Al Quaeda

NoRightTurn argues the UK is Destroying freedom in order to "save" it

he finishes with
"If Al Qaeda's goal is to destroy western civilisation, then they couldn't have dreamed of a better way of doing it in the UK."

I note this is a classic error often in right leaning circles but clearly also in left leaning circles also. Destroying the west "per se" is not Al Quaeda's goal. And the CERTAINLY do not suport strict laws that restrict their ability to achieve their goals (if they did we would't have to worry about them because they would be useless).

It is easy to paint a group like this as pure evil and then assume they wil always take the evil side in any argument but they do have goals they jsut happen to be goals most of us would reject -

Alquada's main goal is to unite the Muslim world under a single Caliphate (empire).
http://www.fas.org/irp/world/para/ladin.htm

To demonstrate how they are reasonably pragmatic about this note how they reprimand the terrorists in the iraq for attacking iraqi muslims (the future citizens of their capilate!)

http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2005/10/12/seized_letter_outlines_al_qaedas_long_term_goals/

The point is that I don’t think "destroying the west" features as a significant first order goal. And it is misleading to think that it is one. Pretending this is true jsut gives fule to the organization that to those who know it is being somewhat unfairly maligned.

the real problems with the rganization are the secondary goals
1) that it sees force as the way to create teh caphilate
2) it sees western interfearance (the right trying to bring democracy to the middle east and the left trying to bring human rights) as a threat somthing that needs to be prevented (with force again).
3) there are quite a few islamic peopel in certain western countries in need of liberation which might, debatably, deserve to be in the caphilate.

However whatever the details are Al Quaeda would be firmly in the camp of the leftists in regard to the new UK laws. The liberal vs. conservative argument would be a "weak enemy" vs. a "strong enemy" debate rather like that quote from Osama (I think )about how the US/democrats retreated in Sudan and that they might have lost if it was a republican government. Rather like how the fact that nazi germany was a thorn in the side of of the allies hardly made it an friend of communism.

I.e. you can still say the conservatives groups are wrong but you can’t call them the friends of terrorism.