Confronting al-Qaeda: Understanding The Threat In Afghanistan And Beyond

http://www.rsdreports.com ^ | November 19, 2009 | Marc Sageman, M.D., Ph.D.

[Ghost of Jesus Gil]

Our ultimate goal of homeland security will be served through a better understanding of the threat confronting it in order to “disrupt, dismantle, and eventually defeat al Qaeda and its allies.” Let me describe this global threat through a comprehensive survey that I conducted of all the al Qaeda plots in the West, all the al Qaeda affiliate plots in the West and all the plots done “in the name of al Qaeda” in the West since the formation of al Qaeda in August 1988. It is necessary to expand our inquiry because al Qaeda is now only one of the many actors in this global neo-jihadi terrorist threat against the West. I call it neo-jihadi because the terrorists have appropriated this contested concept to themselves much to the protest of respected Islamic scholars and the mainstream Muslim communities worldwide1. Terrorism for the purpose of this project is the use of violence by non-state collective actors against non-combatants in the West in pursuit of a self-appointed global jihad.

[Ghost of Jesus Gil]

This is probably one of the best analysis articles that I read in a long time related to the War on Terror and the current state of al Qaeda and how that relates to the war in Afghanistan,

[Marty62]

As the article submits, the incidents of AQ inspired is the main sources of danger.
In reading various sources on Islam, I found that to be a Muslim all you have to do is start practicing it’s teachings.
Therefore all anyone has to do is accept the Jihadi teachings and begin to practice them, giving them some sort of Martydom.
THIS I belive is the Ultimate danger.
The combination of the New American thought process of all criminals MUST be a VICTIM of some sort of slight in American Society and the violent rantings of the KORAN are a reciepe for disastor.
I don’t know what it will take for American Society to faxe this. Obviously 9-11 didn’t do it.
We now have a Muslim President.

[fourdny2]

“We now have a Muslim President.

yes, we do.

[livius]

I watched the movie “Osama” last night. It’s about an Afghani girl during the time of Taliban domination of Afghanistan. The Taliban forbids women to be outside unaccompanied or to work, and all women who are widowed or have no male relatives are basically reduced to house arrest and starvation. The girl’s widowed mother and grandmother dress her as a boy and send her out to work; needless to say, she is caught. It’s a very tragic movie, and extremely well done (it was the first movie made in Afghanistan after the expulsion of the Taliban). You can rent it from Neflix.

In any case, it shows you what a radical Islamic society is like and shows you the environment in which AQ was thriving in Afghanistan and in fact the situation that we are allowing to reestablish itself. This not only throws the Afghan people to the dogs of Islamic tyranny again, but seriously ups the risk that AQ and its allies will see us as vulnerable and needing only a few more attacks to fall to Islam.

[Paladin2]

Great Article. Thanks for posting.