[Prodigal Son]

I can't think of a better way to defeat them than to infiltrate them.

Infiltrating has been the sticky point so far hasn't it? Hard for Joe Blow from Kansas to pass himself off as a Muslim dedicated to the jihad.

I sincerely hope that the Defense Language Institute is chock full of students learning Arabic right now (as well as Parsi or whatever else it is they speak). Had the chance to go to the DLI when I enlisted (after getting a good score on the DLAB test). Drill Seargent said I'd probably be learning Arabic (this was just before the Gulf War) and that dissuaded me from pursuing that particular avenue of training. I wish I had now, maybe I could be of some use.

I hope the CIA is on this thing. Surely, there has to be some hardball type Muslim out there that would be willing to take a lot of cash to crack the al Qaeda nut. I hope they find him because, as you say, a mole would be their undoing.

[piasa]

Another way that they have prevented infiltration is by trusting only relatives with the most vital details. Many of their top dogs are related, directly, by cousins, or by marriage. It's hard to find relatives willing to turn. We have to try, but it isn't easy.

[Alouette]

Hard for Joe Blow from Kansas to pass himself off as a Muslim dedicated to the jihad.

Not so hard for Johnny Lindh from Marin County, California