Converts, reverts, New Muslims, whatever they are called, often come from the ranks of the psychically marginal, the people whose oddness, whose inability to accept or adapt to or even haughtily mock, their lot, whether earned or unmerited, makes them vulnerable to the siren-song of a Total Regulation of Life.
There are elements of Huey, Dewey and Louie joining their secret boys' club -- no doubt about it. And if it were not so dangerous to Infidels, one might overlook the mental and moral damage to the converts themselves. They are self-conscious Spiritual Searchers, palpably discontented with – you name it: the System, Amerika, Kapitalism, the Confusion and Anomie and Decadence and Unhappiness of Life. They are attracted to the whole business of the Collective, the Ummah, the "Brothers," in their longing for some prefabricated, ready-made society. They also get all those special phrases to drop into their English or French or German conversation -- alhamdulillah and all the rest of it. They get a new Arab name and a secret decoder ring. And they get, of course, those Manuals for Living -- Qur'an and Hadith -- that provide the Total Regulation of Life, the Complete Explanation of the Universe. And Allah Knows Best. And Muhammad is his Prophet and, not surprisingly, the Perfect Man, uswa hasana, al-insan al-kamil.
No thinking required. No thinking desired. Just keep following what Allah set out long ago, and what has been The Way, The Path, from which no deviation is permitted, ever since.
Of course the ranks of converts at this point contain far more dangerous people, on the whole, than would a similar sampling of those born into Islam. For the converts willingly embrace this belief-system, and at this point there can be little confusion (as there might have been once) as to what that implies and entails. Those simply born into Islam, some of whom may be fearful of getting out, may include a larger number of people who are less enthusiastic about what is theirs by forced birthright than are those who willfully embrace the cult of mental submission that is Islam.
Unfortunately, the security services of the Western world, in choosing to use undercover agents, will often have to choose those who would not arouse suspicion. And who might such people be? They would have to be chosen from among the kind of people who do convert to Islam. The problem is that such people, in "pretending to convert to Islam, might find genuinely attractive that offer of a belief-system that offers a Total Regulation of Life (and isn't life just a bit too unstructured, these days?), a Complete Explanation of the Universe (and isn't life getting just a bit too complicated these days?) and a ready-made Ummah (and isn't life just a little too lonely these days, in those Durkheimian anomie-filled cities, where we wander lonely as clouds, and isn't it wonderful to have a society of fellow Muslims with whom to form that special bond?).
What should the security services do?
Well, they should find those who have suffered from within Islam, or whose families have done so. Think of Berbers who might be disaffected from Islam because of the Arab supremacist ideology. Or Kurds. Or a Hindu who might have been driven out of Bangladesh, and who, properly schooled, might be able to pass as a Muslim. Think of Arabic-speaking Jews. Think of the pool of Christians from the Middle East -- Maronites, or Copts, or an Armenian from Haleb or Beirut, who suffered along with other Christians during the Civil War. A Christian from the Moluccas, whose village was attacked by Muslims. Find these people. Train them, slowly. Give them the kind of training in Islam that the KGB used to provide for spies going to the West -- you know, with those mock-American cities, and every detail of the New York Subway system, not to mention what Yogi Berra or Jimmy Durante said, by way of preparation.
Understand that it is not enough to call yourself a Muslim. You have to have that entire set of allusions to the life of Muhammad, to the history of Islamic battles, that any Muslim would know. Are the Americans up to this? Do they possess a cadre of teachers? Have they called in the French counter-intelligence? Or the Israelis? Or the Indians?
Lots of arms, those Americans. Hundreds of billions of dollars worth. But most of it irrelevant to Da'wa, demographic conquest, the money weapon, and terrorist units, outside any larger organization, all over the Western world.
Arms, arms. All kinds of American arms, at the ready.
But still, when compared with those to whom deception comes naturally, that is simply a matter of habit, that is imbibed with a Muslim mother's milk in the Middle East, the roughest toughest of Rangers or of Navy Seals are, trying to deal with someone like Hani Ramadan or his much more sinister and dangerous brother Tariq Ramadan, mere Babes in Arms.
Aren't the same category of people use to join other similar cults? The difference is that Islam has an established culture behind it. Many morons find that attractive. Little do they know they won't get out of it alive. It is a 'Hotel California' of religions.
So it's true then. Islam is the greatest mental asylum in the world!
I have always thought - many, many years ago - that people who are too lazy to think would find it attractive.
Stupidity and violence are not a good combination if you are not on their side. OBL must be laughing his head off.
Hugh l know of women whose son is fluent in Arabic, but because he is Jewish cannot find work in the State Department,etc, as they are looking for a few good muslims.
Once upon a time the US had a secret service called the CIA. True, it acted out of control at times but at least it got a few things done that we will probably never know of. Then the leftists "put it under control" so nowadays it gets things more wrong than right. What we need is another organization to identify, hunt down and "deal with" the Bin Ladens of the world so that armies don't have to be sent overseas to fight this scum for an endless number of years. Such an organization will have to be ruthless as well as secretive. Politicians won't be able to crow about another "success" but at least things might get done in a more effective manner. In short, this organization would be as effective as everyone in the world assumes the CIA is.
It takes a village to deprogram the weak who are taken in by cults or ideologies. Our entire society protects the weakest and even the strongest from scams by pointing them out openly on TV, in newspapers, etc.
We need to be told about computer viruses. We need to see scams in the movies and see how foolish we can be. We need to be taught by our schools what are scams. We have to be taught what is too good to be true.
