Coping with Islamists

By Dr. Sam Holliday

The Obama administration has stated that our enemy is al-Qaeda and its terrorist affiliates. They reject any suggestion that Islam motivates our enemies. John Brennan has said "Nor do we describe our enemy as jihadists and Islamists." They do not recognize the two faces of Islam. This view does not recognize that we are in a struggle with a worldwide movement, known as the Great Jihad, motivated by the teaching of Muhammad. It is time for the Obama administration to face the reality of the Islamists Threat.

Today there are Muslims who, in accordance with the Qur’an, continue the Great Jihad. They call themselves jihadists, or holy warriors. Those who value Western Culture should refer to them as hirabahists, or unholy warriors. Islamists is an accurate name for them, since that indicates Islamic motivation, yet it does not suggest all Muslims. Islamists call the current worldwide struggle the Third Jihad, and have five goals:

1. To weaken US influence in the Middle East and South Asia and to increase the “fifth column” in Europe and the United States.

2. To use the United Nations to paralyze effective action by the United States.

3. To control the oil in the Middle East, and then use that control to weaken the economic power of the United States.

4. To eliminate Israel.

5. To continue the struggle until a Great Caliphate is created.

How many Muslims are Islamists? It is impossible to know. Clearly the leaders of the Third Jihad are Islamists. Most of the terrorists lack the necessary historical perspective or theological knowledge to be Islamists. They are motivated by feelings of envy, frustration, greed, prejudice, and hatred resulting from manipulation by the leaders. What about most Muslims? Most Muslims believe in jihad, i.e. struggle.

However, they believe in different kinds of struggles. For some Muslims it is a personal (inner) struggle. Islamists struggle for the five goals of the Third Jihad. Some Muslims belief the Qur’an prevents them from condemning Islamists, or helping to neutralize them. The critical question is: How many Muslims will struggle for modernity and integration into Western Culture?

The current threat to Western Culture is from transnational Islamists with political goals. This is a battle of wills. We have not yet neutralized them or weakened their will, and they have not weakened our will. However, this conflict will not end as long as there are Islamists who believe the Qur’an requires a Great Jihad.

Muslims are not our enemies. Our enemies are all the Islamists that want to kill us and drive us out of “Islamic lands”, and those that provide them funds, sanctuary, and moral support; this includes al-Qaeda, Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, and many other groups and individuals. Islamists support an ideology that opposes modernity and Western Culture; but not all Muslims support this ideology. At this time the threat doesn't call for a Holy War; there is not justification for an overall strategy similar to those used in World War II or the Cold War. We are not yet in a Clash of Civilizations and it would be a mistake at this time to think that we are. We should attempt to handle the conflict as Irregular Warfare, until the threat from the Islamists becomes greater—or is neutralized.

Our Overall Strategy

Our overall strategy must include information dissemination (communication) that is as effective as that of our enemy. However, this should not be confused with the spreading of our own values, attitudes, and ideology about economic and political systems. The goal of our strategy should be stability (homeostatic equilibrium), not political or economic development. The immediate goals must be local security and local authority. In time, we can hope, all Muslims might learn to value the free exchange of ideas, tolerance, free market economics, and representative government and give up those aspects of Islam that are incompatible with Western Culture. In other words, conversion to what we consider best should not be the strategic goal. Our strategic goal should be stability and stopping those who want to destroy us.

Our strategy must include getting Muslims to become a counter-balance to the Islamists. But the two faces of Islam cannot fool us. On the one hand, Muslims can be outwardly moderate, understand, tolerate and peaceful when living among nonbelievers, but inwardly believe in the Great Jihad. Only those who will work against Islamists and the Great Jihad can be trusted.

To date Muslims have failed to:

• Point out that it is un-Islamic for the Islamists to claim they are conducting a Jihad (holy war), and that the so-called jihadists have perverted authentic Islam.

• Clarify the “jihad martyrdom” factor so that it is not used as a recruiting tool.

• Distinguish between offensive, defensive, and personal jihad.

• Clarify the meaning of “infidel”, so that it is not used for political purposes and the killing of innocents.

• Point out that many Islamist leaders are not clerics and have no authority to issue fatwas (religious edicts).

• Point out that the Islamists deliberately ignore or misread many passages of the Qur’an and the Islamic Jurisprudence (the Figh).

Any successful strategy against Islamists requires realism, frankness and a high degree of unity. It requires honesty from governmental officials about the threat, and honesty from a loyal opposition in domestic politics. The skeptics, ideological Luddites (those with naive political beliefs that destroy that which supports and protects them), and partisans cannot be allowed to sabotage our strategy against the Islamists. Domestic political disputes must not provide an opportunity for the Islamists to divide and conquer. The useful idiots must be exposed. We must face this threat as one nation. In Irregular Warfare motivation, dedication, unity, effort and sacrifice are just as critical to success as they are in Conventional War.

Our leaders have to be candid about the threat, and what must be done; they should not speak in generalities or in words designed not to offend Muslims. They must believe in American exceptionalism. They must be honest, accurate and frank. They must project strength and confidence. Our leaders must admit that they don't know all and can't tell all that they know. They must explain:

• That this is a protracted conflict being played out on a global field with Islamists who have their tentacles virtually everywhere.
  
• That the "organization" of the Third Jihad has many autonomous parts and they often hide behind respected religious, culture, and welfare institutions.
  
• That the legal rights and protections of individuals, determined to be appropriate for peace, are a mill stone around the neck of open, free, representative societies during Irregular Warfare; they need be appropriately revised in those situations when the actions of Islamists destroy the conditions of peace.

Unless there are such revisions, the Islamists will exploit the weaknesses of their target countries to their advantages.

The Challenge

The ideology of the Islamists is hostile to pluralistic, representative, secular government, since true believers consider Qur’an law and its Sharia derivatives the only basis for governance. This view must be recognized as a subversive ideology; it should not be legitimized as a religion. It is true that Christianity, Shinto, and other religions do not have stellar records.

However, dhimmi status (subordinate, disfranchised, residents subject to discriminatory taxation and limits on freedom) is unique to Islam. The teaching of hatred for non-believers is unique to Islam. Only when Islam controls a country, and all non-Muslims have accepted dhimmi status, can Islamists accept diversity. We value God given rights of individuals—Islamists values submission to Islamic leaders.

It is true that Islamists want to expel Western influences from all territory formerly under Muslim control. They want their politico-economic and philosophical views to be dominant. Whereas most insurgents in the past were motivated by a utopian view of a better world with economic equality and social fraternity, Islamists seek spiritual purity in the eyes of Allah. Islamists see nonbelievers as too weak, too easily tempted, too confused to govern themselves; therefore, scholar-jurists who know the way of Allah must control them. They seek to protect people from worldly temptations; therefore they attempt to remove anything that will prevent people from submitting to Allah.

The ideology of the Islamists is hostile to pluralistic, representative, secular government, since Islamic true believers consider Qur’an law and its Sharia derivatives the only basis for governance. This view must be recognized as a subversive political ideology; it should not be legitimized as a religion. It is true that in the past the leaders of Christianity, Shinto, and other religions have twisted religious doctrine into political ideologies.

However, today this is true only of Islam. Dhimmi status (subordinate, disfranchised, residents subject to discriminatory taxation and limits on freedom) is unique to Islam. Only when Islam controls a country, and all non-Muslims have accepted dhimmi status, can Islamists accept diversity. Today the teaching of hatred for non-believers is unique to Islam. Western Culture values the God given rights of individuals—Islamists values submission to Islamic leaders.

“Moderate and reasonable Muslims” who support the Third Jihad—such as CAIR, the Holy Land Foundation, ISNA, Organization of the Islamic Conference, and the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination League--are a greater threat than terrorists. Such “moderates” are Islamists since they do not reject those parts of the Qur’an that call for a Great Jihad.

They hid their true intent and consider it in keeping with the Qur’an to deceive non-believers. They use our legal system to silence and punish free speech critical of Islamists or their sources of financing. They are the lead elements of the “fifth column” seeking to weaken Western Culture and prepare the way for Islamic domination of the world.

It is Islamists—not all Muslims—who want the Third Jihad to be a worldwide movement that will cause all non-believes to submit.

More effective ways to neutralize the tactics, techniques and strategies of the Third Jihad must be used in the future if it is to be defeated. We must defeat, deter, or neutralize our enemy. In Irregular Warfare there is never the final victory of Conventional War—success is defined by stability. First, we must recognize that killing Islamist leaders will not end the Third Jihad.

The leaders represent an important segment of our enemy, but not its totality. Second, we do not want to make Islam or an entire Islamic culture our enemy. Third, we must recognize that the demise of Israel will not mean an end of the Third Jihad, even though Israel will always be used to rally support for the Third Jihad. Fourth, we must recognize that withdrawal from the Middle East will only embolden the Islamists and make the final Clash of Civilizations more likely.

Strategy to Defeat the Third Jihad

The best strategy for defending Western Culture includes:

1. Assure that the Middle East and South Asia are stabilized and that worldwide no state is willing to support Islamists attempting to overthrow those in authority.

2. Work toward energy independence through:

• Developing the massive U.S. oil resources so that our economy is not dependent on sources that our enemies can disrupt. This would include the conversation of coal and natural gas into oil.
  
• Reducing dependence on fossil fuels, and using less energy overall, while maintaining our standard of living.
  
• Developing new sources of energy—primarily proven nuclear energy systems, such as those non-SL1 systems abandoned by the Army in the 1960s.

3. Adopt a policy of containment until the faults within the Third Jihad cause its ideological certitude to collapse, allowing other Muslims to neutralize the Islamists. Pursue such policies, both overt and covert, to hasten this collapse.

4. Face the fact that communication superiority is a prerequisite for success in Irregular Warfare--just as air superiority is a prerequisite for victory in Conventional War. To date we have been ineffective in the strategic communication campaign to strengthen the will of our own people, to weaken the will of our enemies, and to gain the support of people around the world. In the current battle of wills strategic communication is the center of gravity. This conflict is not to be won through economic, diplomatic, and military means.

5. Develop a message as effective as Muhammad's in winning hearts and minds. Then develop a sociopolitical structure to communicate that message which is more effective than that of the global revivalist movement known as the Third Jihad.  Recognize that the true believers of the Third Jihad are willing to suffer, sacrifice, deceive, kill, conquer, and die for their cause. Recognize that we need true believers in our cause, i.e. the principles and ideals of Western Culture.

6. Encourage respected leaders and scholars of the Islamic world to condemn in religious terms those using violence in the name of Islam. Also condemn as “useful idiots” those in the West who give aid, comfort and support to Islamists.

7. Take actions to strengthen pride in Western Culture. The weakening of the will in Europe and America, and ability to protect Western Culture as it developed in the modern era (from 1500 to the 1960s), has many causes. Partly it is the result of actions by those disillusioned by World War I and World War II, and partly it is the result of the cycle of rise and decline common to all groups. The ability to counter the Third Jihad depends on strengthening the will and unity of all of those who value Western Culture.

8. Designate any Muslim an Islamist, even if he or she claims to be a moderate, if that person will not condemn the Islamists and renounce that portion of the Qur’an that calls for the Great Jihad.

Life and liberty requires knowledge of your enemies and the ability to destroy or neutralize those enemies.

Dr Sam Holliday is Director of the Armiger Cromwell Center

All publications copyright © 2010 Armiger Cromwell Center. Permission is granted to forward this article by e-mail to friends or colleagues on a fair use basis. For reprint permission, contact Armiger Cromwell Center at armigercc@comcast.net

All posts by Sam Holliday on Politeia

Related dossiers

- The Unholy Alliance"
- "The Jihad Project"
- "In Defense of Liberty"
- "Legal Jihad"
- "The Balkan Caliphate"
- "Stop Islamization of Europe/America"
- "Eurabia"
- "Islamization=Apartheid"
- "Apostating Islam"

The Case of the Undocumented Crotch Bomber

On the minor matter of the crotch bomber's missing passport, this just in from The Washington Times:

"Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab reportedly boarded the aircraft by impersonating a Sudanese refugee who did not have a passport, a ruse officials in Amsterdam apparently accepted. It is certain that al Qaeda had tested this method at Amsterdam before."

Neither that, or the fact that he didn't carry any luggage triggered an alert in the ever intrepid Amsterdam Airport security personnel.

Regarding the case of the missing passport, this has been going on for donkey's years. The first thing refugees bound for the Netherlands do after boarding a plane, is flush their passport through the toilet. It's a "known issue".

This act of sabotage makes it possible to stretch the admission process into years, if not decades. It exponentially improves the chance of some Leftist Government proclaiming a general pardon on asylum seekers on the grounds of  "prolonged and inhumane process".

In the past there have been attempts to shift the responsibility to the airlines, but judging by the case of the Islamic crotch bomber we can see the problem still hasn't been resolved to any satisfaction. It's now caught up in the vital matter of international security and counter terrorism.

While citizens may be fined or worse for not carrying identification, Leftist politicians are of the opinion it's inhumane to send refugees back to some hell hole in the horn of Africa just because - through a fault of their own - they're unable to identify themselves. That is, unless the party political affiliation is another than their own; in such case you may well become the target of the national blood sport.

Some may remember the case of Ayaan Hirsi Ali, currently a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, formerly MP in the Dutch Parliament for the right-wing Liberal VVD party. She was forced to give up her seat (bad auto translation, original article) when it transpired her real name was Hirsi Magan.

While this is emphatically not a case of a missing passport, it does illustrate refugees may have reason to conceal their identity. Hirsi Ali was on the way to her unknown fiance in Canada, when in transit she decided to elope from the arranged marriage.

