By Paul
Sperry
FrontPageMagazine.com | December
14, 2005
Washington
's policy-makers have been careful in the war on terror to distinguish
between Islam and the terrorists. The distinction has rankled
conservatives who see scarce difference.
A little-noticed speech by President Bush in October gave them some hope.
In a major rhetorical shift, he described the enemy as "Islamic
radicals" and not just "terrorists," although he still
denies that radicalism has anything to do with their religion.
Now for the first time, a key Pentagon intelligence agency involved in
homeland security is delving into Islam's holy texts to answer whether
Islam is being radicalized by the terrorists or is already radical.
Military brass want a better understanding of what's motivating the
insurgents in Iraq and the terrorists around the globe, including those
inside America who may be preparing to strike domestic military bases. The
enemy appears indefatigable, even more active now than before 9/11.
Are the terrorists really driven by self-serving politics and personal
demons? Or are they driven by religion? And if it's religion, are they
following a manual of war contained in their scripture?
Answers are hard to come by. Four years into the war on terror, U.S.
intelligence officials tell me there are no baseline studies of the Muslim
prophet Muhammad or his ideological or military doctrine found at either
the CIA or Defense Intelligence Agency, or even the war colleges.
But that is slowly starting to change as the Pentagon develops a new
strategy to deal with the threat from Islamic terrorists through its
little-known intelligence agency called the Counterintelligence Field
Activity or CIFA, which staffs hundreds of investigators and analysts to
help coordinate Pentagon security efforts at home and abroad. CIFA also
supports Northern Command in
Colorado
, which was established after 9/11 to help military forces react to
terrorist threats in the continental
United States
.
Dealing with the threat on a tactical and operational level through
counterstrikes and capture has proven only marginally successful. Now
military leaders want to combat it from a strategic standpoint, using
informational warfare, among other things. A
critical part of that strategy involves studying Islam, including the
Quran and the hadiths, or traditions of Muhammad.
"Today we are confronted with a stateless threat that does not have
at the strategic level targetable entities: no capitals, no economic base,
no military formations or installations," states a new Pentagon
briefing paper I've obtained. "Yet political Islam wages an
ideological battle against the non-Islamic world at the tactical,
operational and strategic level. The West's response is focused at the
tactical and operation level, leaving the strategic level -- Islam --
unaddressed."
So far the conclusions of intelligence analysts assigned to the project,
which include both private contractors and career military officials,
contradict the commonly held notion that Islam is a peaceful religion
hijacked or distorted by terrorists. They've found that the
terrorists for the most part are following a war-fighting doctrine
articulated through Muhammad in the Quran, elaborated on in the hadiths,
codified in Islamic or sharia law, and reinforced by recent
interpretations or fatwahs.
"Islam is an ideological engine of war
(Jihad)," concludes the sensitive Pentagon briefing paper. And
"no one is looking for its off switch."
Why? One major reason, the briefing states, is government-wide
"indecision [over] whether Islam is radical or being
radicalized."
So, which is it? "Strategic themes suggest Islam is radical by
nature," according to the briefing, which goes on to cite the 26
chapters of the Quran dealing with violent jihad and the examples of the
Muslim prophet, who it says sponsored "terror and slaughter"
against unbelievers.
"Muhammad's behaviors today would be defined
as radical," the defense document says, and Muslims today are
commanded by their "militant" holy book to follow his example.
It adds: Western leaders can no longer afford to overlook the "cult
characteristics of Islam."
It also ties Muslim charity to war. Zakat, the alms-giving pillar of
Islam, is described in the briefing as "an asymmetrical war-fighting
funding mechanism." Which in English translates to: combat support
under the guise of tithing. Of the eight obligatory categories of
disbursement of Muslim charitable donations, it notes that two are for
funding jihad, or holy war. Indeed, authorities have traced millions of
dollars received by major jihadi terror groups like Hamas and al-Qaida
back to Saudi and other foreign Isamic charities and also U.S. Muslim
charities, such as the Holy Land Foundation.
According to the Quran, jihad is not something a Muslim can opt out of. It
demands able-bodied believers join the fight. Those unable -- women and
the elderly -- are not exempt; they must give "asylum and aid" (Surah
8:74) to those who do fight the unbelievers in the cause of Allah.
In analyzing the threat on the domestic front, the Pentagon briefing draws
perhaps its most disturbing conclusions. It argues the
U.S.
has not suffered from scattered insurgent attacks -- as opposed to the
concentrated and catastrophic attack by al-Qaida on 9-11 -- in large part
because it has a relatively small Muslim population. But that could change
as the Muslim minority grows and gains more influence.
The internal document explains that Islam divides offensive jihad into a
"three-phase attack strategy" for gaining control of lands for
Allah. The first phase is the "Meccan," or weakened, period,
whereby a small Muslim minority asserts itself through largely peaceful
and political measures involving Islamic NGOs -- such as the Islamic
Society of North America, which investigators say has its roots in the
militant Muslim Brotherhood, and Muslim pressure groups, such as the
Council on American-Islamic Relations, whose leaders are on record
expressing their desire to Islamize America.
In the second "preparation" phase, a "reasonably
influential" Muslim minority starts to turn more militant. The
briefing uses
Britain
and the
Netherlands
as examples.
And in the final jihad period, or "Medina Stage," a large
minority uses its strength of numbers and power to rise up against the
majority, as Muslim youth recently demonstrated in terrorizing
France
, the Pentagon paper notes.
It also notes that unlike Judaism and Christianity, Islam advocates
expansion by force. The final command of jihad, as revealed to Muhammad in
the Quran, is to conquer the world in the name of Islam. The defense
briefing adds that Islam is also unique in classifying unbelievers as
"standing enemies against whom it is legitimate to wage war."
Right now political leaders don't understand the true nature of the
threat, it says, because the intelligence community has yet to educate
them. They still think Muslim terrorists, even suicide bombers, are
mindless "criminals" motivated by "hatred of our
freedoms," rather than religious zealots motivated by their faith.
And as a result, we have no real strategic plan for winning a war against
jihadists.
Even many intelligence analysts and investigators working in the field
with the Joint Terrorism Task Forces have a shallow understanding of
Islam.
"I don't like to criticize our intelligence services, because we did
win the Cold War," says a Northern Command intelligence official.
"However, all of these organizations have made only limited progress
adjusting to the current threat or the sharing of information."
Why? "All suffer heavily from political correctness," he
explains.
PC still infects the Pentagon, four years after jihadists hit the nation's
military headquarters.
"A lot of folks here have a very pedestrian understanding of Islam
and the Islamic threat," a Pentagon intelligence analyst working on
the project told me. "We're getting Islam 101, and we need Islam
404."
The hardest part of formulating a strategic response to the threat is defining
Islam as a political and military enemy. Once that psychological
barrier has been crossed, defense sources tell me, the development of
countermeasures -- such as educating the public about the militant nature
of Islam and exploiting "critical vulnerabilities" or rifts
within the Muslim faith and community -- can begin.
"Most Americans don't realize we are in a war
of survival -- a war that is going to continue for decades,"
the Northcom official warns.
It remains to be seen, however, whether our PC-addled political leaders
would ever adopt such controversial measures.