Anthony Dennis is one of the nations foremost authorities on Muslim Nationalism. His book, "The Rise of the Islamic Empire and the Threat to the West", is generally accepted as a landmark study. He has been invited twice to appear as a guest on national conservative media pundit John McLaughlin's show "One On One with John McLaughlin". He is a frequent guest on radio talk shows. Mr. Dennis was also called to give expert testimony before the Senate Committee of Foreign Relations. In this month's interview, Mr. Dennis discusses current events in the Middle East and the long range ramifications of Islamic Nationalism for the United States.
CONSERVATIVE MONITOR: Abundant energy reserves mixed with Moslem Fundamentalist movements has made the Middle East a volatile region. Iran and Afghanistan have both been taken over by this movement, Algeria may be next. Specifically, what danger do these Fundamentalist regimes pose to US interests in the region?
ANTHONY J DENNIS: In the near-term, the burgeoning fundamentalist movement threatens America's interest in preventing terrorism and in ensuring a stable international order which is in the interests of everyone, Western and non-Western alike. Many of these guerrilla and terrorist groups are trying to overthrow U.S. allies like Mubarak in Egypt or some of the so-called "oil monarchies" situated along the Persian Gulf largely because they are not viewed as authentically "Muslim" and because of their commercial and diplomatic ties to the U.S and the West. If people like Mubarak are successfully assassinated or otherwise overthrown and if a fundamentalist dictatorship is finally installed in places like Egypt, then you will see the death of democracy in the region, a reversion to a hostile, anti-Western foreign policy on the part of the government and a decline in trade relations. That will hurt both the U.S. and the citizens of Egypt and in other places.
Looking to the future, given the growing political and military muscle of many of these fundamentalist groups, I think we have to contemplate the possibility that places like Turkey, Algeria and Egypt might "go fundamentalist" in which case we will be looking at a vastly changed diplomatic landscape in North Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean region. I believe that the fundamentalist movement will eventually pose a hemispheric and ultimately a global military threat for several reasons. First, their avowed hostility and hatred of all things Western makes the U.S. and indeed Western culture and civilization a natural enemy of theirs. Second, they are on their way to becoming a global threat because as they rise to power in additional countries their military capabilities and strength will accordingly increase. Turkey, for example, is presently a member of NATO although their Islamic party has openly called on Turkey to withdraw and form an "Islamic NATO" with radical Iran and Libya. If Turkey "goes fundamentalist" you will see a first rate military force on the side of the radical Muslims. I also worry about the black market in weapons of mass destruction caused by the disintegration of the former Soviet Union. It's never been easier in all of recorded history for terrorists and terrorist-supporting regimes like Iran to get their hands on nuclear and other nonconventional weapons. They may finally have found a way to strike back at "the Great Satan" as they call us with more than just simple acts of terrorism.
Interview is continued on next page.