There's also news on the 'naked' body scans, and why they're not yet deployed on Amsterdam Airport. While it's true that the technically advanced apparatus is very expensive, indeed almost prohibitively so, it would appear the employment of security implements has now been outsourced to the European level! The European Commission is still pondering privacy considerations.

Several news outlets are reporting a mysterious “well-dressed Indian man” tried to intervene on Abdulmutallab’s behalf and browbeat an airline employee in to overlooking the fact that the wanna-be martyr lacked a passport. Intelligence want to know "who's this mysterious Indian".

Perhaps they're profiling a South Asian, maybe a Pakistani or a Sri Lankan. I'm sure he wasn't among the chorus of Amsterdam Airport security personnel, festively cheering and applauding the man-made disaster of 9/11 when that happened.

Update: DutchNews are reporting on a press conference held by the relevant Minister: strings are being pulled and full body scanners will be put to good use shortly. Until such time body searches will be carried out manually. Also: she denied the crotch bomber wasn't carrying a passport. We've put the matter to consideration of a law-and-order absolutist MP. No doubt to be continued. More on NRC.

Earlier posts:

- "Christmas Cracker Turns Man-Made Disaster Escape"

Related (updating throughout):

- BBC: "US aware 'Nigerian' prepared for terror attack"
- Mediaite: "Echoes Of 9/11? Gov. Had Plenty Of Warning About Christmas Day Attack"
- Washington Times: "EDITORIAL: Christmas day's recycled terrorists" - Releases from Gitmo are coming back to haunt us"
- TransWorldNews: "Somali Man Suspected of Attempting to Carry Explosives onto Plane"
- NRC: "Controversial scanners will be used on Amsterdam-US flights"
- CBS: "U.S. Intel Lapses Helped Abdulmutallab" - CBS News Exclusive: CIA Had Info on Person of Interest Dubbed "The Nigerian" in August But Officials Failed to Connect Dots

Christmas Cracker Turns Man-Made Disaster Escape

A young Amsterdam entrepreneur has become the toast of the town. The 32 year old partner in a media company, Jasper Schuringa grabbed hold of the Nigerianse Muslim terrorist Abdul Farouk Abdulmutallab (23) and narrowly averted a Christmas man-made terror disaster over Detroit.

Northwest Airlines Airbus flight NW-253 from Amsterdam to Detroit carrying 278 passengers, was on approach to Detroit, just lowering the landing gear, when a Nigerian male passenger attempted to ignite a powdery substance attached to his legs.

Al Qaeda's perverted wish to cause maximum harm may have helped the situation. Had the Nigerian succeeded in triggering an explosion in midair, the casualty rate would have been hundred percent. But the terrorist waited until approach to Detroit, in the hope of causing also casualties on the ground.

Schuringa watched Abdul Farouk Abdulmutallab trying to set his underpants on fire. He looked him in the eye, jumped him and held him subdued until landing. Schuringa was also hurt in the assault. His parents are so proud of him. A friend, Kasem Challiou was contacted by Schuringa after the event; he has told the press the jihadist was covered in explosives. Delta Airlines initially mentioned  something concerning firecrackers. American authorities later officially declared it a major terrorist man-made disaster thwarted.

In an interview with CNN (below) Schuringa says not to have hesitated for a second. Which is a small miracle given the advice Dutch citizens get from their authorities, never to act on impulse but always to call in the experts: the nanny state at its most insidious. Not so Schuringa: "I didn't give it a thought", he said. "I just wanted to save the plane".

Just 20 minutes prior to the landing in Detroit the Nigerian grabbed a powdery substance, mixed it with a fluid and set fire to it. A series of minor explosions followed. He claims to have acted on the orders of Al Qaeda.

What stands out in the affair is the rank incompetence all round: the general security situation failed, as well as - luckily - the terrorist, son of a prominent, wealthy family in Abuja. Engineering colleges in London and a terror crash course in Yemen, to no avail. The amount of explosives, a semtex component, is said to have been sufficient in quantity, but Abdul Farouk Abdulmutallab didn't manage to ignite it.

The Border Police and the National Anti Terror Coordinator in Amsterdam are baffled. The FBI have also arrived on the scene, aghast how the panty bomber could stroll around the airport for three hours, carrying the explosives along in a bag.

Elsevier Magazine is reporting that security at Amsterdam Airport is wanting. The article claims officials are often barely trained. Pentrite is invisible to current detection apparatus. But it can be detected by 'naked scanners'. More accurately called "millimeter wave scans", these devizes are currently undergoing trials at Amsterdam Airport.

- Caption: ABC: "EXCLUSIVE: Photos of the Northwest Airlines Bomb - Accused Bomber Abdulmutallab's Underwear, Explosive Packet and Detonator" - 

Passengers say to have hardly been searched. Security officials might have wanted to search Abdul Farouk Abdulmutallab, had they been aware who he was. He is among the 550,000 names in the Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment database (TIDE). Smaller watch lists trigger additional airport screening, but intelligence officials said there wasn't enough information to move Abdulmutallab into those categories. He was put on the database only after the US visa had already been issued.

! Update Dec. 29: on the matter of the missing passport, this just in from The Washington Times: "Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab reportedly boarded the aircraft by impersonating a Sudanese refugee who did not have a passport, a ruse officials in Amsterdam apparently accepted. It is certain that al Qaeda had tested this method at Amsterdam before." Well, this has been going on for donkey's years. The first thing refugees do after boarding a plane is to flush their passport through the toilet. It's a "known issue". (Read "The Case of the Undocumented Crotch Bomber".

Rand Simberg, a recovering aerospace engineer and a consultant in space commercialization, space tourism and Internet security, writing yesterday on Pajamas brings a few politically incorrect suggestions to bear how the general security situation might be improved.



Related:


! Newser: "Ex Gitmo Inmates Linked to Bomb - Al Qaeda Leaders Did Art Therapy, Were Freed in Saudi Arabia"
- IBD: "Yes, Janet, There Is A 'War On Terror'"
- RedState: "Seven Things Wrong With The Anti-Terrorism Policies of the TSA"
! Mediaite: "Possible Link Between Northwest Airlines Terrorist And Fort Hood Shooter?", by Glynnis MacNicol
- NRC: "Unused body scan could have revealed explosive powder"
- MEF: "The System "Worked Really Very, Very Smoothly" in Detroit?", by Daniel Pipes
- FoxNews: "Al Qaeda Claims Responsibility for Attempted Bombing of U.S. Plane"
- NewsMax: "Foiled Terror Attack Should Be Wake-Up Call"
- NewsMax: "Napolitano Concedes Airline Security System Failed"

Continued in "The Case of the Undocumented Crotch Bomber

Obama, As Good As His Word (on GITMO)

Bringing the 9/11 Soldiers of Allah to a civilian Court in New York - a thousand yards removed from where the towers once proudly stood - was one of the most cherished wishes of the anti America front, from tranzie centrists, to the dimwitted Left and the mentally debilitated anti war brigade.

