Knowledge is inextricably linked to language. The less accurate words are, the less accurate the knowledge they impart; conversely, the more precise the language, the more precise the knowledge. In the war on terror, to acquire accurate knowledge — which is pivotal to victory — we need to begin with accurate language.
Would the free world have understood the Nazi threat if, instead of calling them what they called themselves, “Nazis,” it had opted to simply call them “extremists” — a word wholly overlooking the racist, expansionary, and supremacist elements that are part and parcel of the word “Nazi”?
Unfortunately, the U.S. government, apparently oblivious to this interconnection between language and knowledge, appears to be doing just that. Even President Obama alluded to this soon after taking office when he said, “Words matter in this situation because one of the ways we’re going to win this struggle [war on terror] is through the battle of [Muslims'] hearts and minds.”
According to an official memo, when talking about Islamists and their goals, analysts are to refrain from using Arabic words of Islamic significance (”mujahidin,” “salafi,” “ummah”); nor should they employ helpful English or anglicized words (”jihadi,” “Islamo-fascism,” “caliphate”). Instead, vague generics (”terrorists,” “extremists,” “totalitarians”) should suffice. Read more ...
Now, would this be the same Canada that prosecutes critics of Islam? Now a Canadian jihadi involved in the Global Islamic Media Front (GIMF) is claiming videos he made to support al Qaeda and which helped serve as a virtual training ground are merely expressions of "free speech".
One of the videos Said Namouh -- better known online as "Nashraf" -- made was about how to make a snowball bomb. He also was planning, with the help of two in Austria, to bomb U.S. targets in Europe. Free speech!
An interesting sidenote in the article confirms something I've been claiming since 2006: that the European based GIMF is directly tied to al Qaeda's Gaza affiliate. Apparently Said Namouh, through his affiliation with GIMF, personally helped transmit the ransom demands for British journalist Alan Johnston.
Oh, but it gets worse. GIMF is now the official propaganda wing of al Qaeda's Somali affiliate, the al-Shabaab. Distressing given that GIMF is known to be based in Europe. With known affiliates in Canada and the United States. Read more ...
Thousands of Islamist militants in the UK are actively supporting jihadist activities at home and abroad, according to a leaked Government document.
The secret report states that Britain will remain "a high-priority target" for international terrorists aligned with al Qaida for the foreseeable future.
And it warns that a network of extremist cells exists in the UK, with the main concentrations in London, Birmingham and Luton.
The document - marked "restricted" - was reportedly drawn up by the intelligence branch of the Ministry of Defence, MI5 and Special Branch.
The threat from Islamist extremists is "diverse and widely distributed" and the number of terrorists in Britain is "difficult to judge", states the report.
But it cites estimates from the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre that there are "some thousands of extremists in the UK committed to supporting jihadi activities, either in the UK or abroad".
And it states: "For the foreseeable future the UK will continue to be a high-priority target for international terrorists aligned with al Qaida.
"It will face a threat from British nationals, including Muslim converts, and UK-based foreign terrorists, as well as terrorists planning attacks from abroad."
In 2006, the then head of the Security Service, Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller said that MI5 was aware of 30 major terrorist plots and had 1,600 people in 200 cells under surveillance. Last year, her successor Jonathan Evans said the number had grown to 2,000.
A Home Office spokesman said: "We do not comment on leaked documents."
PESHAWAR: Three Taliban militants were killed on Wednesday when a roadside bomb they were planting exploded in a restive valley in northwestern Pakistan, police said.
The Swat valley, which was previously known as the "Switzerland" of Pakistan, has been rocked by a violent campaign to introduce Islamic law, an official said.
"An improvised explosive device went off as three Taliban militants tried to plant it alongside a road in Chamkanai area. The three militants were killed on the spot," local police official Jan Bahadur said.
The mountainous valley was until last year a popular tourist destination where many Pakistani city dwellers went for their annual holidays and it featured Pakistan's only ski resort.
But the region has been turned into a battleground since Maulana Fazlullah, who has links to Pakistan's Taliban movement, launched a violent campaign for Islamic Sharia law.
Its been seven years since 9/11, but the Bush administration has insisted on fighting the war on terror without naming the enemy. Faced with fears of alienating moderate Muslims, "legitimizing" jihadis, and strengthening the argument that we are indeed in a clash of civilizations, no official in the American government calls the terrorist - Islamist, jihadi or Islamic in any way.
This has been a huge policy mistake and has allowed Islamists to not only commit further violence since 9/11, but also engage in non-violent attacks on western culture through litigation and a global "Islamophobia" movement intent on suppressing legitimate debate on the social, political, and economic global agenda of Islamists.
