Ayoon Wa Azan (The duty of the muslims)

Francois Hollande was unable to be a hero in France, so he chose to be a hero in Mali. He was met with chants of support in Bamako and Timbuktu that he cannot even dream of having in Paris. Then David Cameron saw Hollande’s success in Mali, so he visited Algeria and Libya, and declared in both countries that Britain would support their wars on terror, and would wage a war on al-Qaeda and its allies in North Africa. He said that this would be a generational struggle against a toxic ideology. Hollande is stumbling in France. He raised the top tax rate to 75 percent, pushing many wealthy people in France to flee the country. The gay marriage legislation is facing opposition, and there is a debate about eliminating homework for elementary school students. The French president must have looked around and then decided that a foreign war would distract his citizens away from their current and future problems. After stating in an interview with Jeune Afrique in October that his support for the government in Mali would be limited to logistical and financial assistance, he sent French troops to Mali and ordered air strikes against rebel strongholds. Cameron, meanwhile, does not need to raise taxes to stoke opposition against him, including within the Conservative Party. Some members of Cameron’s party reject the idea of pulling out from the European Union or putting it in a referendum, while others are proposing the names of other Conservative politicians to succeed Cameron, including Home Secretary Theresa May, and the mayor of London Boris Johnson. I will not say that France has triumphed in Mali, but I say that it has achieved the goals it has set for itself. While the Tuareg rebels and radical Islamist terrorist have been defeated, things should be judged by their final outcome. As it stands, the terrorists remain a formidable force, and they have pulled out from the cities without a fight. Their leader said in Timbuktu that they are preparing for battles to come. I believe that France and Britain are less able to wage war compared to the United States, and we know the results of George W. Bush's wars on Afghanistan and Iraq and terror. Europe cannot achieve better results in North Africa. In my opinion, the Western nations can win certain battles, like toppling Saddam Hussein in Iraq or defeating rebels and terrorists in Mali, but cannot win a long-term war, given the amount of casualties and financial burdens these entail. In Mali specifically, the French “victory” has laid the foundations for more wars to come. Indeed, the Tuareg rebelled against the regime in Bamako back when there was no terrorism in any Arab or Islamic country. Following Mali’s independence in 1960, precisely in 1962, the Tuareg carried out their first rebellion. They were easy to contain at the time, by giving them autonomy in the north where they constitute a majority. However, the violent suppression of their successive rebellions has brought the country into a situation that was exploited by terrorist groups, whose ideology is a lethal combination of ignorance and extremism. This is what we saw in mere nine months of their control over Malian cities, where they imposed Sharia on African blacks. Western newspapers ran with interviews with local doctors and residents, with pictures of men who had limbs severed in punishment. The Western media also pounced on the opportunity provided by the terrorists’ stance on Mali’s manuscripts, which chronicle the history of Islam in Africa, and are considered part of the world’s heritage. I read the following headlines: Inside The Town Where Arab Jihadis Inflicted Sharia On Mali’s Black Africans Islamists’ Harsh Rule Awakened Ethnic Tensions In Timbuktu This Cultural Terrorism Was As Barbaric As It Was Predictable Townsfolk Tell Of Brutality And Death Under The Islamists' Yoke Recaptured By Moonlight, The Fabled Desert City Where Islamists Burned Books In A Bitter Farewell But just days later, we discovered that the manuscripts were not burned. 97 percent of them were saved by real heroes, who are the local librarians responsible for the manuscripts. They had moved the documents, including some that date back to the fourteenth century, to safe places, and only a small part of them was damaged. Those who are destroying manuscripts that chronicle the history of Islam are the enemies of Islam no matter what they claim. It is the duty of Muslims before the United States, France and Britain to fight the deviant group, so that Western leaders cannot engage in heroisms at the expense of Islam and Muslims. --- The views expressed by the author do not necessarily represent or reflect the editorial policy of Arabstoday.