Posted on 07/14/2008 9:59:35 PM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
Turning their Backs on Jihad
By Britta Sandberg
More and more prominent terrorists are defecting from the cause. The Egyptian theologian Dr. Fadl is the best known, but many others are likewise reconsidering. Experts see it as a delayed reaction to the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Noman Benotman walks into a restaurant on Park Lane, the exclusive, minimalist sort of place that is currently all the rage in London. People in business suits converse in hushed tones at nearby tables. Benotman, wearing an orange polo shirt and a gray checked blazer, fits in perfectly.
Benotman, a 41-year-old man from Libya, was once a jihadist. He fought against the Soviets in Afghanistan, and it was in those days, which some would later romanticize as heroic, that he met Osama bin Laden. Benotman says that he was once adept at using an AK-47, and that he remembers making out the faces of Soviet helicopter pilots before shooting them down.
After the Soviet army withdrew in disgrace from Kabul and Kandahar, Benotman returned to his native Libya, where he became one of the leaders of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG). The group, several hundred strong, sought to overthrow the regime of Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi, which they believed was corrupt and un-Islamic. Before Sept. 11, 2001, Benotman was an important figure in the expanding global network of terrorism.
Today he sits in a London restaurant and orders an espresso with a glass of water from a waiter dressed in a white uniform. He speaks with a flawless British accent.
(Excerpt) Read more at spiegel.de ...
personally i think they met the US militaries 5.56 reasons to stop jihad, on occasion the military gave 7.62 reasons...nothing more and nothing less stopped them. Its all very well to spout on about 72 virgins but it is kinda hard to get in the mood with the virgins when you have a fist sized hole in your head.
be under no illusion...this is the military effect, its not some new path they have discovered. its the natural effect to loosing..
alone would not erode
They are being slaughtered in Afghanistan. They have been driven out of Iraq and have retreated to shorten their lines of communication. Was Hitler gaining when they retreated to Germany?
The final battles in the war on terror will take place in Pakistan
Lawrence Wright’s article in the New Yorker on Al Fadl’s change of heart makes it pretty clear that a significant motivating factor in this about face is that Al Qaeda is getting its a*** kicked. The immediate cause of revulsion is the attacks on other muslims, but this tactic was adopted in desperation because they were getting their a** kicked.
Not Iran?
Or do you think Iran would come first? You might have something there.
Pakistan is and always has been home base for Al-Q and their friends the Taliban. These are our real enemies in the war on global terror. Hizbullah and Hamas are Iranian proxies, but no threat outside of the region. They will be neutered if Syria separates from Iran.
Ahem...bullshit!
It is an immediate reaction to the fact that they are getting their asses handed to them all over the planet they are supposed to be subjugating.
Hubris and vanity can carry you only so far....after awhile, playing for the losing team sucks.
Amen.
Amen again.
If they would stop the violence, the coercion, and the intolerance they would be good neighbors.
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/06/02/080602fa_fact_wright?currentPage=all
Even if a person is fit and capable, jihad may not be required of him, Fadl says, pointing out that God also praises those who choose to isolate themselves from unbelievers rather than fight them. Nor is jihad required if the enemy is twice as powerful as the Muslims; in such an unequal contest, Fadl writes, “God permitted peace treaties and cease-fires with the infidels, either in exchange for money or without it—all of this in order to protect the Muslims, in contrast with those who push them into peril.” In what sounds like a deliberate swipe at Zawahiri, he remarks, “Those who have triggered clashes and pressed their brothers into unequal military confrontations are specialists neither in fatwas nor in military affairs. . . . Just as those who practice medicine without background should provide compensation for the damage they have done, the same goes for those who issue fatwas without being qualified to do so.”...
In his Al Hayat interview, Fadl labels 9/11 “a catastrophe for Muslims,” because Al Qaeda’s actions “caused the death of tens of thousands of Muslims—Arabs, Afghans, Pakistanis and others” … At one point, Fadl observes, “People hate America, and the Islamist movements feel their hatred and their impotence. Ramming America has become the shortest road to fame and leadership among the Arabs and Muslims. But what good is it if you destroy one of your enemy’s buildings, and he destroys one of your countries? What good is it if you kill one of his people, and he kills a thousand of yours? . . . That, in short, is my evaluation of 9/11.”
Was Hitler setting up forts in the United States and Allied territory as Islam is setting up Mosques?
The final battles in the war on terror will take place in Pakistan
Saudi Arabia would be the correct final battleground ending in the destruction of Mecca. But too many American and European elites like Saudi money.
Take your meds buddy, and read a book
It is not a delayed reaction to 2001, it is a current reaction to the response to that attack taking place in 2008. America fought back and stayed the course, this is the only way to make radicals back into moderates. Try to appease them and you make moderates back into radicals. Obama is meeting with the Palestinians. Any guess as to what will happen due to that?
Take your meds buddy, and read a book
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