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| Terrorists just the tip of the iceberg New Congress sworn in Wednesday; please add your name to our “Keep America Safe” appeal Dear Harold, Recently, we emailed you about the report on radicalization of Muslims, and how the author of the report and a panelist discussing the report agreed that it’s time America’s counterterrorism efforts focus more attention on the ideology behind jihad. The commentary below that appeared on Pajamas Media in mid-December is another insightful analysis of this. Our Citizen Appeal to the 112th Congress includes planks opposing sharia law and support for reinstating terms such as “jihadist” to our national security lexicon, terms which were expunged last year by the Obama administration. On Wednesday the 112th Congress will be sworn in. Please add your name and join the tens of thousands of people who have already signed our Citizen Appeal, so we can deliver a strong message to the new Congress next month. Terrorists: Just the Tip of the Jihadi Iceberg Posted By Brian Fairchild On December 15, 2010 Pajamas Media Counter terrorism officials in the United States, and the West in general, have not yet understood that there is a political, non-combatant wing of the global Salafi-jihad movement. It acts as an international production line, routinely manufacturing thousands of Muslims with a Salafi religious orientation, a Salafi worldview, and the belief that they are part of an international movement designed to reform the world community of Muslims, bringing them back to what they consider “true” Islam, and bringing Islam back to global leadership. While the majority of the members of this movement do not commit acts of violence, they totally support the combatant wing of the movement. They make their own contributions to its success by proselytizing, preaching, and fundraising; forming new front organizations; and creating centers of jihad support in schools, mosques, and Islamic centers. It is out of this movement that the activists, committed long-term jihadis, and lone wolf attackers emerge. Unless we alter our approach to include aggressive investigations of the movement’s political organizations and elements, homegrown terrorists will continue to be radicalized and inspired to violence, and come to the attention of the authorities only after they have committed their crimes. Consider the cases of individuals such as Adam Gadahn (al-Qaeda spokesman Azzam al Amriki), Anwar al Awlaki (the 9/11 imam), John Walker Lindh (the American Taliban), Major Nidal Hassan (Ft. Hood massacre), and Faisal Shahzad (the Times Square bomber). Our self-imposed limitations are all the more surprising because bin Laden’s deputy himself has told the world on numerous occasions, over at least five years, that much of al-Qaeda’s activity has nothing to do with carrying out specific jihad attacks.
It is not surprising that al-Qaeda expends so much energy on non-jihad activity. The concept has been part of Islamist ideology since the creation of the Muslim Brotherhood in 1928. Islamism’s three most revered ideologues have espoused it — Hassan al Banna, the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood; Sayyid Abd ala Maududi, the founder of the Jamaat i Islami (the equivalent of the Muslim Brotherhood in Southwest Asia); and Sayyid Qutb himself. As Maududi wrote in the 1940s: In the jihad in the way of Allah, active combat is not always the role on the battlefield, nor can everyone fight in the front line. Just for one single battle preparations have often to be made for decades on end and the plans deeply laid, and while only some thousands fight in the front line there are behind them millions engaged in various tasks which, though small themselves, contribute directly to the supreme effort. In the United States, the non-combatants that Zawahiri and Maududi describe as being so important to the movement will not be found by investigating small, violent jihad cells. In fact, many of these individuals will most likely never commit a violent act, but they will vigorously and enthusiastically convert, train, and support those who do.
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