January 12, 2015

Vol. 15, Issue 1.5

Je suis Charlie

January 7
"Only that historian will have the gift of fanning the spark of hope in the past who
is firmly convinced that even the dead will not be safe from the enemy if he
wins. And this enemy has not ceased to be victorious."
Walter Benjamin

Beginning with this issue and until it ceases publication, The Credit Strategist will bear the phrase
"Je suis Charlie" as a sign of solidarity with the victims of the horrific attacks that took place in the offices
of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo on January 7. I extend my deepest condolences to the
families of the victims and extend my profound gratitude to the brave men and women who brought the
murderers to justice.
In addition to the cartoons reprinted above from Charlie Hebdo, I have reproduced a cartoon that
appeared in the Iranian press in November 2012. All three are obviously highly offensive, but that is
precisely the point. We must defend the right of artists and writers to offend us. Ideas will always be more
powerful than bullets. Bad ideas will be destroyed in the free marketplace of thought as long as free men
and women have the courage to stand up against them.
I have repeatedly written about the dangers of jihadism, with which the West and every reader of
this publication is at war in the same way that good men and women were at war with Nazism in the 1930s
and 1940s.1 Jihadism is an attack on the basic tenets of Western civilization, including freedom of
expression and religious pluralism. Charlie Hebdo was an equal opportunity satirist; it didnt single out
the Prophet Muhammad for mockery but, as the cartoons above demonstrate, also picked on the Pope and
many other sacred cows. While Charlie Hebdos cartoons were intended to be provocative, far more
virulent antisemitic material appears in the Arab media on a daily basis, yet we dont see Jews trying to
murder their creators. The fact that only jihadists engage in violent reactions to mockery or criticism of
See most recently The Credit Strategist, September 2014, No Easy Day. A few months ago I referenced an
important RAND Corporation report authored by Seth G. Jones entitled A Persistent Threat: The Evolution of al
Qaida and Other Salafi Jihadists that warned that the United States faces a serious and growing Salafi-jihadist
challenge overseas. We also face such a threat at home. I will be happy to send a copy of this report to anyone who
requests it.
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February 1, 2015

their religion speaks to deep-seated issues at the heart of Islam that need to be addressed. Egyptian President
Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi opened the new year with a speech calling for a revolution in Islam to reform
interpretations of the faith that have led to jihadism, terror and murder. This is an incredibly courageous
move by a man who sits in the seat once held by Anwar Sadat, who reached out his hand in peace to Israel
and was murdered by Islamic extremists as a result. The world needs more leaders like Mr. el-Sissi and
more citizens who are willing to support bold calls for radical change in how we think about the world
politically, economically and humanly. Our current course is unacceptable and, as Walter Benjamin warned
us, neither the living nor the dead will be safe if we persist on our unsustainable path.2
The attack on Charlie Hebdo was especially pernicious because it was a highly targeted attack on
free expression. Such an attack poses a direct threat to the heart of Western freedoms. Nobody can hide
from attempts to murder thought. That is why the initial reaction by Sony and theater owners to the threats
to the release of The Interview were so disappointing. We should be grateful that cooler heads prevailed
and that the film was released; free expression was vindicated.
In October, the Canadian Parliament in Ottawa was attacked. In December, Sydney and Peshawar
were in the line of fire; in January, it was Paris. Two years ago it was Boston. Soon it will be New York
(again) or Miami or your home town. The jihadist germ is spreading to cities and towns across our land;
anyone who thinks it is confined to Europe or Asia is fooling himself.
On a practical and political level, President Obama is preparing to sign a nuclear deal with Iran.
This would constitute one of the most profound foreign policy errors in history. Such an agreement would
legitimize and empower the worlds largest sponsor of state terrorism and the primary financial and
ideological supporter of jihadism. There is strong evidence that the perpetrators of the Paris attacks had
ties to Al Qaeda in Yemen, an organization that draws its major support from Iran. The readers of this
publication include some of the most influential businessmen and politicians in this country. I implore each
of you to do everything in your power to block a deal with Iran from occurring. Those of you who are
backing presidential candidates for 2016 need to make it clear that blanket opposition to an Iran nuclear
deal is an absolute requirement for your financial support. Mr. Obama seems to think he knows something
about Iran that nobody else knows. Respectfully, he does not. He is being played. Iran has no intention of
ending its nuclear program. You do not negotiate with terrorists. You kill them. The United States should
have instituted a sea and land blockade of Iran the minute it learned that the country was initiating a nuclear
program. These may not be things that are said in the salons of Georgetown or in polite media circles, but
these things must be said and done to protect the dead and the living from the enemy that is attacking us
with increasing frequency. We must address the world as it is, not as we wish it to be. And right now that
world is a very dangerous place and now is the time each of us must stand up and be counted.
Michael E. Lewitt
mlewitt@thecreditstrategist.com

While all eyes were on Paris, jihadists in the rest of the world did not take the week off from killing. In Nigeria,
Boko Haram continued to turn the northeast of that country into a charnel house, butchering as many as 2000 men,
women and children during the week of January 5. On January 10, twin suicide bombings took the lives of 9 and
wounded 37 others in Tripoli. And who knows how many people died in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan during that time
frame?

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The Credit Strategist

February 1, 2015

The Credit Strategist

Michael E. Lewitt, Editor
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