There is finally a sign, though, that analysts at least are getting tired of having their hands tied in defending American interests. The Washington Times, reports on Washington Times, October 20, that a U.S. military "Red Team" published a report ("Freedom of Speech in Jihad Analysis: Debunking the Myth of Offensive Words") pressing the simple point that they cannot assist in advising against the enemy if they cannot rightfully call the enemy by its name, stating:" We must reject the notion that Islam and Arabic stand apart as bodies of knowledge that cannot be critiqued or discussed as elements of understanding our enemies in this conflict".
The unnamed contractors and civilian analysts for U.S. Central Command, (responsible for the Middle East and South Asia), continue by stating, "The fact is our enemies cite the source of Islam as the foundation for their global jihad," the report said. "We are left with the responsibility of portraying our enemies in an honest and accurate fashion."
What prevents these analysts from doing their job is the Islamist lobby in the United States who claim that Muslims will be the victims of rampant hate crimes if associated with terrorism. Thus, "unidentified American Muslims," successfully prevented the unnamed authors of the report from using words like "jihadist," "Islamic terrorist," "Islamist" or "holy warrior" in their work.
Unfortunately, the government officials who pander to these alleged Muslim "ACLU"'s, do not bother to look into their own governmental statistics to counter their unwarranted fears. For example, 66% of hate crimes in 2006 were committed against American Jews. Only 11% of the cases that year were Muslim.
Consequently, something else is going on that the government does not recognize. The benefit of convincing Muslims and non-Muslims alike that the former are victims of discrimination justifies creeping Sharia in the name of religious equality. Consider the resolution proposed by the OIC at the UN. Currently, the Organization of the Islamic Congress, consisting of 57 Muslim countries are lobbying in the United Nations to pass a resolution against the defamation of religion, legitimizing antiquated blasphemy laws in the West.
Yet, these same OIC countries are notorious for violence against non-Muslims. Just this week a Christian aide worker was shot in the head in Afghanistan for alleged proselytizing. If such a resolution were to pass, "Islamophobia" would become a legitimate word in the discourse of Islam and politics. While, it is, in actuality, a word meant to censor critics of Islamism.
The irony the war of words pits Muslim against Muslim, and the Islamists still won't do what is right. The FBI recently called the murder of two girls in Texas by their father an honor killing on the wanted poster. They took it back, concerned that they didn't want to "label" the murder.
Yet, family members interviewed by the media clearly stated that the father killed his daughters because they were dating non-Muslim boys and disgraced the family. Again as FOX News reports, "Some Muslims have objected to the term 'honor killing' because they say it attaches a religious motive to a crime, which could lead to discrimination against Muslims". Yet, Muslim communities initiate no awareness campaigns within their own communities to ensure education exists to make sure Muslims understand that violence against women isn't acceptable.
Until then, words matter. So, as the analysts at CENTCOMM and the some Muslims quoted herein believe, words also have an impact on combating or supporting violence, whether it is the war on terror, or domestic violence at home.
If Muslim groups focused on educating the Muslim-American community away from domestic violence, they wouldn't have to fight about the phrase "honor killings" being used because it wouldn't be happening. Similarly, if the Muslim American community accepted the Islamic aspects of the war on terror, they could fight it head on and then finally decrease its influence and attraction within the community, regardless of how prevalent or minor it allegedly is.
Ignoring the problem, requires "outsiders", non-Muslims like the CENTCOMM analysts are left to do it. They shouldn't be suppressed by their own government.
Bruce Loudon South Asia correspondent October 07, 2008
PAKISTAN President Asif Ali Zardari was at the centre of a political storm yesterday after turning decades-old policy over disputed Kashmir on its head and declaring its Islamic "freedom fighters" to be "terrorists".
The statement by Mr Zardari has sent shockwaves through Pakistan's political elite and is believed to be causing consternation among senior ranks in the 600,000-strong army, which maintains freedom for Indian-administered Kashmir as one of its most hallowed aims.
Indian authorities in Kashmir at the weekend imposed an indefinite curfew ahead of expected mass demonstrations demanding India's expulsion from the territory. In the past two months, Kashmir has seen some of the biggest pro-separatist demonstrations since the uprising against New Delhi's rule began in 1989. About 40 protesters were killed and more than 1000 injured.
The two nuclear-armed South Asian neighbours have fought three wars over Kashmir, a territory once described by former US president Bill Clinton as "the most dangerous place in the world" because of its potential to cause a nuclear conflagration. About 50,000 people are believed to have been killed in fighting in Kashmir since 1989.
India has welcomed Mr Zardari's tough stand on Kashmir.
