Very well thought out and logical post, 7xstall! I agree fully, and enthusiastically!
A lot of the strategy you outlined is good old common sense! Unfortunately Political Correctness opposes all application of simple logic and common sense.
my priority would be to close borders and destroy every insurgent i could find.
Simple and effective....We have to get serious about killing as many of these subhumans as possible.
Read this piece yesterday and thought I would share....
Terrorist Strategies Against The West And Other Democracies
By Walid Phares | January 15, 2007
During the year
Future Jihad was published in America, significant developments further proved true the conclusions of the initial book. In one single year, before and after its publication a series of declarations by the Jihadists, by international leaders and by intellectuals on all sides of the conflict, signaled that the "War on Terrorism" was after all an all-out confrontation between a worldwide Web of Islamist movements and regimes on the one hand and a dispersed international community, some of which was engaged in this world war while, on the other hand, parts of it weren't
- My first objective was to explain basic facts to the international public community: that there was an ideological current out there, aiming at world domination, which is defined as "Jihadism." The whole of Jihadism comes from two trees, one is Salafi the other is Khomeinist. The Salafists, formed in the Sunni environment, are inspired by doctrines of the Middle Ages and have emerged in modern times as Wahhabis, the Muslim Brotherhood, Takfiris, Deobandis, Tablighi and others. They want the reestablishment of a modern day Caliphate. They feel they are the heirs of 14 centuries of history, and they reject modern international law. The Khomeinists are the Jihadists who emerged in the Shiia community. They aim at establishing an Imamate to reunify all Muslims under their guidance in pursuit of Jihad.
- The books' second objective was to show how Jihadists view the world, its modern history, its international relations, its wars, the various civilizations and how they adapt their strategies to modernity. Chapters three, seven, eight and nine were dedicated to show the readers how the Jihadists viewed the 20th century, WWII, the Cold War, the choices they made and the different options they developed as Salafists, Wahhabis, Khumeinists, regarding the Soviets, Israel, the West, and the Muslim regions. The bottom line was to show that there were no sheer emotional and simplistic reactions to crisis, but rather focused, integrated, and complex policies and strategic objectives. This assertion goes against the dominant theories of the past, which never went away yet, that in essence Islamist attitudes are created by Western policies.
Future Jihad precisely argues otherwise: Jihadi ideologies are sui generis. They were developed before current international relations were formalized in laws, survived the latter and have projected their aims regardless of Western or non-Western policies. Certainly, diplomatic, economic and military acts by greater and small powers impact the evolution, decisions and plans of the Islamists. Policies affect other policies, but Jihadism and its various trees and branches, is a being of its own. It relates to the evolution of political Islam historically and can only be explained from inside out.
- The third objective of the book was to describe the Jihadi war against the Soviet Union during the Cold War and against the United States and some of its allies after the cold war, leading to 9/11 and beyond.
- The fourth objective in producing Future Jihad was an attempt to analyze the specific conflict between al Qaida and the United States. In chapter twelve I examined the root causes of America's failure showing that the breaches were not simple security flaws but rather systemic malfunctioning at the national security level. In Chapter thirteen, I suggested a model of what could have been an historically successful Jihadist offensive worldwide and its consequences in the US, had a 9/11 of a greater dimension occurred years later instead.
- The fifth objective was to offer modest guidelines and prescriptions to face off with the growing dangers of Salafi and Khomeinist ideologically-based terrorism. While geopolitical threats to regional and world peace come from classical radical regimes, such as Tehran's and to a certain extent Damascus' and Khartoum's, another type of threat is represented by the capacity of Jihadi networks to transform moderate or stable Muslim Governments into radical ones, with a full use of their resources.
- Finally, I made another set of recommendations to educate the public, the Government's agencies and the media as to the mind, visions, strategies and if possible the tactics of the Jihadists, much like a prescription aimed at developing a "global resistance" against Jihad-Terrorism, both within the Arab Muslim world and within the international community.
I am glad to announce that the paperback version of
Future Jihad: Terrorist Strategies against the West is now out in English and Spanish. Versions in other languages are expected in the near future.
The Jihadi Counter Offensive
During 2005-2006, I had several important opportunities to address and interact with policy, legislative, media, community decision makers, experts and concerned citizens across the US and Europe, including in Paris, London, Brussels, Vienna, and Lisbon. In America, my book tour allowed me to discuss Future Jihad in Washington, New York, New Jersey, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Miami and on many campuses nationwide. Since its launch, I have received many emails and messages from bright readers of the book as well as from viewers of and listeners of talk shows. These inputs were sociologically critical for the assessment of the public's understanding of the bigger picture.
I was also able to conduct briefings at the European Parliament, the US Congress, the United Nations Security Council, Interpol and other international bodies. In addition, my participation in Arab media forums including on al Jazeera, al Hurra, al Arabiya and other outlets provided me the opportunity to interact with ideologues, academics and activists from all sides, and particularly of relevance, the self-declared Jihadi camp. In addition, my interactions with democracy groups and intellectuals from the Arab and Muslim world on the one hand, and frequent visits to and learning process from the various Islamists - particularly Jihadist - chat rooms online, helped my analysis of
Future Jihad refine itself and develop ballistics of knowledge in the clashing strategies of the so-called War on Terrorism.
My main post-book conclusion is as follows: The Jihadists are Salafists and Khumeinists alike - on a worldwide counter offensive with their perceived enemies, and they are planning on widening it, rationalizing it, and rendering it
irreversible. Here are the various sketches from present situations into future trends:
In the paperback version of 2006, I discussed the specific issue of Bin Laden and al Qaeda and their importance in the global Jihadi movement; their centrality but also their relativity as well. One concept I noted, particularly the so-called
Hudna (truce) proposed several times by the group, in large part to Europe. The
Hudna is a main indicative of Jihadi geopolitics, often misunderstood in the West. Another concept I revisited is the worldwide web of Jihadism, stressing its ideological but also its political nature. While loose and full of fragments, I believe it has a centrality that escapes the classical perception of Western defense parameters.
Europe's Jihads
Following my several field trips to Europe and monitoring of Jihadi deployments on the continent I analyzed the global strategies of the Salafists in specific zones: the United Kingdom; Western European battlefields: Belgium, Netherlands, Scandinavia, Germany in addition to the southern European zone including Spain and Italy; finally France (which I consider as one zone by itself). Two other European zones are Eastern Europe and the Balkans, with different outlooks and geopolitical Jihadi realities. The European Jihads are ahead of their cross Atlantic parallels. The ideological mobilization that surfaced during the so called "Cartoons Jihad" is an important indicator of the wide spread of Wahhabi and Salafi teachings across the continent.
The World's Battlefields
Russia's battlefields with the Salafists have reached a national security level of threat, both from Chechnya and through its southern borders with Central Asia. The Asian battlefields have grown geometrically in intensity and scope: Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Malaysia to the East; Bengla Desh, India, Pakistan and Afghanistan to the West; and Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan in the center. Asian Jihad is gradually including a Chinese Jihad in the old Muslim Sin Kiang and spills over to Australia south bound and to the Greater Middle East West bound. Australia is facing two threats: one regional to its north, linked to the success and advance of Salafi forces in Indonesia and the Philippines, and the other through domestic infiltration by radical Islamists, similar to the global patterns of penetration in the West. In Africa, the Jihadi battlefields are spreading rapidly from Somalia to Darfur all the way to the sub-Saharan countries of Chad, Mauritania, Ivory Coast and Nigeria.
The Greater Middle East.........
full article:
http://www.aim.org/guest_column/5158_0_6_0_C/
