods to uncover conspiracies. Many attempts at revolt have failed: in Georgia, Bangladesh, and elsewhere. Therefore, in this new war, the revolt of armies requires a revolution of a new type. The kinds of rebellion that occurred in the past are not suitable for this era and the flight of the United States’ allies and their abandonment of that alliance along with the decline of their strength compared to the strength of the Mujahideen were not themselves in a revolt against the United States.

The flight of officers and soldiers in the American army and the vexation of the politicians at the defeat of their army before the weakest of the world’s armies are not considered a rebellion against the army and against the state. Indeed, even though the number of suicides is in the hundreds, and even though the highest leaders such as General McChrystal and others have rebelled, although it was said that they resigned – and they constitute most of the military leadership and some cabinet members – that cannot be considered an effective and complete revolt. Modern armies in this modern war need a different and modern way to revolt and rebel.

The revolt and rebellion against the armies of the United States and its allies in their war against al-Qaeda is embodied by the leaking of hundreds of thousands of classified documents by a large number of rebels within the American army and its diplomatic missions. They rebelled in a modern way that will gravely impact American policies and its global position, by what have become known as “the Wikileaks documents”.

Almighty Allah had already made plans for America, using the American media to convey to the world the events of (11) September in all its details, thereby achieving one of the most important objectives of the operation. He used the American media to publish the pictures of Abu Ghraib. And He used rebels in the American army and official agencies to transfer important, classified documents to the Wikileaks website.

Experts had expected a rebellion to occur against the politicized media which had lost one of the important components of its existence: revealing facts. This politicized media is run by the American administration and used by it to achieve its imperialist goals, after the situation of the free press had deteriorated and it became completely dominated by the American administration. John Ashcroft had previously issued instructions to the Justice Department forbidding the surrender of documents in accordance with the “Freedom of Information Act”. Likewise, the executive authority had grossly diminished the kinds of documents that could be released or even thought about being released to the public. Congress passed the “Patriot Act” which ushered in the “police state”. Even the findings of the investigations into the events of September 11 have not been released yet. With the increase in vague questions about the blessed attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and with great complaints by the families of those killed, Congress established “the National Commission into the Terrorist Attacks against the United States” but its work was sharply restricted to the degree that the first appointed head of the panel, Henry Kissinger, resigned after only three weeks!

It is not a “War against Terror”, rather it is a “War against Truth” in all senses of the word.

Jeanne Kirkpatrick, former ambassador of the United State to the United Nations, did not exaggerate when she said: “Media in all simplicity is the most important element in America’s foreign policy.” Likewise, Alan Brinkley, historian and dean of Columbia University said: “The ‘taming’ the American media is not a circumstantial phenomenon but a structural one.” In his symposium which was held in Genoa at the end of 2003, he expressed his view that “the media will not succeed in waking up”. Ian Masters of the Los Angeles Times, said: “If information is the oxygen of democracy, the United States has just been gassed!”

The American administration picks the tune and the media – local and international – dances to it.

It is, however, impossible for that contemptible situation to endure in the wake of the defeat of America and its alliance of injustice. Experts have predicted that the situation in which the free press finds itself will change. Activist, historian and journalist Eduardo Galeano said in 2001: “The world might change. We are not compelled to accept it (as is). There may appear to be a system that is eternal but I do not believe it is eternal.” In September 2005, Robert Fisk described the global press, which the West leads and boats of its freedom: “It’s only prison journalism or hotel journalism and the lies of the State Department and the Pentagon and the White House and the Downing Street and the Defense Ministry in London and so on that keep this spin rolling.” The veteran journalist continued saying: “At some point there’s going to be an explosion the like of which will be inexplicable by those in power. I don’t know when it’s going to be, but it will come.”

The explosion has come, the like of which is inexplicable to those in power, through the leak by the American army and official agencies of the Wikileaks documents, forcing by their act the global media to report the facts which they had revealed.

Amy Goodman, host of Democracy Now, will no longer suffer, after she almost lost her voice and her pen had almost run out of ink in trying to prove the politicization of the American media and the corruption of journalists and the most famous news networks. With the loss of the free press, truth is lost; darkness intensifies; minds are manipulated and the facts vanish. I think that Goodman today is shaking with happiness after the veracity of her claims have been proven to true in all languages of the world in all its orientations.

Some officials in the American circles will seek to benefit from this incident as much as they can in “the short term”, just as they exploited the Abu Ghraib scandal to achieve some advantages at that time, and as they did recently with the bubble of what became known as the Qur’an burning incident in order to distract attention away from scrutinizing their failures in the war on “terror” and its costs, the questioning and calculation of which intensifies each anniversary of the events of September 11.

Perhaps some officials in the American circles – after the publication of these scandals and growing trust in those publishing them – may leak some forged documents to the Wikileaks website to surreptitiously get some of their policies passed. Vladimir Zhirinovsky, deputy head of the Council or Representatives and head of the Russian Liberal Democratic Party, summed up some of the goals, saying: “The exposure of some of these documents before global public opinion is just propaganda to enable the American administration to cover its losses and failed policies in Afghanistan…this is also proven by the failure of Obama’s party to win a majority in Congress and continuing divisions (there) in addition to American problems with both China and North Korea.” He also mentioned that although 80% of the information published by the Wikileaks site is accurate he does not find it improbable that Washington added some erroneous information.

