Divide and Conquer (part VI) - Propaganda: Indoctrinating The YouthMadrassah To University

We've been talking for a bit about the issues in the Middle East and I've been researching information about University studies in countries such as Saudi Arabia. I'll be posting some more detailed information about programs and the kind of "students" (taliban) these universities turn out.

In the meantime, I've come across a couple of sites that I suggest you start reading on a regular basis if you want to get a load of our friends and neighbors in the big sand box. Go to the inner sanctum for connections and examples of these sites.

Terrorism Unveiled is a young American woman on a four month study program in a Jordan University. She plans to study the middle east and put her knowledge to work as an analyst or other specialist for the government. She has already posted some insightful information about what she is learning:

Today a Muslim lady who has her doctorate in Islamic studies came and lectured my class on the Revival of Islam and the changing roles of Islam. (...)

2.) The concept of Jihad and Shahada is only if an act of aggression is made against you, then you fight. Well, according the leading Islamic jurist manual in Sunni Islam, in this case, it is acceptable to kill civilians. So, do civilians exist in Islam? (Her answer to this is that she doesn't believe these scholars if they say this, but yet she said she believes Ibn Taymiyyah's scholarly discourse (later in the questioning period, which clearly advocates political Islam and many terrorists trace their ideological roots back to him. She's clearly contradicting herself.(...)

10. This bin Laden is a myth and I do not believe he is behind all of these things. Most Muslims do not even know of him, who is this bin Laden? I had asked her why there was no fatwa condemning Osama bin Laden. Her reply pushed me near my tipping point. I replied, "Well, the people cheering in the streets after the attack, holding his picture surely know of him."

This woman is living in denial. As are many Muslims, Christians, Jews, Westerners, Easterners, and the list goes on.

This gentleman at Crossroads Arabia collects articles from the Arab news sources and gives some interesting analysis with a background of some of the players:

It’s been a bad week for the US in Arab News. Actually, no… that’s not quite right. It’s been a bad week for the editorial writers of Arab News in their assessment of the US. The truly don’t understand a thing about it. They take cases from Dafur to the Kurdish areas of Iraq and find things to blame on the US.

This piece, by Amr Al-Faisal, grandson of the former King Faisal, is simply so full of invective that all one can get out of it is “I hate America". A point-by-point argument is somewhat useless, not to mention tedious. Al-Faisal simply grabs whatever pieces of rhetoric he can from his quiver and fires it off at his target. I suppose that’s enough for an ignorant readership, but I suspect Arab News readers are smarter than that.

I highly recommend that you keep a watch on our young friend in Jordan. She is on the ground and getting a first hand look at the lifestyles, education and opinion of her hosting country.

Enjoy and I will continue to research the curriculum at Saudi and other country universities.