Doctors of Terrorism

Doctors of TerrorismBarry RubinJuly 7, 2007
The arrest of seven doctors in the attempted British terror bombings has shocked many people. Sadly, it shouldn't.All seven are Muslims working at government-financed hospitals, their salaries paid by the British taxpayer. Dr. Muhammad Hanif practiced at Halton Hospital in Runcorn, Cheshire; Dr. Muhammad Asha, at the North Staffordshire NHS Trust's University Hospital.So can doctors be terrorists? Can people who are financially well-off be terrorists? Absolutely. It is ideology, after all, that turns people into terrorists --not suffering. Indeed, the No.2 leader of al Qaeda is Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri --who was previously a Muslim Brotherhood in his native Egypt. Zawahiri was a key archietect of the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, which killed hundreds of innocents and of the 9/11 attacks. The United States has offered a $25 million reward for information leading to his capture.Other Islamist MDs include two recent leaders of the Palestinian terror group Hamas. Abdel Aziz Rantisi graduated first in his class from an Egyptian university in pediatrics; he succeeded slain cleric Ahmad Yassin as Hamas' chief in March 2004 --only to perish himself a month later. After him came Mahmoud al-Zahar (who had helped found Hamas in 1987), an Egyptian-trained surgeon who today is the most powerful man in the Gaza Strip. One of the Hamas operations undertaken under their leadership, in July 2002, used a bomb hidden in a handbag to blow up the Hebrew University's Frank Sinatra international student center in Jerusalem, killing nine people, including five U.S. citizens and wounding approximately 87 others.Even before the rise of Islamism, there were secular doctor-terrorists. Dr. George Habash, a founder and for three decades leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), is now still active though enjoying his happy semi-retirement in Syria. The PFLP was one of the most bloodthirsty terrorist groups in history, with exploits such as the 1978 attack at the El Al terminal at Orly Airport in Paris.One evening, about 9 pm on June 30, 2002, a PFLP gunmen entered Itamar, firing in the street and wounding four people. Breaking into the home of the Shabo family, he shot Rachel Shabo in the back, then killed her three children Avishai, Zvika, and Neria. Yosef Twito, head of the village's security team, ran to the house to help but was killed by the terrorist.Dr. Waddi Haddad was Habash's sometime partner before forming a new organization specializing in terrorist operations, the group, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-External Operations. Among its more spectacular actions was a 1977 hijacking of a Lufthansa flight en route from Mallorca to Frankfurt. The December 1975 attack on an OPEC meeting in Vienna, Austria, was one of his operations. The terrorists, including Carlos the Jackal, seized at least 60 hostages, including several oil ministers, and were given a plane which they used to reach safe haven in Algeria.It isn't surprising that doctors become leading figures in terrorist groups. Consider, the kind of people who become doctors --relatively intelligent, well-organized, hard-working. These are valuable skills in societies with few such highly trained people. Yes, we in the West expect the study of medicine to produce humanists --men and women who view all life as sacred, dedicated to broad service for humanity. But it is also an endeavour for people in the Middle East who are so focussed on their training that they get little schooling in how their own societies or the world works. They learn modern technology but not necessarily the values that go with it. And in much of the Muslim world, the strongest ideological currents have been the various extremisms that promote terrorism.Since the doctrines of radical Arab nationalism and Islamism (like the one that motivated those working in concentration camps a half-century ago) view their enemies as sub-human. Toward them, those trained in healing are quite willing to become doctors of death. A version of this article was published in the NY Post, July 5, 2007


Barry Rubin is Director of the Global Research in International Affairs (GLORIA) Center, Interdisciplinary Center university. His latest book, The Truth about Syria was published by Palgrave-Macmillan in May 2007. Prof. http://www.amazon.com/Truth-about-Syria-Barry-Rubin/dp/1403982732/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/104-6714642-3015149?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1177690586&sr=1-1Rubin's columns can be read online at: http://gloria.idc.ac.il/columns/column.html.

Support Our Broadcast Network

We're a 100% Listener Supported Network

3 Simple Ways to Support WVW Foundation

Credit Card
100% Tax-Deductable
Paypal
100% Tax-Deductable

Make Monthly Donations

 

-or-

A One-Time Donation

 
Mail or Phone
100% Tax-Deductable
  • Mail In Your Donation

    Worldview Weekend Foundation
    PO BOX 1690
    Collierville, TN, 38027 USA

  • Donate by Phone

    901-825-0652

WorldviewFinancialTV.com Banner