What Two British Prime Ministers, Lawrence of Arabia, and Homeland Can Teach Us about Today’s Middle East
The Middle East is an often complex weave of unlikely alliances, but their confluence today lead to new dangers – dangers we must look to history to understand and defeat. In my upcoming new book (due out September 20th), “Unholy Alliance: The Agenda Iran, Russia, and Jihadists Share for Conquering the World,” I uncover some of these dangerous trends and detail solutions that our nation’s leaders must take. This continues the in-depth analysis of radical Islam we began in #1 New York Times Bestseller “Rise of ISIS: A Threat We Can’t Ignore.”
Three years ago in my studies at the University of Oxford at the historic and world-renowned Bodleian Library, I undertook an extensive study of the former prime minister of Great Britain Benjamin Disraeli. I was privileged to have access to his private papers. Interestingly, Disraeli faced challenges eerily similar to the ones we face today.
During Disraeli’s time, Russia caused much commotion throughout Europe and especially with Turkey. Not much has changed in the ensuing 150 years. Disraeli famously said:
Questions between Russia and England are not questions that can be settled by arbitration. They are questions in which power is involved; and power can only be met by power. Questions of this kind can only be settled by force. I do not mean necessarily by war. I mean by diplomacy or war; because in my opinion, diplomacy is force without violence.
The next year, I studied another former British prime minister, Winston Churchill, who prophetically warned, “Unsuccessful intervention in the affairs of another country is generally agreed to be a mistake.” Churchill was correct and we should heed his admonition even today.
As one of the greatest leaders of the twentieth century, Churchill gave one of his most famous speeches after the Battle of Dunkirk in the summer of 1940. The Allied troops had retreated and the United States was still not entering the war; so to inspire the troops and draw U.S. support, Churchill gave a stirring speech about the resolve of the freedom-loving people to stand up to evil. He concluded:
The British Empire and the French Republic, linked together in their cause and in their need, will defend to the death their native soil, aiding each other like good comrades to the utmost of their strength. Even though large tracts of Europe and many old and famous States have fallen or may fall into the grip of the Gestapo and all the odious apparatus of Nazi rule, we shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender, and even if, which I do not for a moment believe, this Island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God’s good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old.
Last year, I did a comprehensive study of T. E. Lawrence—Lawrence of Arabia. Lawrence played a pivotal role in the development of the modern Arab world. He was both pro-Arab and a Zionist. Unlike today, during this time period, this was not a contradiction.
I read the entirety of Lawrence’s tome, Seven Pillars of Wisdom, as well as his personal letters. Colonel Lawrence had a comprehensive and personal relation with the emerging Arab political leaders during World War I. He also encountered the Persians (the Iranians of today). He made an interesting and important observation regarding their unique view of Islam. Lawrence observed that the “Shia Mohammedans from Pershia . . . were surly and fanatical, refusing to eat or drink with infidels; holding the Sunni as bad as Christians; following only their own priests and notables.”
There’s a lot of wisdom from each of these leaders about the threats we face today, threats that our own leaders fail to understand.
President Obama has consistently failed to name our enemy. He desires to create a modern international community based on mutual respect, international security, and global prosperity.
This is a false narrative, plain and simple. How can these things be achieved when the United States faces a serious security threat? Only after we understand the true nature of the enemy we are facing will we be in a position to effectively combat it.
It’s a sad day when even Hollywood understands these truths that the U.S. president refuses to acknowledge. Like many Americans, I enjoy Homeland, a fictional television series about the CIA that rips plotlines from our real-life headlines. In the season-five premiere, a CIA agent is asked by bureaucrats and politicians why ISIS and radical terrorists continue to succeed. He’s asked whether the U.S. strategy is working. He answers:
What strategy? Tell me what the strategy is and I’ll tell you if it’s working. [Silence] See, that right there is the problem because they—they have a strategy. They’re gathering right now in Raqqa by the tens of thousands, hidden in the civilian population, cleaning their weapons and they know exactly why they’re there. They call it the end times. What do you think the beheadings are about? The crucifixions in Deir Hafer, the revival of slavery? Do you think they make this [stuff] up? It’s all in the book. Their . . . book. The only book they ever read—they read it all the time. They never stop. They’re there for one reason and one reason only: to die for the Caliphate and usher in a world without infidels. That’s their strategy and it’s been that way since the seventh century. So do you really think that a few special forces teams are going to put a dent in that?
The foes we face today want to change the world as we know it. The jihadists want each and every single one of us dead.
The stakes could not be any higher.
This is excerpted and adapted from #1 NY Times Bestselling author Jay Sekulow’s newest book, “Unholy Alliance: The Agenda Iran, Russia, and Jihadists Share for Conquering the World.”
You can pre-order your copy below:
