U.S. Must Distinguish Real Enemy in Mideast Youssef M. Ibrahim Washington Post Thursday, August 15, 2002 There are people inside the American defense establishment - the most powerful, technologically sophisticated military in the history of mankind - who believe that the greatest threat they face today may come from followers of an early 18th-century religious extremist who called for a renewal of Islamic spirit, moral cleansing and the stripping away of all innovations to Islam since the seventh century. Those disciples are known as Wahabis. Their namesake would have vanished into obscurity but for an act of political savvy that assured his followers influence over what has become one of the world's wealthiest, most pivotal regions. In 1745, the religious leader Mohammad Ibn Abdul Wahab forged an alliance with Mohammad Ibn Saud, the principal tribal leader of a large portion of the Arabian peninsula. Ibn Abdul Wahab wanted to propagate his brand of Islamic orthodoxy. Ibn Saud wanted to unite tribes and secure political command, becoming the founder of the Al Saud dynasty that still rules what is now known as Saudi Arabia. Since the Sept. 11 attacks, perpetrated by people who mostly came from Saudi Arabia, "Wahabism" has entered the vocabulary of American policy makers almost as synonymous with death, destruction and terror. Moreover, Wahabi teachings and influence in Riyadh have colored our image of Saudi Arabia, threatening to move it from the category of a friend helping to stabilize oil prices and the region to one of a foe alien to our values and bent on hurting us. Less obvious, however, is that the Sept. 11 attacks also have strained ties between the "Wahabis" and Arab governments. The alliance between the House of Saud - wealthy, cosmopolitan and increasingly Western in tastes and habits - and the proponents of an austere form of Islam based on a literal interpretation of the Koran is becoming harder to sustain. An increasing number of newspaper commentators, regional leaders and Saudi officials are daring to speak up against the backwards "Wahabi" vision of society. And Persian Gulf governments are taking a tougher line against extremists once thought to be useful, or at least relatively harmless. Instead of representing growing Wahabi power, the Sept. 11 attacks and their aftermath in Afghanistan may signal the peak of Wahabi influence, and a turning point in Arab attitudes toward such extremists. These nuances are important for the United States as it wages its war against terror and tries to decide, to paraphrase the president, who is with us and who is against us. The Bush administration must better distinguish between Islam and the real enemy - radical extremists within Islam. Otherwise, we risk a collision with 1.2 billion Muslims around the world who do not appreciate being demonized - as Saudi officials felt they were the other day by a report leaked to The Washington Post - just because they disagree with our policies in the Mideast or our plans to invade Iraq. The historic alliance between the Sauds and Wahabis may be coming apart - unless we in the United States intervene with unreasonable demands for instant reforms couched in barely disguised racial slurs. Instant anything in Saudi Arabia or the conservative world of Islam is impossible. The simple-speak propagated by the Bush White House has mixed mainstream Islam with Wahabism into a confusing mish-mash. The two are different. True, Arab governments coddled the fundamentalists. But so did we. The United States gave a green card to Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman in recognition for his service in rounding up volunteers in Egypt to fight the Soviets in Afghanistan. He ended up with a life sentence for conspiring to blow up the Lincoln Tunnel and the World Trade Center. I would argue that the Sept. 11 attack will mark the beginning of the end of radical extremist Islam in all its varieties. The money from Islamic charities is drying up. After Sept. 11, the "swamps" that provided recruits are drying up, too, so much so that two Islamic groups in Egypt, Jihad and al Gamaa al-Islamiya, have formally announced they are abandoning the armed struggle. In Saudi Arabia, half the population of 18 million sees Wahabism as oppressive. The same goes for people in Egypt, Jordan and Kuwait. That does not automatically translate into loving the United States. The Osama bin Laden attacks have given us an opening, though. Millions of Muslims who belong to the secular middle and business classes and the ruling elites also detest Muslim fundamentalists. But they equally detest our Mideast policy. It is time to bond with them on fighting fundamentalism without demanding that they subscribe to every one of our policies. Our friends there, the secularists, need to be offered a way to bond with us instead of being presented with simplistic choices of black and white.