In this regard, I am not concerned about what the American administration might have forged and passed on to this website. Nor am I concerned with the numbers or positions of the rebels who worked to reveal the documents, although they are undoubtedly many and well-organized. The American administration will not permit their truth to be revealed – and the truth about them will only be revealed through other Wikileaks documents special for them! Nor am I concerned by the intentions of those who leaked the documents – and they undoubtedly have their backgrounds, intentions, quarrels and scores to settle which makes them selectively reveal or conceal what they want and what they don’t want. They have concealed much pertaining to Israel, and what pertains to its failure and defeats in the War on Terror. In times of difficulty and defeats, every party and influential faction looks for whatever will strengthen them against their competitor in the short term, even if it runs against the general interest or national security. I pay no heed to what benefits the American administration may reap in the short term. To hell with America! What concerns me is the “medium term” and “long term” impact of this rebellion upon the United States and its influence and control over the world. Because this impact has a direct link to what the Mujahideen are planning and this is where the horse is tethered.

What will most be impacted by the release of these documents is the “soft power” of the United States, which is more important than “hard power”, especially in this period of deteriorating weakness that has afflicted it. Influential men and multinational corporations have placed the one called “Barack Obama” in the position of president to work on strengthening the soft power of the United States, because they are in more urgent need of it today in light of the continuing weakness of hard power as embodied by military and economic might, etc… The difference between the two powers is as Joseph Nye describes: “Hard power is the ability to make others do what they don’t want to do by use of threats and promises. Soft power, on the other hand, is the ability to obtain the desired results because others want what you want. It is the ability to achieve goals through persuasion…it is represented in convincing others to follow practices and institutions which produce the desired behavior or make them agree to it.”

America worked to be the inspirational model to the world and its peoples, and this is one of the most important pillars of its soft power. Its high self-confidence was once embodied by a phrase used by Madeleine Albright when she spoke of the United States, calling it “the indispensable nation”! In less than ten years, however, it has turned into the “parasitic nation” which feeds off the efforts of others and is hated by the peoples of the entire world!

The scandals of the American regime will lead to an increasing ability on the part of American society – in particular – and societies of the world’s nations to see the shortcomings and flaws which have afflicted the American authority as well as the flaws which will hit it soon. This, with the passage of time, will lead to the formation of a collective awareness which may yield the form of a new program for organizing and managing society and to remove that wicked authority. “Wretched is the king who disdains the law, and wretched is the people who keep silent when the law is disdained”, as Volgin said.

When the United States fails to achieve what it promised before its people and the peoples of the world, or when it is unable to achieve what it has promised to achieve except through a great increase in costs, means of deception and restriction of civil liberties, not only will the public support it; it has hitherto enjoyed recede, but after a time in the not too distant future, the support of American citizens themselves for the American central government will also recede.

The American citizen will feel frustration when he sees the ideal of which he dreamed is an unjust, deceptive, cowardly, vulgar tempter. The reaction among citizens will be violent in both the medium and long terms.

History teaches us that the formation and decline of high ideals and general beliefs with regards to any historical race – which form the skeleton of any civilization represents the pinnacles of their history. When people begin discussing the loss and disappearance of a great belief, the time for it to pass away has begun! It is difficult to destroy ideals and popular beliefs and they cannot be changed except after violent revolutions, and only after they lose almost all their control and bewitchments over people’s (soul). Among the methods the Mujahideen employ in their war to triumph over American imperialism is to exert maximum effort to smash those advantages which make the American regime attractive, not only in its center but in allied nations and the rest of the nations of the world, because the loss of these advantages is a sure guarantee in the medium and long terms that the American regime will lose the merits which justify its existence and leadership. Samuel Huntington said: “Rejection of the law of Western civilization means the end of the United States as we know it. Indeed it means the end of Western civilization.” I can only see that in few years the United States will be a prison to which criminals are exiled far from honorable societies! Then the oppressed peoples of the world will return to a life of dignity and happiness.

The revolution caused by the Wikileaks documents will leave its mark on the entire world. All that they reveal about the shame and weakness of America is to the benefit of the peoples of the world. Noam Chomsky, William Blum and others will cross their legs and rest easy when they see that global political analysts have seen “at last” the documented truth of the Western imperialist regime under the leadership of America.

In an age of scientific progress and revolution in communications, the revelation of the facts in what is known as “the Wikileaks documents” will become the symbol for the modern rebellion against modern armies and advanced rebellion against advanced regimes in a new war (fought by) new methods. In his story 1984, George Orville wrote “Speaking the Truth in times of universal deceit is a revolutionary act”.

I will not ask who wins every day in this war, whether it is al-Qaeda or the United States. Because, as they say, the truth is bitter! I will not ask about who has good intentions, whether it is al-Qaeda or the Americans, because the impact of the politicized media is piled up in people’s minds. However, after the truth of the deception and corruption of the Western system led by the United States have been revealed the countries and peoples of the world and non-governmental and rights organizations through the “Wikileaks rebellion”, my question is: how would the map of the world’s nations and its people have looked if the events of September 11 had not happened and the pace of unipolar, tyrannical American imperialism had continued and escalated?