New Delhi's Minister of State for External Affairs, Anand Sharma, said Mr Zardari's statement, which he made during an interview with The Wall Street Journal in New York, was "a welcome step, and Pakistan should honour the words with action in curbing terrorism".
New Delhi maintains that militants fighting to oust India from Kashmir -- who are mostly members of jihadi groups linked to al-Qa'ida -- are clandestinely controlled by the Pakistan army from across the Line of Control in what is known as "Azad Kashmir", territory controlled by Pakistan. India says that without this support from Pakistan, terrorism in Kashmir would be quickly defeated. To the undisguised delight of New Delhi, Mr Zardari also declared during The Wall Street Journal interview that he saw no danger from his neighbour. "India has never been a threat to Pakistan. I, for one, and our democratic Government is not scared of Indian influence abroad."
Mr Zardari said he had no objection to the nuclear co-operation pact between India and the US, a measure passed by Congress last week, as long as Pakistan was treated "on par".
Islamabad is now calling for the US to strike a similar nuclear deal with Pakistan.
Yesterday, on the eve of a closed session of parliament to discuss the country's security crisis, powerful elements in the Pakistani army were said to be taking "a dim view" of Mr Zardari's tough new stance on Kashmiri militants.
"It's a dramatic change, and if Zardari meant what he said, then he has signalled what could turn out to be one of the most dramatic moves in South Asian policy in many years, and one that has far-reaching implications," a senior diplomat in Islamabad said.
Amid the country's rapidly deteriorating security situation, officials have reportedly warned both Mr Zardari and Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to curtail their public appearances because of fears they are assassination targets.
And concern is mounting for the safety of the chief minister of the militant stronghold of the North-West Frontier Province, Ameer Haider Hoti, after rockets fired by insurgents landed near his home. The attack followed an unsuccessful weekend assassination attempt on Mr Hoti's party leader, Asfandyar Wali Khan.
Pakistani forces are continuing to pound jihadi hideouts in the militant stronghold of Bajaur, with the military yesterday claiming to have killed at least six insurgents. Orders have been issued to deport all Afghans from Bajaur and to send them back across the border following reports that Pakistani militants have been receiving support from across the border.
Source: The Australian
Asif Ali Zardari Latest recipient of The MASH Award
Finally, here is all you wanted to know about Jihad, but were afraid to ask!
“Jihad will continue till the Day of Judgement; jihad will never stop. (Jihad jari rahega ta qayamat Jihad hargiz naheen rukega)
It has forced oppressor’s head to bow; it will end oppression and torture. (Is se zalim ka sar jhuka hai Is se zulm-o-sitam mitega)
On August 14, 2008, Pakistan’s Independence Day, the Islamist group Jamatud Dawa – the new name of the banned militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba held a conference in Lahore. At the opening of the conference, a duo of Hafiz Abdul Wadud Hasan and Hafiz Abdur Rauf sang the following song, titled the ”Jihadi Tarana (Jihadi anthem).’ Read more ...
Republicans always claim the mantle of the anti-Jihadists. And for the most part, they are.
But when a supporter of jihad and terrorism comes to the midst of the G.O.P., that anti-jihadist/counterterrorist mantle comes crashing down. The Republican Party simply refuses to denounce pan-Islamists in its midst I've detailed that repeatedly on this site, from Michigan and Ohio GOP officials hanging out with and praising CAIR to pan-Islamist Grover Norquist's puppetmaster machinations at the Bush White House.
Now, the G.O.P. has an interesting opportunity to finally show it means business against terrorism . . . in the California gubernatorial race. Since Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is term-limited and elections for the new guy are being held in November 2010, some candidates are already setting up shop.
On the G.O.P. side, one of those is the notorious former Congressman Tom Campbell. Saturday's Wall Street Journal reports that Campbell stepped down as Dean of the business school at U.C.-Berkeley and launched an exploratory committee. Sadly, this will go beyond mere "exploration." Campbell is running for Governor of California. Read more ...
The terminology we use to describe our enemy in the war on terror matters a lot. A spirited debate is underway among specialists and in the press.
An op-ed published Monday in the New York Times entitled "What do you call a Terror(Jihad)ist?", by P.W. Singer and Elina Noor, attempts to defend the recent State Department memo advising government personal to refrain from using theologically-laden terms-"jihadi," "mujahidin," "caliphate," "Islamo-fascism," "salafi," "wahhabi," "ummah"-when describing Islamic radicals and their motives. Instead, generics-"terrorists," "extremists"-should suffice. Read more ...
‘Jihad’ is extracted from the source, ‘Jaahada’ and it measured upon the fourth verb structure, which means interaction between two sides, al-Mufa’ala. Another example is ‘Al-Khisaam’ which means to quarrel and is extracted from its roots source – Khaasama. Also, there is the example of ‘Jidaal’, which means to discuss or to argue and is taken from the root source ‘Jaadala’. Read more ...