Now, in power, President Obama is as good as his pre election word - on this point at least.

Apparently with a reference to their occupation of choice in the world of business, the victims of 9/11 in the eyes of psychotic postmodernists are merely "little Eichmanns", dimishing their interests to the point of irrelevance. Moreover, the wish to see politically correct justice done trumps New York as a prime platform for an Islamist propaganda tool. So Attorney-General Eric Holder announced this week to go ahead with it anyway.

The message came against the backdrop of four recently averted terrorist assaults, and the media spectable surrounding the Fort Hood massacre which practically resulted in a parallel reality, so unshaken is the constructed narrative.

All the evidence of Muslim involvement was censored into oblivion; Pre Traumatic Stress Syndrome was spontaneously discovered. To date the narrative is that the Major is a lone, isolated, over-worked and under-paid psychopath of which there are many, many others. The "logic": if you are able to willfully ignore the evidence of terrorist infrastructure behind the attack, the theory of a lone loon stands. Any sleeper cells or self-ignitors can rest assured they will ever be connected to Islamic terrorism.

No one has as yet acknowledged, let alone commented or explained, the truly amazing coincidence of Major Hasan being on the Obama transition team. You can't make this stuff up!
Update on Nov. 17: Presidential Transition Task force on Homeland Security reacting to Major Hasan's participation.

The greatest insight into the Muslim mindset came from Major Hasan himself: he thought Muslim military personnel should be exempted from deployment in Iraq or Afghanistan because obviously "Muslims shouldn't be killing Muslims", something they do on a daily basis on a heartwrenching scale justifying it by religious ordainment; but it also implies the message, it's okay to kill anyone else.

There's really no advantage in having the trial of the 9/11 terrorists in New York, other than the Obama throwing his far Leftist base a bone. The prosecution of CIA operatives apparently has whetted their heavily politized appetites (the Left loves purges).

It's all the holier-than-thou attitude of transnational ideology at the expense of the safety of the American people (all bigoted, middle class Eichmanns, so who cares?). As if justice by military Tribunal is somehow inferior to justice brought by a civilian Court.

Needless to say that the progressive transnationalists assembled in the UN and NGO'ism are mumbling approval. This is after all what the revulsion of the Bush administration was all about. But they won't have to bear the responsibilities of the umpteeth consecutive mistake piled on by Team Obama.

Of the many reasons why this counts as another enormity, let's just highlight one aspect in particular: to abandon the War on Terrorism paradigm for a matter of law enforcement. As Dr Walid Phares, Fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies explains, the 9/11 Commission itself defined the event an act of war and found the US at fault for not having determined it as such.

PJTV: "Worms Headed for the Big Apple: Dr. Walid Phares on the Terrorists Going to Trial in New York City"

Terrorism has just become a win/win/win proposition for the Islamist hirabahists: if you succeed, all is well and you find your carnal reward in heaven; should you be preempted you earn yourself a prime propaganda and recruitment tool on a first class site at maximum media exposure.

Caroline Glick in an unrelated case recently explained the mistake of handling terrorism as a law enforcement issue. As it happens, Team Obama just nixed the Global War on Terror paradigm altogether, substituting it for an array of vacuous, postmodern epithets of the Hope-and-Change variety.

Listing the overwhelming disadvantages of this course of action is enough to make you want to drop out of the discourse, like Red Square, who's seen it all happen before back in the USSR. He's showing it for what it is, and getting a wee bit snarky:

The People's Cube: "Hell yeah, shut Gitmo and ship'em to my neighborhood!"

The dangerous ramifications of this move are all too obvious; we're not even going to discuss them here. Instead, we'd like to lend a hand to Michigan Coalition to Stop GITMO North with our graphics, which also work as topical signs at the Tea Parties. They can be signs, posters, T-shirts, and even billboards, since we made them in vector format that can be stretched to a larger size without any loss of image quality.

Download the files below. Those who would rather order a ready-made poster, postcard, coffee mug, or a shirt can do so in one of our stores at Zazzle.com. >>>

We encourage you to do so: this is real quality for money. Will no doubt be continued.

Oh, and while you're at it, help fight political correctness and send a Christian Christmas card to the White House (and your own self-loathing Government) this year:

Barack Hussein Obama, President
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
NW Washington, DC 20500 USA

Jan Peter Balkenende, PM
Buitenhof 34
PO Box 20001
2500 EA The Hague
Netherlands

[your Government's address here]


Updates:

- New York Post: "City blocks are locked & loaded - Iron ring of security for 9/11 thugs"
- Pajamas TV: "Khalid Sheikh Mohammed Trial Will Be a Three-Ring Circus" (video)
- Pajamas TV: "National Security Review: The Enemy is Watching: Giving the 9/11 Mastermind Exactly What He Wants" (video)
- Pajamas Media: "Why Would Obama Take Such a Risk with KSM?", by Leon de Winter

A Treasure Trove of Treason

British Home Secretary and former "Blair babe" Jacqui Smith explains UK's application for dhimmi status in Pakistan in an interview with German 'mainstream' magazine "Der Spiegel".

It might have provided a good opportunity to explain to the public at large, the embarrassing British bar on Wilders MP, but that would only have provided him with another platform to broadcast his critique of the religion of piece.

And in any case, possible infringements of the human rights of the violators of the Geneva Convention, plucked off the asymmetric battle fields in Iraq and Afghanistan while they were IED-ing our military, are much more important than the basic liberties of the people they claim to represent. [sarc off]

Just how bad the situation is can be gauged from the title of the interview ("No Day This Year without a Terror Trial), but otherwise Ms Smith prefers to uphold the impression that Wilders represents a danger to "community harmony".

Foreign Secretary David Miliband on the other hand admits (see vid) that what Wilders does, is "shouting 'fire' in a theater". But then be an honest man and show some cajones! Do not instead accuse the messenger of being morally abject in raising the alarm!

After all, what the British Labour Government (and others) are proposing, is to let the fire rage on with the audience sitting idly by, while the drama is running its course.

Or is Mr Miliband suggesting that Wilders is 'crying wolf', i.e. is raising the alarm whereas there's no clear and present danger except the ensuing panic as a result of the alarm? That wouldn't pan out very well with Ms Smith's admission in "Der Spiegel" that there's "no Day This Year without a Terror Trial - and "an attack is highly likely and could happen at any time and without warning" ... now does it?

As the Bush administration was well aware, a Government's first obligation is to ensure the safety of the people in whose name they're running the country; not to gag them mentally and physically while the enemy burns down the house!

Der Spiegel: "No Day This Year without a Terror Trial"

In an interview with SPIEGEL, British Home Secretary Jacqui Smith discusses her country's experience in taking in former inmates from the Guantanamo prison camp and how her country is seeking to reach out to young Muslims before they radicalize. (...) How would you evaluate the general situation?

Smith: Severe. We believe that an attack is highly likely and could happen at any time and without warning. On the other hand we see some success. In 2008, we had 50 people convicted in terror-related trials and this year there will not be a single day in the United Kingdom without a terrorist trial on the timetable. (...) >>>

In the following film we see Lord Pearson making an excellent point (3'58" mark). The Wilders objectionists are making two vital errors: on the one hand they're making a psychological mistake in the projection of their own hatred; on the other hand a fallacy in logic is committed by reversing cause and effect (this makes however entirely sense in the postmodern subjectivist narrative that rejects even the existence of causality).

- Filed on Articles in "Dhimmi Pride" -

This Week's Madhouse: Wilders, Winter, Failed Philosophy

There seems to be an epidemic going on within the Postmodern West, in which valid and factual criticisms of Islam, made by politicians like Susanne Winter in Austria (bottom update) and Geert Wilders in the Netherlands are being outlawed as per the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) demands. The following question to our political leaders imprints itself on my consciousness:

Is progress temporarily suspended until Eurabia has managed to catch up with the rest of humanity, or is it your intention to keep the backward course until we've actually reverted to a level of development, on par with the pre Enlightenment age?

Our position, that the Amsterdam Court of Appeal's decision this week to prosecute Geert Wilders for - in short - insulting Islam, is encouraging the forces of chaos and radicalism, is almost immediately vindicated by today's news.

• A well know Muslim hate preacher in a speech at Rotterdam University has called for Wilders "to be flogged".
• One of the parties who pressed the charges - an anti racism platform - is now calling for the outlawing of all regular political discourse involving non-whites: the prosecution of a Wilders Free Party member who voiced accusations at the Netherlands Antilles Government this week of corruption, a known fact.

In the meanwhile relativist thought does its destructive work on the souls of the people on West Street. What strikes me in TV interviews and polls is that ordinary people have taken up a position as if Wilders' point is, to willfully and spitefully hurt poor, ordinary Muslims, either out of cold, electoral calculation, or because 'he just hates Muslims' (much like the Left hate George Bush and Muslims hate Jews).

It's as if it's just Wilders' hateful character, and that he might just as easily have swapped his perverted, vicious opinion for a warmer and fuzzier one, had he not had such an unpleasant, fascist personality. Do you see what's happening here?

It is almost as if it's a matter of civility, of etiquette. That is the result of the relativist position that denies the existence of objective reality. Everything is taken as filtered and tainted by the subjective, personal perspective.

The followers of this philosophy believe that the result will be, respect and tolerance for each and every position (the sole exception is made for the white, male 'power structure's narrative, which is uniquely evil). And reality being what it is, to appreciate it all, means to love none. In effect, it is the philosophy of Nothing that once again at some point in the foreseeable future, will end in human drama.

Over on Pajames TV Michael Ledeen in "Faster Please" has a fascinating interview with award-winning milblogger Michael Yon. They talk about the War on Terrorism and recent developments in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq.

The Netherlands is one of the coalition countries presently entrenched in Afghanistan. It is this small country's heftiest mission since the Korean War. But the national narrative looks at the Afghan undertaking almost entirely in terms of development aid. The highly trained military are seen as glorified development workers, commonly referrred to as 'soldiers'.

While the Russians have been denying the coalition access to infrastructure to assist operations in Afganistan, only this morning Yahoo!News report that the ice is thawing: "Russia sees its relations with NATO improving and wants the military alliance to succeed in Afghanistan, to reduce the regional threat".

The Taliban meanwhile kept busy blasting their way backwards through time by blowing up four boys' and one girls' school in Pakistan's scenic Swat valley. It's no reminder to the Dutch public in general that the failed state of Afghanistan, if left unchecked, can still be a major threat to the region and the world at large.

Other than the Troofers' version of events, no lessons were taken from 9/11. So these occurances in the tribal regions do not trigger any correlation being drawn between failed states and flying bombs in the capital of Capitalism.

A consequence of waking up to reality is having to deal with unpleasant facts, something that would never do for the ever 'personal realization' driven hedonists of the late counter-cultural revolution.

As for Iraq, that Bush-neocon disaster nobody wants to talk about anymore since the highly successful surge, Yon explains how the most explosive region - Al Anbar province - has proved to be key to the pacification of the entire country. The marines, rather than being IED'd to pieces, are now actually bored to death.

And on a lighter note, Yon is going to serve Troofy film manufacturer Michael Moore with a lawsuit pertaining to copyright infringements.

Who could have thought that life amongst the atoms and molecules would be that hard?!

Update:

And of course - how embarrassing - the initiative to support Geert comes from the US ...

The Flaming Blog: "Support Geert Wilders"

The Flaming Blog is proud to present this site in order to help raise money for Geert Wilders, the Dutch parliamentarian being prosecuted for his outspokenness about the dangers of Islam and the Islamisation of the Netherlands and all of the west. Wilders is being prosecuted by his own countrymen, being called an extremist, a xenophobe and all other sorts of names while the true extremists and hate-mongers exist right under their noses. The Flaming Blog offers its full support to Geert. On this site, you will find tee shirts that will help raise awareness of Geert's plight and the plight of free speech in the West. All of the proceeds go to Geert's defense fund. We must stop his prosecution and the destruction of his party, the Dutch Freedom Party! (...) >>>

Also ... a Theo van Gogh design (left) - Theo, who already gave his life for freedom!

The International Free Press Society: "Policy Statement"

In recent years - and in particular since 9/11 - freedom of speech has been shrinking throughout the world. This is true not only in countries where this most basic freedom has been tenuous at best, but increasingly where it was first conceived and long enshrined: Europe, the United States and other countries where Western ideas of liberty have taken root.

It is time to confront and reverse the forces, both internal and external, that are now arrayed against free speech, time to organize not just locally and nationally, but also globally in recognition of the common danger imperiling all free societies. The sole purpose of The International Free Press Society (IFPS) is to defend freedom of expression wherever and by whomever it is threatened. (...) The stakes in this battle could not be higher. (...) >>>

- Filed on Articles in "In Defense of Liberty" -

The Cross and the Crescent (II)

From the desk of Dr Sam C. Holliday, director of the Armiger Cromwell Center

~~-:-~~

Continued from Part I

Strategy of the Third Jihad
It is a mistake to focus only on terror. The strategy of the Third Jihad is far more complex. It is to be expected that the media, politicians, and those trained for conventional War will focus on the violence of Al-Qaeda, Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Taliban. After all, this is why the current conflict is called a War on Terror – although terror is only a tactic.

However, the most significant threat to Western culture comes from non-violent means: infiltration into Western countries; the conversion of people to Islam; subversion of Western institutions – particularly academic; manipulation of the media; demonstrations and other forms of confrontation; penetration of Western political parties through funding; and manipulation of Western legal systems. The objective is to undermine confidence in traditional values as well as legal and political systems.

