How the war on terror may yet be won, in spite of ourselves "Islam has created jihad and remains defined by jihad. It is the only major religious doctrine in human history with a developed doctrine, theology, and legal system of mandatory violence against non-believers. This fact makes Islam the earliest political ideology that adopted terrorism as a systematic tool of policy, not as a temporary and unwelcome expedient." - Serge Trifkovic Defeating Jihad... A phenomenon initially based on local groups that have acquired global reach is morphing into a global network. Bin Laden's network may have been damaged but he could never have dreamed that the world, many years after 9-11, would be so favorable to his objectives. INTRODUCTION Terrorism, understood as unpredictable violence against non-combatants used in pursuit of ideological, religious and political objectives, is as old as humanity... PART I: UNDERSTANDING THE THREAT Part I Introduction For doctors, scientists, soldiers and politicians alike, diagnosing the cause of a problem is the key to its solution... 1. Muhammad’s Legacy Of Muhammad’s life we are informed mainly from the Muslim sources: the Kuran, the hadiths or recorded traditions about the prophet, and the consensus of Islamic scholars... 2. The Teaching The teaching of Islam is traditionally divided into dogma, faith (Iman), and practice (Din)... 3. Jihad JIHAD, war in the path of Allah with the objective of converting, killing, or else subjugating and taxing the “infidel,” was in Muhammad’s view the most important work a man could perform... 4. Terror Justified The distinction between Islamic terror through the centuries (starting with the “final solution” for the Medinan Jews) and its 20th century totalitarian counterparts as practiced in the workhouses of Himmler’s Final Solution and Beria’s Gulag, is that of degree, rather than kind... 5. Implications Islam has created jihad and remains defined by jihad. It is the only major religious doctrine in human history with a developed doctrine, theology, and legal system of mandatory violence against non-believers... Conclusion of Part I This summary of the problem of Islam is of necessity sketchy. It is nevertheless truer and more honest than the politicized pap, fed to the Western world on the daily basis... Part II: FROM EUROPA TO EURABIA 6. Intifada on the Seine The scene could have come from Gaza in the aftermath of the killing of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin in May 2004, or Ramallah in October 2000, or on any number of occasions in Karachi, Kabul, or Casablanca: thousands of young men, armed with clubs and sticks and shouting “Allahu akbar!”... 7. A Continent in Peril The problem is not only France’s. The present technological, cultural and financial strength of Europe is a façade... 8. London’s Bombs and Sleepwalkers Britain’s Prime Minister Tony Blair is a thoroughly modern European politician. “What happened in America was not the work of Islamic terrorists, it was not the work of Muslim terrorists”... 9. Ritual Slaughter in Amsterdam On November 2, 2004, in broad daylight, jihad became reality in a busy street of what is arguably Europe’s most open, most tolerant metropolis... 10. A Study in Decrepitude: The Second Conquest of Spain The bombs that killed over 200 commuters and wounded 1,400 others on Madrid’s trains on March 11, 2004, marked the first Islamist terrorist attack in a major Western country that yielded tangible political benefits for the attackers... 11. A Continent Transformed From the Polar Circle to the Straits of Gibraltar the face of Europe is changing... 12. Brussels, the New Medina “Brussels” has decreed that member countries of the European Union no longer make the law on their immigration policies... 13. A Eurabian Blend: Existentialist Gay Suicide Bombers Europe’s intellectual climate in the 1960s helped manufacture the ideology of Third World socialism epitomized by Franz Fannon. Today, however, most young Muslims who take their religion seriously have nothing but disdain for Europe and its cultural heritage... 14. America Needs Europe A comprehensive American anti-terrorist strategy should have three main objectives in relation to Europe... Conclusion Of Part II Sultan Suleiman, according to a Serbian folk epic, had given strict orders: During Ramadan no one would drink wine, wear the color green, carry a decorated sword, or dance... PART III: AMERICA--INSECURE HOMELAND Part III Introduction For the time being, America is in far better shape than Europe. It would be dangerous to assume that this is so because Muslims have better assimilated into American culture... 15. The Enemy Inside the Walls The story usually goes like this: some members of a Muslim community somewhere in the United States are arrested and accused of links with Islamic terrorists. Local Muslims respond with a mix of indignation and denial... 16. Myopia at the White House “In this new century, freedom is once again assaulted by enemies determined to roll back generations of democratic progress,” President Bush announced in late 2005... 