The Iranian-backed Lebanon-based guerilla movement Hezbollah said on Friday it prides itself on appearing on the United States' terrorist list.
"The U.S. administration has no right to give statements on nationalism and terrorism when it is making the peoples of the world, including the American people, pay the price for its wars and bloody policies," said a statement by Hezbollah.
Hezbollah's remarks came in response to the report released earlier this week by the U.S. State Department which accused Iran of providing aid to Palestinian "terrorist" groups like Hamas, Hezbollah, "Iraq-based militants," and Taliban fighters in Afghanistan... Read more ...
An alleged member of a home-grown terrorist cell praised God in front of an undercover intelligence agent after hearing that Muslim insurgents had attacked Australian troops in Iraq. Read more ...
Last year the New York Police Department (NYPD) issued a clear-sighted and path-breaking document titled Radicalization in the West: The Home-Grown Threat. Prepared by Mitchell D. Silber and Arvin Bhatt of the NYPD Intelligence Division, the report was serious, well-researched, and articulate. It traced radical Sunni Muslim activities in non-Muslim countries to the "jihadi-Salafi" ideology, better known as Wahhabism, created in Saudi Arabia and supported by major extremist resources in Pakistan (the jihadist movement of Mawdudi) and Egypt (the Muslim Brotherhood). It was posted on the internet by Republican congressman Pete Hoekstra of Michigan and may be read here.
Radicalization in the West met with enthusiastic approval from anti-extremist, moderate Muslims, but with predictable condemnation from the "Wahhabi lobby" represented by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and its allies. On November 23, 2007, as disclosed in documents made available to me, a statement was composed, in the name of the "Muslim community," protesting against the NYPD's release of the report. Employing the typically arrogant, peremptory, and militant idiom of the Islamist movements, the statement called on New York police commissioner Raymond W. Kelly. Read more ...
A reliable source has informed me that Condoleeza Rice has approved a new lexicon for State Department usage, absolutely forbidding the use of the terms "jihad" and "jihadist" by any State Department official.
The argument, of course, is the old Streusand/Guirard claim that by using the word jihad, we're validating the jihadist claim to be waging jihad. Of course, it's ridiculous to think that the U.S. State Department carries any validating authority within the Islamic world to determine what is Islam and what isn't. This would be the first time that unbelievers have set the meaning of Islamic theology for Muslims.
Also, the claim is that by using the word "jihad," we are insulting the peaceful Muslims who are waging the daily jihad of the struggle against sin, the struggle against the dirty dishes, etc. And that's great, if that's what any Muslim actually believes is the sum and substance of jihad, but it is an understanding of jihad that is at odds with the Qur'an, the Sunnah, and all the schools of Islamic jurisprudence. Will Muslims be insulted by a reference to other Muslims using the traditional primary meaning of jihad? Answer: probably. But that doesn't negate the traditional status of that meaning, or the influence of that traditional view in the Islamic world.
I will publish more information on this when possible.
Jihadists worldwide are increasingly using children as suicide bombers. What explains this inhumane and obscene tactic practiced by Islamo-Fascists? To discuss this issue with us today, Frontpage Symposium has assembled a distinguished panel. Read more ...
Our society's impulse towards suicide continues unabated, as those on the side of Western civilization are the ones continuously being silenced, while homegrown jihadists express their venom with increasing impunity. Read more ...
Remember this Islamist who confronted me last May at the Islamists Day Parade (skip to to minute 1:57). Calling out to me, he apparently trolls counter jihad girl bloggers :) -- I, OTOH, hadn't a clue who he was. Watch video
Well Fox did a piece on this filth:
"I could care less about Daniel Pearl," al-Khattab said in an interview with FOXNews.com. "I'm happy to see that he's gone."
U.S. Based Revolution Muslim Website Spreading Messages of Hate FOX News (hat tip Bill)
NEW YORK, N.Y. - On any given day, log on to www.RevolutionMuslim.com and a host of startling images appear:
- The Statue of Liberty, with an ax blade cutting through her side;
- Video mocking the beheading of American journalist Daniel Pearl, entitled "Daniel Pearl I am Happy Your Dead :) ";
- Video of a puppet show lampooning U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq;
- The latest speech from Sheikh Abdullah Faisal, an extremist Muslim cleric convicted in the UK and later deported for soliciting the murder of non-Muslims.
Even more surprising is that RevolutionMuslim.com isn't being maintained in some remote safe house in Pakistan. Instead, Yousef al-Khattab, the Web site creator, runs it from his home in the New York City Borough of Queens. More ...
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