This is not to suggest that terror, and the direct action units of Al-Qaeda, Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Taliban, are not important tools used by the Third Jihad, but to suggest that they are not necessarily the most important. Neutralizing those using terror tactics is a necessary condition, but it is not a sufficient condition.

The Third Jihad is a continuation of a religiously inspired movement based on an ideology teaching that it is every Muslim's duty to use any means necessary to compel everyone’s submission to "the way of the Prophet." After Muhammad’s death, in the seventh century, the First Jihad spread under the caliphs (vice regents) west from Medina across North Africa and then into Spain, France, and Italy, and east across the Middle East deep into Southwest Asia. Then Islam consolidated its control of the lands conquered.

The First Jihad ended in 1492 when Islam was driven out of Spain. The Second Jihad started with the fall of Constantinople in 1453. The Ottoman Turks then implanted Islam in the Balkans and established hegemony over lands from North Africa to India. The Second Jihad was stopped in 1682 with an unsuccessful attempt to capture Vienna; it was held in check during the modern era (eighteenth and nineteenth centuries) by European power, and ended in 1924.

In 1979 the Third Jihad started with the Shah of Iran being overthrown by Shiite followers of Ayatollah Khomeini. It was given focus in February 1998 with a Sunni fatwa, which declared war on America and its allies. The Third Jihad is just another effort to spread Islam – and to take down the Great Satan. The goal of the Third Jihad is to replace all secular governments from Morocco to Indonesia with a single Great Caliphate that would then be able to convert the rest of the world to Islam. This is why it is an illusion to think that the threat will end just as soon as Western armed forces are withdrawn from the Middle East.

Among the tactics and techniques used by the Third Jihad are:

• Infiltrating and taking over existing political, social, campus, and cultural organizations to realign them towards the goals of the Third Jihad;

• Using deception to mask the intended goals;

• Cultivating the intellectual community into "understanding Islam," including the establishment of think-tanks and advocacy groups and publishing “academic” studies, to legitimize positions of the Third Jihad and to chronicle the peaceful history of Islam;

• Using destructive criticism to weaken those in authority by suggesting they are an elite mistreating the “disadvantaged” for their own personal interests;

• Maintaining the appearance of “moderation” by avoiding public alliances with known terrorist organizations and individuals;

• Involving ideologically committed Muslims in democratic institutions on all levels in Europe and America, including government, NGOs, private organizations and labor unions;

• Using existing Western institutions until they can be converted and put into the service of the Third Jihad;

• Monitoring Western media in order to quickly respond to "smears against Muslims;" Forming alliances with Western “progressive” organizations that can provide aid and support to Islamic action groups;

• Keeping Muslims living in the West “in a jihad frame of mind;”

• Establishing a right to Sharia law within their communities;

• Making the Palestinian cause a global wedge issue for all Muslims;

• Collecting funds to indefinitely support the Third Jihad globally; and

• Establishing financial networks to fund actions in target countries.

These tactics and techniques are used differently within each target country to weaken or overthrow those in authority. However, the Third Jihad does have a general strategy of five stages in which conflict moves from peace, through irregular warfare, to war. This is the same strategy used by insurgents for centuries. The tactics and techniques listed above are the activities by the insurgents – who can be either home grown or from other countries – during the first, second, and third stages.

Terror is not used in the first stage (Creation), and it has an insignificant role in the second stage (Organization). Terror plays an important role in the third stage (Control of the People) and is expanded in the fourth stage (Territorial Control), as the conflict becomes hybrid war. In the final stage (Overthrow) violence goes beyond terror to become conflict between the insurgents/embryonic state and the authorities of a state/failed state. In fact often the final stage can accurately be called a civil war.

- Creation
A few individuals organize clandestinely. They increase the size of the underground and attempt to cause or accentuate insecurity among the people and weaken the government’s influence.

- Organization
The leaders continue to build their organization, camouflaging it behind legitimate political, social, humanitarian, campus, religious, and labor organizations. Action to cause insecurity and dissatisfaction grows bolder with strikes, riots, selective terrorism, and intimidation. The insurgents’ aim at this stage is to cause the officials to react awkwardly and to take politically unwise steps.

- Control of the People
Direct action units are organized, but terrorism is restricted. The aim is to weaken loyalty to the government. Warfare is everywhere and nowhere. The insurgents control certain areas, which the police avoid. The goal is to transfer the loyalty of the people from the government to the insurgent organization.

- Territorial Control
The insurgents create a base of operations and establish a “liberation government” to rival the legal authorities. Direct action units start to operate from the base areas, and the use of terror increases. Psychological operations, to gain approval for the insurgents and contempt for the government, are intensified both internally and externally.

- Overthrow
Operations are conducted to cause the fall of the government and to establish the insurgents as the legal government. During this stage the conflict might remain irregular warfare or it might be transformed into civil war.

Strategy to Defeat the Third Jihad
More effective ways to neutralize the tactics, techniques and strategies of the Third Jihad must be used in the future if it is to be defeated. We must defeat, deter, or neutralize our enemy. In irregular warfare there is never the final victory of conventional war – success is defined by stability.

First, we must recognize that destroying a few leaders will not end the Third Jihad. The leaders represent an important segment of our enemy, but not its totality. Second, we do not want to make Islam or an entire culture our enemy. Third, we must recognize that the demise of Israel will not mean an end of the Third Jihad, even though Israel will always be used to rally support for the Third Jihad. Fourth, we must recognize that withdrawal from the Middle East will only embolden the evildoers (Hirabahists) and make the final clash of civilizations more likely.

The best strategy for those that want to defend Western culture would be to:

1. Assure that Iraq, and the rest of the Middle East, is stabilized and that worldwide no state is willing to support insurgents attempting to overthrow those in authority.

2. Work toward energy independence through: (a) developing alternative sources of oil so that our economy is not dependent on energy sources that our enemies can disrupt; (b) using less oil, and less energy overall, while maintaining our standard of living; (c) developing new sources of energy – primarily nuclear.

3. Adopt a policy of containment until the faults within the Third Jihad cause its ideological certitude to collapse, and pursue policies, both overt and covert, to hasten this collapse.

4. Face the fact that communication superiority is a prerequisite for success in irregular warfare, just as air superiority is a prerequisite for victory in conventional war. To date we have been ineffective in the strategic communication campaign to strengthen the will of our own people, to weaken the will of our enemies, and gain the support of people around the world. In the current battle of wills, strategic communication is the center of gravity. This conflict is not to be won through economic, diplomatic, and military means.

5. Develop a message as effective as Muhammad's in winning hearts and minds and a sociopolitical structure based on that message which is more powerful than that of the global revivalist movement known as the Third Jihad. Recognize that the true believers of the Third Jihad are willing to suffer, sacrifice, deceive, kill, conquer, and die for their cause. Recognize that we need true believers in our cause.

6. Encourage the respected leaders and scholars of the Islamic world to condemn those using violence in the name of Islam in religious terms, rather than in Western secular terms, and condemn those in the West who give aid, comfort, and support to the evildoers (Hirabahists).

