[aristeides]

Here's a link to a Le Monde article which says that Djamel Beghal, the French-born head of the cell that was supposed to blow up the U.S. embassy in Paris, who was trained at one of the training camps near Jalalabad, also belonged to Tabligh before going to Afghanistan. It was after he returned to France and was making preparations for the attack that he was arrested.

[Shermy]

But...but...but...Professor Metcalf says "jihad" means "personal improvement." How can this be?

I guess when I take adult ed courses and go to the gym I'm committing Jihad. Let's see what happens to me when I start using that word publicly with that meaning!

BTW, since you speak French, what ever happened to that chemical plant bombing in Toulouse, France shortly after 911? At first the press said it was an accident. Then a doctor who had experience in the Middle East noted that the closest factory worker victim had shaved his body, etc., in the fashion of jihadists at work. Then his apartment was found to have been cleaned out. Then there were rumors that the French authorities wanted to hush up the connections so that they would not seem to be a target of such actions, for various machiavellian purposes. Has there been any follow up in the French press on this issue to your knowledge? I'm interested.