Gosh - did his Public Relations office clear this statement? Seems like the cloak of obfuscation is slipping. Choice of religion, choice of government, what next freedom, freedom for women? These statements may cause more than a little heartburn for N.O.W. and some other hard left groups.
 

Personally, doing a little amateur psychologizing - I think Zarqawi's nuts ( probably manic-depressive and socipathic) in a way that Bin Laden isn't and the latter hitched to the former out of fear that Zarqawi would eventually out-radicalize him in terms of " street cred" with the extreme Salafists.
 

Cuckoo-for-cocoa puffs.

To be precise, though, Zarqawi doesn't really hate "our freedom," rather, he doesn't think that democracy is compatible with Islam because only Allah can make rules.

A quibble, perhaps, but an important one.

-praktike
 

Hi praktike

Well, in response to that quibble that I would say that while a Salafist or Hanbali scholar might hold the same opinion of Democracy as a form of government as Zarqawi does - he probably lacks the desire to go out and kill fellow Muslims who differ or believes that would be an appropriate response. What fuels this difference ? ;o)

I'm not sure how Zarqawi's words were transliterated since Juan Cole had little to say on the topic today but if Zarqawi's " enemies of Islam" was actually a denunciation of apostasy of any Iraqi intending to vote, then Zarqawi is also a Khawarij.
 

That above anon comment was me, Zenpundit/mark BTW - Blogger is acting up up something fierce this morning
 

"What fuels this difference?"

Indoctrination, time spent in prison, experiences in Afghanistan ... I dunno. Zarqawi seems like the craziest mofo of them all. What tipped him into violence where another adherent of salafism might merely advocate separation from the West? If I knew the answer, I wouldn't be just another blogger.

-praktike
 

Critical thinking and will fuels the difference. Zarqawi is an evil villian who must be killed. But that doesn't change that fact that he does know better. He is not insane. He is acting rationally and deliberately to build a future he believes his worth creating. The odds are against him, and he realizes this. While he may be ignorant and not realize the depravity of his Ba'athi brothers-in-arms, he is not stupid. Unlike idle scholars who share his views but not his courage, he knows that he has to /work/ to build a future worth creating.

Zarqawi views the present as a nightmare not worth living. It is clear that the Arab and Muslim worlds are backward, disunited, and corrupt. The governments of the region are naturally weak, and are part of a globalized system of (to him) dubious morality.

His diagnosis of this is apostasy. The fall of the Caliph was a symptom of this, but not a cause. So long as Muslims turn their back on God and worship false idols (socialism, nationalism, capitalism, democracy) they will be weak. In his view, the Muslim world is in a vicious cycle. Corrupt governments promote weakness promote dependency on foreign infidel powers promote corruption. He sees globalization as possibly the final blow. Not only are Muslims to live under corrupt, weak, and depdendent governments, but these governments themselves are losing power to outside forces. I doubt he has heard of Friedman's thesis of a "global herd," but he feels the trampling stampede.

Compounding this is that these forces work to destroy freedom (as he sees it). A truly free man is infinitely free to walk in the path of the Prophets, in the shade of the Koran, and personally know God. But "freedom of religion" means that a man will be tempted to walk a differen path. What Zarqawi wants is not "freedom of religion" as much as "freedrom from wrong religions," not "freedom of speech" so much as "freedom from wrong speech." He knows that the people chose "freedom of speech" over "freedom from wrong speech" every chance they get, so the will of the people is just another force to be destroyed, not reasoned with.

Zarqawi wants to move the world away from this confusion back to its right place. But in this vicious cycle every force is forever corrupting Muslims. Therefore he has to destroy every power. He has to destroy the status quo. Doing nothing guarantees failure. Shaking up the world at least gives a chance for success.

Zarqawi sees his limitations. He has no conventional army or air force. He has no money, and does not have the charisma of Osama bin Laden. He doesn't even have popularity. But he has the will to violence.

He will continue to use his will to violence to destroy the powers that be until he has a chance of winning in peace. This is a far way away, but remember that if his violence stops know, he knows he loses.

He will rationally work with the Ba'athis to destroy the government, because he knows under the government he would lose. If the Ba'athis win and seize the government, he will try to destroy them with violence. If the Iranians invade, he will try to destroy them. If al Qaeda (an organization he admires, which is why he rechristed "Monotheism and Jihad" as "al Qaeda in Iraq") can attack New York, Washington, Madrid, surely someone it can attack Teheran and Qom. If mujahideen can assassinate people in the Netherlands, surely they could get to the Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei.

Eventually, his movement might prevail. Communism sure did. The Czar was overthrown. The Last Emperor of China was reeducated to be a gardener. It might take a century, but his preferred future is creatable. And he does not need an army. He does not need charisma. He only needs small cadres, and the will to violence.

(Though having faith in God and a promise of an eternal reward sure helps!)

Zarqawi is not crazy. He is only the salafist who does know better.
 

Its a little known fact that Zakawi was part of the Iranian revolution in the late 70's. remember also late in clinton's reign Zak and OBL appeared on telly together announcing a state of war against the west. the signs have been there for ages, the west has ignored them repeatedly as they did with OBL - 52 warnings prior to 9-11? the CIA et al should be FIRED UNEQUIVOCALLY for their failures, not rewarded - but i digress. it was not convenient to notice two islamists declaring war until the first plane went in. boy we noticed then. proper attention to such people and issues in good time would have saved many many lives and a lot of money and property too by the way if that also matters to you. so i hold no surprise as to Zakawis intentions or actions, they have been there to read for years. He is most likely coldly calculating and very intelligent and not to be underestimated. He is also very unlikely to be a cutout or puppet for anyone else, which is as much a part of the problem as anything else - a man who cannot be bought is dangerous indeed, because he means business.