7. Make a distinction between war, irregular warfare, and peace and develop stability forces, distinctive from war fighting forces, specifically for operations in irregular warfare. Integrate members of all government agencies (specifically Defense, State, CIA, USIA, USAID, and Commerce) into the stability forces. Deploy war fighting forces as a deterrent in peace and irregular warfare but only engage them in combat for extended periods of time with a declaration of war by Congress. Use stability forces in overt and covert operations during peace and irregular warfare. Revise the JCS Unified Command Plan into a National Security Operations Plan so that the stability forces have adequate supervision and support during peace and irregular warfare.

8. Take actions to counter the effects of postmodern thought on Western culture. The weakening of the will in Europe and America, and ability to protect Western culture as it developed in the modern era (until the 1960s), has many causes. Partly it is the result of actions by those disillusioned by World War I and World War II, and partly it is the result of the cycle of rise and fall common to all groups. The ability to counter the Third Jihad depends on strengthening the will of all of those who value Western culture.

Nation-building
We need to become more skillful in getting others to build their own nations at little or no cost to us. Those identifying with the nation being built must accomplish nation-building. Others can assist, but the leadership, dedication, vision, and energy must come from within – from those who are part of the nation being built. At the heart of nation-building is the creation and maintenance of a common sense of identity from which behavior is self regulated without coercion. Neocolonialists (those of the Wilsonian School) often assumed that the United States can build nations – this is foolhardy.

- Caption: Afghan heroin, police woman Malalai Kakar -

Nation-building requires continual attention to four interrelated tasks:

1. Achieve stability within a specific territory.
2. Provide effective local authority.
3. Organize and motivate the people.
4. Satisfy aspirations of the people.

Achieving stability is a prerequisite for the other three tasks. However, stability cannot be seen as an end in itself. It is merely a means to the end of nation-building. However, when the focus is on the creation of a state, actions to control the territory of that state can be carried to the extreme – such actions actually hinder nation-building since they do not produce a self-regulating equilibrium. This has been a major reason the neo-colonialists have failed to achieve long-term benefits.

Stability is achieved when the government of a state has a monopoly on force within the territory of that state, and no other group within that territory is willing, or thinks it is able, to use force to achieve political ends. Police forces of the provinces must be integrated into an alliance coordinated by the central government. In addition the central government would have armed forces stronger than any of the provinces. Any group committed to the use of force to weaken or overthrow the established government, i.e. insurgents, must be neutralized. It makes no difference where the insurgents come from.

• First of all, this requires an effective intelligence system that will allow rapid response to any attempt at intimidation by the insurgent group, or payment to it.

• When terrorism becomes a tool, policing appropriate for ordinary crime must be supplemented with counterinsurgency units, tactics and techniques. This will usually require some temporary limitations on civil rights and the legal system. This will require agreement on a social contract, which establishes limits on police activity, and the appropriate checks and balances. Finally, if the insurgent group gains control of any territory, control must be regained, with armed force if necessary, and the leaders must be neutralized.

A second task of nation-building is to provide effective local authority. Each individual lives in a concrete, human, face-to-face world of clear and specific events and situations. Aspirations and an unseen environment may shape his spiritual and material life, but he knows through what he sees, hears, smells, and feels.

This nation-building task provides local leadership – leadership which is: alert for signs of problems, inequalities, and injustices; able to use initiative and flexibility to win loyalty and produce results; capable of countering acts of intimidation, violence, and destruction; able to see that everyone can earn a decent living; loyal to the established institutions; creates a climate to encourage civilian investment; and is capable of educating each individual with values that blend freedom, ambition, duty, and responsibility in accordance with the customs and traditions of his nation. These judgments must be as seen through the eyes of the people and culture involved; they should not be as perceived through postmodern views in a wealthy, western, secular state.

The third nation-building task is to organize and motivate the people. A nation is no more than people welded together by a common destiny, which binds together tomorrow, today, and yesterday into an active whole. This nation-building task creates and maintains shared values, attitudes, habits, and goals which shape the institutions through which a nation lives and grows: the patterns of cooperation and conflict; the fabric of sanctioned relationships; the unseen lines of magnetic strength which link, join, and confine; the elusive cultural environment. This task creates kinship.

The fourth nation-building task is to satisfy aspirations of the people. The fuel of progress is the never-ending attempt to satisfy aspirations. Aspirations can unite people in a common effort; yet, aspirations can set one against another, preventing progress. Satisfying aspirations is an elusive, two-faced task of nation-building. Sole concern with satisfying aspirations can only result in turmoil, frustration, and bitterness; as past aspirations are approached new and more demanding ones are invented. This task means that each nation has its own, unique, ideology.

For all Arab-Muslim countries this means a replacement of the pseudo-religious radicalism taught in the mosques with the progressive, compassionate teaching of Islam. This task, just like achieving stability, will actually hinder nation-building when it is carried to an extreme. If this conceptual framework is to be useful, actions to accomplish these four tasks must be interrelated, and the building and maintenance of a nation must be seen as a never-ending process.

Conclusions
Muslim extremists (Hirabahists) are indeed a serious threat to modern Western culture, but so is postmodernism. We should attempt to weaken the evildoers (Hirabahists) through separating them from those Muslims who accept pluralism, and through encouraging secular Muslim states to neutralize them. While our strategy must attempt to eliminate the evildoers (Hirabahists), it must also seek alliance with those Muslims who want spiritual purity in the eyes of Allah together with better lives – freedom, equality, self-determination, representative government, and the pursuit of happiness.

Western culture must be freed from the decline and decay caused by postmodern thought. The balance between secular authority (the control of behavior through the rule of law) and sacred authority (the control of behavior through shared moral, ethical, and religious convictions that provide an inner compass for individuals) must be reestablished [ed. see "Secular and Sacred Authority: why we need it!"].

Traditional patriotism needs to be respected, and national identity must be valued more than multiculturalism and diversity. The U.S. government needs to reorganize so as to reflect the reality of irregular warfare, rather than the War and Peace dichotomy of the past 300 years.

Copyright © 2008 Armiger Cromwell Center, Atlanta, GA 30319-1322. 404-201-7374. Permission is granted to forward this article by e-mail to friends or colleagues on a fair use basis. For reprint permission, contact Armiger Cromwell Center at armigercc@comcast.net

More by Dr Sam Holliday filed in "The Armiger Cromwell Center"

Related:

- "Reforming Islam: Beware of the Fifth Column"
- "Effectively Communicating Jihad: a spade is a spade"



- Filed on Articles in "The Unholy Alliance" -

The Cross and the Crescent (I)

From the desk of Dr Sam C. Holliday, director of the Armiger Cromwell Center

~~-:-~~

In his 1996 book The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order, Samuel Huntington predicts a clash between the West and the Islamic world as some Muslims continue their attempt to establish the Great Caliphate – in which everyone is governed by “the ways of the Prophet.” In 1921 Hendrick Van Loon, in The Story of Mankind, described the struggle between the cross and the crescent. He explains how peaceful Arab shepherds listened to Muhammad, mounted their horses, drew their swords, and in less than a century pushed to the heart of Europe and proclaimed the glories of Allah, “the only God,” and Muhammad, “the prophet of the only God.”

