Rand Report and The Invisible Man

When Europeans launched the Crusades as a prolonged "holy war" against Islam, couched in terms of "good-versus-evil," they did so for three reasons. First was the rise of Islam itself, one of the greatest historical movements of the Middle Ages. Its existence and rapid expansion were seen as a threat to the dominant Byzantine Empire. Secondly, the Pope was struggling with the Holy Roman Emperor for supreme power in Europe, and so in 1095 a decision was made at the Council of Clermont to launch a Crusade that would consolidate his authority as a supreme leader. The third reason was driven by economic change. Behind the rising religious craze in Europe, a new holy war was seen as a shortcut for Europeans to make business contacts with the affluent oriental East and the highly civilized Arab world. The shape of the current Crusade may be different, but the goal is the same: conquering territories, controlling resources and undermining the culture and the religious self identity of the indigenous population, the "others" who need fixing. The notion that only outside intervention can save Islam and Muslims has been in circulation since the Iranian Revolution of 1979, but it gained greater urgency after September 11, 2001. [more]