Virulently Anti-American

If Pakistan is truly the most dangerous nation on earth, at least from an American perspective, exactly what part of that South Asian nation makes it so scary? The estimated 60 to 70 nuclear weapons in its arsenal, many of which are aimed at neighbor India? That the government is less than stable and that such weapons could fall into the hands of Islamic militants hell-bent on blowing up the United States? That Pakistan, under the aegis of Dr. A.Q. Khan, effectively spread nuclear capacities to enemies of the United States, like North Korea and Iran? That al Qaeda and Taliban militants have found safe harbor in Pakistan’s Tribal District across the border from Afghanistan? Or is it something else?

Would you believe it just might be found in Pakistan’s lower middle class? The poorest peasants are too busy surviving to be much threat, the middle of the middle class is too comfortable to destroy their lives in the pursuit, frequently fatal, of militant Islam, and the wealthy, well, hey, with the occasional exception of someone like Osama bin Laden, rich folks might be content to finance militant attacks, but they are hardly like to be directly involved in the physical risk-taking. During the Soviet war in Afghanistan (in the 1980s), with lots of U.S. dollars in support, and with the Pakistani governmental policy very much in favor of finding “volunteers” to subvert Indian authorities in the disputed state of Kashmir (which unlike most of India but very much like most of Pakistan, is Muslim ), militant groups were allowed to recruit openly on Pakistan’s college campuses, often with an official government blessing. While government policies may have changed, the legacy of those earlier decisions continues unabated into the present day.

The upwardly mobile members of the lower fringes of Pakistan’s middle class were and continue to be the most commonly drawn individuals to these recruiting efforts. Emerging from smaller towns and rural communities, these conservatively raised young men are often shattered when towns or cities. The February 27^th New York Times: “[These unprepared country youths bring their] past — part shyness, part shame — with [them to college towns]. The city [is] an explosion of things modern. Traffic jams. Fancy restaurants. Uncovered women. For young people from small town s, unfamiliar with city life, the atmosphere can arouse a rigid defensiveness, said Mughees-uddin Sheikh, a dean at the University of the Punjab in Lahore, Pakistan’s second-largest city… ‘The student is tempted, but he doesn’t understand it because he wasn’t educated,’ said Mr. Sheikh. ‘He’s been deprived of things like this.’ … To ease the adjustment, young people join student groups, which, like powerful inner-city gangs, help them navigate life — how to use a bank, which mosque to pray in — but also offer protection…

“It is the lower middle class in Pakistan that is most vulnerable to radicalization, according to Amir Rana, director of the Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies. They consume virulently anti-American media. They are recruited aggressively by Islamic student groups in public universities, which are attended almost exclusively by lower- and middle-cl ass youth… ‘They’re politically conscious, but it’s not mature,’ Mr. Rana said. ‘They have big problems, but when they try to solve them, they get confused.’” Confused enough to take up arms, often against their own government, whom they find reprehensible for cooperating with the attacker of Islam – the United States of America – applying their education to plan attacks using Google Earth, communicating with modern Web-based and mobile-based networks, operating in small and often unaffiliated independent groups and following what they believe is their God-mandated obligation to destroy the perceived enemies of their faith. Some may find solace in large groups, in al Qaeda-backed organizations, but increasingly, they are willing to take up the cause without such formal associations.

It is not unusual for young men, with their family’s encouragement, to find support and comfort, when they arrive at their university, within the local Islamic communities that preach the conservative line with which they are so familiar. Families believe that their sons will steer clear of the temptations of the big city by sticking close to religious groups that preach values that parallel those from “back home.” Back in the 1990s, groups like “Lashkar-e-Taiba, ran charities and prayer meetings. It also offered training for jihad in Kashmir. Lashkar’s blend of adventure and patriotism appealed to restless young men. It even had an office on [more than one campus…] By the 1990s, recruiters for jihad in Kashmir were holding rallies on public university campuses. After 2001, Lashkar was driven underground, but it continues to operate through a charity wing. American, Indian and Pakistani officials say it carried out the attacks on hotels and other landmarks in Mumbai, India, in November 2008.” The Times.

There are tens of thousands of these young men, and certainly a significant number of young women as well, waiting for the opportunity to attack their enemies, even their own government, and most certainly America targets wherever they may occur. They have been raised on hatred, and their ire is very much focused on America and anyone who might call themselves an ally of what they believe is the most anti-Muslim country on earth (along with Israel). These young men and women will be around for a long time, unrest continues at Pakistani universities, and they are dedicated to perpetuating the next generations of militants to continue the cause until the “Great Satan” is vaporized from this earth. We will be dealing with them for years, long after w e have withdrawn from Iraq and Afghanistan. We may be able to move farther from their bombs or the sights of their angry rifles, reduce the intensity of their focus just on us, but they will be there for a very long time. Regardless of the failures of our military efforts in the region, we can never let down our guard against these mentally unstable individuals who live only to see our destruction.

I’m Peter Dekom, and I am deeply saddened at the intensity of this hatred.