Today we face the third episode in the Great Jihad (Holy War). The current so-called War on Terror could be a precursor for a final Clash of Civilizations, or it might be only a skirmish, which if handled correctly can prevent death and destruction of a magnitude the world has never seen. This essay is an attempt to determine the nature of the current threat to Western culture and to suggest what should be done.

Possible Outcomes
If ever there is conflict to the point that either Western culture or Islamic culture is utterly vanquished the world will be fundamentally altered. There will be more death and destruction than in World War I, II, and the Cold War combined. Terror will be an everyday occurrence, and weapons of mass destruction will kill millions.

Our challenge is not to accept the inevitability of this final Clash of Civilizations, but to do whatever is possible to prevent it. True excellence is not killing all of your enemies, but defeating your enemies without killing. Reasonable people must have the conviction, knowledge, and courage to challenge the extremists on both sides – evildoers (Hirabahists) and postmodernists.

However, from what we see on TV reasonable people might be in short supply. Reasonable Muslims around the world need to step forward and challenge those advocating the Third Jihad, for they are subverting Islam to advance their own agenda. The extremists call themselves jihadists (holy warriors), but they are hateful unholy warriors (Hirabahists) defaming the Prophet Muhammad.

Reasonable Westerners, and their allies around the world, need to prevent postmodern thinking from weakening Western culture to the point it is unwilling to defend itself and becomes an easy target for conquest by the Third Jihad. Postmodern thought attempts to eliminate or modify many of the roles, rules, standards, and character that were accepted as proper, good, and right in Western culture prior to the 1960s. Postmodernism visualizes "progress" toward an ideal “Postmodern Culture” that is nonjudgmental and nondiscriminatory, in which disagreements are resolved by universal law, debate, and compromise – but never by the use of force.

The Role of Islam
It is true that there are many violent apostates (Hirabahists) in mainstream Shi'a and Sunni Islam who claim they are faithful to the teachings of Muhammad. They often claim that the only basis in the Qur'an for Muslims to address non-Muslims is to struggle until the non-believers are converted, expelled, or destroyed. If most Muslims accept this view, the final Clash of Civilizations is inevitable.

But the teachings of Muhammad are not so simple – they combine opposites: struggle and tolerance. They present several kinds of jihad. It all depends on what Muslims are led to read into Muhammad’s words and actions. Hopefully there are Muslims who want to avoid the death and destruction of the final Clash of Civilizations. If so, they must find ways to be faithful to the Prophet Muhammad and the Qur'an while they stress inner jihad for themselves and practice compassion, mercy, and tolerance toward non-Muslims. However, this is certainly a long shot. Yet we must convince any such Muslims that they are our allies – that all Muslims are not our enemies.

Initially Muhammad spoke to the pagans who worshiped the meteorite now enclosed by the Kaba at Mecca. Islam was then expanded into a reform movement – in part to replace Judaism and Christianity that had, according to the Prophet Muhammad, gone astray and were no longer the proper legacy of Abraham, Moses, David, and Solomon. The Qur’an clearly states that the Bible is false, and rejects Jesus as the Messiah and Son of God.

Islam from the very start was a religion of struggle, both inner and against non-believers. It sought to eliminate temptations that the devil might use to erode commitment to Allah. It sought to get all people to submit to Allah. Islam does not give a high priority to economic wealth, prosperity, freedom, self worth, or comfort. Islam seeks purity. Thus in many ways Muslim true believers are less concerned about non-Islamic religions or Western armed forces being in their lands than they are about non-Islamic ways, i.e. movies, pop culture, dress and behavior. The challenge we all face is to show that Islamic purity is compatible with Western Culture—a very difficult challenge.

Obstacles
Islam is hostile to pluralistic, representative, secular government, since true believers consider Qur’an law and its sharia derivatives the only basis for governance. It is true that Christianity, Shinto, and other religions also do not have stellar records in this regard. However, dhimmi status (subordinate, disfranchised residents subject to discriminatory taxation and limits on freedom) is unique to Islam. Only when Islam controls a country and all non-Muslims have accepted dhimmi status can evildoers (Hirabahists) accept diversity.

Neither Islamic fundamentalism nor Western postmodernism can tolerate the coexistence of religion and reason. Neither will accept the suggestions in the lecture of Pope Benedict XVI at Regensburg on 12 September 2006. The Pope called for the rejection of dogmatic faith, cultural relativism, and forced conversion. But these seeds of hope fell on the unwelcoming ground of Islamic fundamentalism and Western postmodernism. Even some fundamentalist Christians did not welcome the Pope’s comments.

Islamic extremists see nonbelievers as too weak, too easily tempted, too confused to govern themselves; therefore, they must be shown the way, and protected, by scholar-jurists that know the way of Allah. With the same reasoning, postmodernists think people must be shown the way, and protected, by secular authority.

The evildoers (Hirabahists) see the Third Jihad as a way to seek their Utopian vision of restoring Islamic rule to all lands ever ruled by Muslims but now governed by Christians, Jews, and apostate Muslims. The secular transnational postmodernists of the West are equality rigid in their convictions as they seek their Utopian vision of a worldwide postmodern culture that is nonjudgmental, nondiscriminatory, and in which disagreements are resolved by law, debate and compromise – but never by the use of force.

It is true that Islamic extremists want to expel Western influences from all territory formerly under Muslim control. They want their politico-economic and philosophical views to be dominant. While most insurgents in the past were motivated by a Utopian view of a better world with economic equality and social fraternity, Islamic extremists seek spiritual purity in the eyes of Allah. They seek to protect people from worldly temptations; therefore they attempt to remove anything that will prevent people from submitting to Allah. Postmodernists solve the same problem by giving in to all temptations, thereby making the very idea of “temptations” moot.

Continued in Part II, "Strategy of the Third Jihad" ... "It is a mistake to focus only on terror. The strategy of the Third Jihad is far more complex. It is to be expected that the media, politicians, and those trained for conventional War will focus on the violence of Al-Qaeda, Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Taliban ..."

Copyright © 2008 Armiger Cromwell Center, Atlanta, GA 30319-1322. 404-201-7374. Permission is granted to forward this article by e-mail to friends or colleagues on a fair use basis. For reprint permission, contact Armiger Cromwell Center at armigercc@comcast.net

More by Dr Sam Holliday filed in "The Armiger Cromwell Center"

Related:

- "Reforming Islam: Beware of the Fifth Column"
- "Effectively Communicating Jihad: a spade is a spade"




- Filed on Articles in "The Unholy Alliance" -