posted by JCMach1 on Monday March 24, @09:22AM

By: Jerald Cumbus
The leader of the coalition forces stares out across a dusty plain moving-in to lay siege to one of the largest cities in the Arab world. 100,000 tough and battle-hardened troops equipped with the best military weapons of the day back him up. Meanwhile "The amir of Damascus, Mu'in ad-Din Unur, received several warnings of the invasion and made preparations to defend his realm and repulse the enemy. He fortified the more exposed positions, manned the communication trenches and the loopholes, cut off supplies to enemy bases and blocked up water holes and springs." Students of history understand that the siege of Damascus during the Second Crusade served as a turning point in the history of that conflict. Overwhelming Christian forces were turned back by the resolute tenacity of the defenders.

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The current conflict in Iraq mirrors this historical conflict in many ways. America and the erstwhile coalition of the willing have embarked on a war of conquest against a modern Islamic country. There are important lessons from this conflict that Western military planners have failed to take into account. First, the West seems to have forgotten that nation and religion have been bound together in ongoing relationship that goes back at least to the time of the Prophet. Instead, America's armchair neo-Conservative generals gambled that an abstract (and in some ways) alien concept of Freedom could win the propaganda war against passions and beliefs that burn across centuries. The second tenet of the neo-Con faith has also been shattered: the invincibility of our armed forces. While we do possess one the most powerful forces ever assembled, we failed to note what happened to the Franks. They were completely defeated by the unconventional tactics used by the enemy. Like the Franks, we have scattered our troops across the desert thinking that our army is invulnerable to the 5 million people and hundreds of thousands of troops that await us in Baghdad. The people of Baghdad will fight against all odds- against the infidel invading their homeland. The United States may yet win this battle, but at what price will victory come? Like the crusaders our influence will pass by like the other Empires that have occupied ancient Babylon. Even worse, we may yet experience the kind of defeat the Franks did at the hands of the Muslims: "News reached the Franks from many sources that the Muslims were bearing down on them to attack them and wipe them out, and they felt that their defeat was certain. They consulted among themselves, and decided that the only escape from thc trap or abyss that loomed ahead of them was to take flight. At dawn on the following Wednesday they retreated in miserable confusion and disorder . When the Muslims saw that they had gone, and observed the traces that they left in their flight, they set off the same morning to pursue them. They showered them with arrows and killed many of their rearguard in this way, and horses and pack animals as well. Innumerable corpses of men and their splendid mounts were found in their bivouacs and along the route of their flight, the bodies stinking so powerfully that the birds almost fell out of thc sky. That very night they set fire to ar-Rabwa and al-Qubba al-Mamduda. This gracious sign of God's favour brought rejoicing to Muslim hearts, and they gave thanks to the Most High for hearing the prayers raised unceasingly to Him in the days of their distress. For which let God be praised and blessed !" We may yet live to hear those words ringing in our ears.
Excerpts are taken from the account of IBN AL-QALANISI, d. 1160

This article has been republished with permission of the author from:
http://www.thesyndrome.com

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