17. Liberal Sleepwalking While it is at least conceivable that Mr. Bush knows or suspects the real score on Islam but feels constrained for political reasons to pretend otherwise, the moral and intellectual paralysis of the liberal end of the Washingtonian spectrum is terminal... 18. Jihad’s Agitprop A major exploiter of the opportunities provided by the liberal mindset has been the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)... 19. Jihad’s Fellow-Travelers Pre-empting the ongoing FBI investigation, the mayor of Lodi, John Beckman, declared that in his opinion there was no terror cell in the city... 20. Treason in Education The cold fanaticism of jihad’s fellow-travelers in America’s state education system goes way beyond Ridley Scott, the Newsweek, the Monitor, even the PBS... Conclusion of Part III The Communist Party of the Soviet Union used to devote a lot of attention to the problem of inefficient and wasteful economy...The debate on Islamic terrorism in the United States has the same Soviet quality... PART IV – DEFENSE ABROAD Part IV Introduction The struggle against Islamic terrorism is a global issue that requires major adjustments of the global strategy of the United States... 21. Two Sides of the Same Global Coin In 1979 Jimmy Carter presided over the first American administration in history to proclaim that “human rights” are its guiding light and main objective... 22. Perils of “Democratizing” the Middle East “We will not tire, or rest, until the war on terror is won,” President Bush declared at the end of 2005... 23. Iraq: Wrong War, Wrong Enemy “The terrorists regard Iraq as the central front in their war against humanity, and we must recognize Iraq as the central front in our war on terror,” President Bush said. What he did not accept is the possibility that his administration’s policies have contributed to such outcome... 24. Getting Chechnya Right Attacks by Chechen terrorists on Russian airplanes, metro stations, theaters, hospitals and schools are evidently terrorist in character and Islamic in the method of execution... 25. Jihadist Base in the Balkans Magnus Ranstorp, a specialist at the Swedish National Defense College who testified before the 9-11 Commission, said the presence of Islamic militants inside Bosnia makes it an attractive gateway into Europe for terrorists... 26. Turkey--An American “Ally” There is a country in the Middle East where irate villagers shouting abuse pelt U.S. soldiers with eggs... 27. Runners with Hare, Hunters with Hounds Suicide attacks in London on July 7 2005, masterminded by a young British-born Pakistani, and that country’s long list of proven or suspected links with numerous other terrorist attacks in recent years, should focus attention on the ambivalent role of Pakistan... 28. Malaysia—Another “Close Friend” Some thousands of miles southeast of Pakistan, the leader of another predominantly Muslim country declared in 2003 that the United States and Israel were engaging in “state terrorism”... Conclusion to Part IV Almost eighty years ago Julien Benda published his tirade against the intellectual corruption of his times, La Trahison des Clercs... Part V: THE SOLUTION Part V Introduction The war against jihad can and must be won. The first task is to start talking frankly about the identity and character of the enemy and the nature of the threat... 29. Spying on Muslims: Justified and Necessary In December 2005 it was disclosed that soon after the September 11 attacks, President Bush secretly authorized the National Security Agency “to eavesdrop on Americans...” 30. Refuse or Rescind Citizenship to All Islamic Activists All Americans –and not those “Americans” who falsely take the oath of citizenship but continue to preach jihad and Sharia – will be spared the worry about Mr. Bush listening in to their phone conversations if Islamic activism is treated as grounds for the loss of acquired U.S. citizenship and deportation... 31. Reintroduce “Profiling” In June 2003 the Bush administration ordered a broad ban on “racial and ethnic profiling” at all 70 federal law enforcement agencies, thus making existing ban even more stringent... 32. No Security Clearances for Muslims A person’s Islamic faith and outlook is incompatible with the requirements of personal commitment, patriotic loyalty and unquestionable reliability... 33. Reform Immigration Laws to Exclude Jihadists No counter-terrorist strategy is possible without complete physical control of the homeland’s boundaries... 34. Supervise Mosques and Islamic Centers It is to be hoped that the acceptance of other proposed measures would lead to a swift and irreversible reduction in the number of mosques and Islamic centers in the United States... Conclusion to Part V: Knowing Ourselves Acceptance of these proposals would represent the long overdue beginning of serious Western defense against Islamic terrorism... Appendix A The creative solution in Iraq would demand flexibility, imagination, and ruthlessness. It should have three key elements... Index Bibliography Back to Top |