JIHAD

It does not matter what you believe concerning Muslims and their conceptualization of jihad. The issue is not whether you understand root Arabic meanings, historical contexts and pending battles, as the backdrop in the Qur'an. It is of little consequence what your Western, secular Muslim neighbor gives as his own belief. What you need to consider is how 21st century technology is propagating the message of jihad.

All ideological movements and purges of the past century relied on cult leadership, televised speeches and print journalism to generate their messages among restive population groups. Technology has changed operational capabilities. The ability of jihadists to bring explosive messages into Muslim cyber communities has opened up a vast new frontier of opportunity for those bent on the destruction of the West. Having followed some of these sites for years and observing the changes in the formats and messages, I have noted what appears to be a greater investment in upgrades to some of these websites with a concurrent strengthening of the message of jihad. Sites are also moving along with multiple language translations, such as the "required reading" link at the bottom of this blog. They seek a wider and more diverse audience. They wish for readership in both the east and the west.

Thought precedes action and is seed in the soil. The messages coming across some of these sites should scare you. They will scare most American Muslims. But for other people, these messages will produce action; even among those "born in the U.S.A." Men such as John Walker Lindh take up the banner of the Taliban. Young idealists such as Ismail Royer travel to Chechnya to learn guerrilla warfare tactics. Careful and patient cultivation of college students such as Adam Gadahn, bring to al-Qaedah a man with a gift for learning Arabic and a willingness to function as a spokesman for an organization which has killed his own countrymen. Such men, having passed through a network of thought then pass through a network of handlers to further their training. And if the road less traveled leads them abroad, surely the same road can also lead them back home. Our American soil still remains under a level of threat. And the threat is not merely in the physical realm, but in the realm of anti-west ideology.

The current jihadist threat which we face was born on the wings of thought in the previous century. The lingering effects of British colonialism brought about a potent pan-Arab nationalism in the 1920's-1930's. The writings of Sayyid Qutb and Hassan al-Banna were a backlash against what was seen as Western imperialism in Muslim lands during the nineteenth and early 20th centuries. Passionate and eloquent writers, the consolidation of thought by these two men brought a rallying cry to Muslims seeking a return to Islamic state legitimacy with autonomous rule within defined geographic boundaries. This move back to a core set of values included the right to bear arms.

But the cry for freedom early in one century has evolved into the steady drumbeat of oppression in our new century. Jihadists have become that which they abhorred. Moving beyond the confines of establishing autonomy within Muslim-majority nations they have extended their battle to breach into the wall of the West. And this will be the long war. This will include hybrid wars configured along smaller scales for control of regions within states. It is war with guerrilla tactics transiting national boundaries and financed via the wallets of the bigger ticket players on the international geopolitical stage. The increasing ability for some of these groups to access sophisticated weaponry through both weapons dealers and states which sponsor terror makes me lose sleep. Their ability to take the war from the field to the hearth is of concern. Urban areas provide the necessary foliage for their actions, much as field camouflage makes combatants less visible to the adversary.

But what disrupts my sleep the most is not the consideration of the concrete land bridges which exist for weapons acquisition. It is not the configuration of sought after soft targets in the West or whether an elementary school will suffer an attack. My thoughts turn to these jihad websites. How many people are being swept into the net of an ideology which has gone through a potent distillation process in the hands of those who which to take ownership of the thoughts of men? Please click and read the following link. It is just a token offering of the many sites which are now available if you know the web address. We need to stop and consider how the internet can be used to advance ideological causes. And how many people are seated at their computers accessing such messages, and slowly building a dossier in their minds against the West?

Chechnya rebel site

Tammy Swofford
tammyswofford@yahoo.com