This involves ridicule of scams and sky in the pie promises. We have to be forewarned and forearmed.We have to have freedom for people to deprogram those in cults. This often involves ridicule. We need a store of jokes about scams.
Those who think they know all need to be ridiculed. Their commands have to be thwarted boldly in plain view and everyone see there is no harm to doing so. Society and our leaders, media, political, schools, business, have to close ranks and stand up against threats of violence.
Those who claim that they know all or can't be challenged must be challenged from the top to the bottom of our society. They must be challenged by leaders of all institutions. Those who claim somethings can't be argued or discussed have to be challenged. Those who say they are offended have to be told to get over it.
This has to be done instantly. We can't wait. Its like the start of Communism or Nazism. The sooner society stands up, the easier it is to stop it. When it starts taking over other countries we have to go in and stop it early. We can't let those infected by it have control of our nukes, our society, or their nukes and their society.
We live in a global village. We have to point out when this is happening in a Nazi Germany or a Soviet Union so the people there know there is a reality where the truth is spoken. Even in a Nazi Germany or Soviet Union, the knowledge that people can speak freely in safety, physical, job, mental, gives them the strength to speak up.
Every element of society has to honor those in other societies, writers, scientists, people of faith, artists, etc. who stand up. Even if those people are abrupt or have flaws, they must be defended from the top to the bottom of our society with one voice instantly.
This has to be understood througout our society so its healthy to defend itself and to cure others. This has to be understood so the response is instant and every institution joins in each time that pressure is tried.
There has to be freedom to speak out about the danger and the disease. Leaders have to be bold and followers have to become leaders. This is what happened in the scene in Casablanca where Le Marseillaise was song. Suddenly followers were becoming bold.
Darn it Hugh, you've done it again. Many thanks.
Is it any wonder one tries to read as many of your comments as possible.
Intel intel intel.
The "Road to 9/11" ABC production showed head of the CIA Tennent to be a blithering a-hole without any, that is, any, intel on the ground. What a fool !
Intel, intel, intel - right there among the headbangers, where it is needed.
(maybe Ibrahim can later claim he was a mole for the CIA)
Fine piece Hugh.
OT sorta,,, but I hope Choc turns up here.
A good site against the 9/11 conspiracy theories.
(shame we even have to mention this!)
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/11818067/the_low_post_the_hopeless_stupidity_of_911_conspiracies/print
Choc is here
I dont believe in conspiracies in that it was Osama inspired and carried out by Jihadi fundamentalist, my only theory, remember theory i dont say it is true but it is possible is that at least Mossad if not the Cia knew of something about to happen.
Maybe they did not know of flying into buildings but come off it they must have known something perhaps they thought there would just be your average hijackings.
In fact was there not a report in the Sunday herald about a team of mossad agents on top of a building on 9/11 filming or something. I will post the link soon.
this newspaper is american and these agents were deported after some time.
Dont get me wrong I dont believe the US had anything to do with it, just the merest possibility that knew something was going to happen and they could use it to their advantage.
Like the discovery of a new enemy.
The devil is in the details.
As is so often the case in criminal organizations, a foot-soldier is not to graduate into the inner sanctum unless he has proven his bonafides. That usually means participation in a lessor atrocity before he is to be privy to the greater atrocity that is his mission to uncover.
Do we allow an informant to kill innocents in order to establish his bona fides?
A new enemy in the sense that communism was defeated, helped in a little way by the mujahideen in Afghanistan whowere supported and basically maintained by the US government.
You lot created them, so now deal with them.
The twentieth century probably saw the least killings by muslims in the name of Allah. the killings that were there were for political ends.
choc,
You try to place the seed of doubt when you say that the CIA and the Mossad knew something and didn't tell it.
But we are aware of who is the enemy that we are facing and we all know that the main characteristic of Islam is never acknowledging direct responsibility.
Islam tries always to keep a good image and always blames others for the evil and misery it causes.
You are a good follower of that bearded snake Tariq Ramadan, whom Hugh quotes in his last paragraph.
Islam first sends the terrorists to do us harm, next it sends the smooth talkers like you, in order to create confusion in our ranks.
Well, they should find those who have suffered from within Islam, or whose families have done so. Think of Berbers who might be disaffected from Islam because of the Arab supremacist ideology. Or Kurds. Or a Hindu who might have been driven out of Bangladesh, and who, properly schooled, might be able to pass as a Muslim. Think of Arabic-speaking Jews. Think of the pool of Christians from the Middle East -- Maronites, or Copts, or an Armenian from Haleb or Beirut, who suffered along with other Christians during the Civil War. A Christian from the Moluccas, whose village was attacked by Muslims. Find these people. Train them, slowly. Give them the kind of training in Islam that the KGB used to provide for spies going to the West -- you know, with those mock-American cities, and every detail of the New York Subway system, not to mention what Yogi Berra or Jimmy Durante said, by way of preparation.
The time for all of this is gone. Yes, the efforts specified here should be started (for they a moribund "efforts" now inside the CIA and State) but they will do no good.
The immediate solution is to educate the free people, which means the Americans, Australians, Brits, and maybe the Kiwis. The rest are too far gone.
Dealing with the steamy intra-Dar al Islam brew is worst than useless at this point. They are gone. This aint't the Soviet Union.
What must happen now is that the remnants of Western Civilization --- and I explicitly exclude the EU nations here as already gone --- to assert themselves in terms of Section 3 Article 2 legislation, en masse expulsions, trade barriers, and foreign military actions (bomb Persia).
Fighting Islamic Jihad is like fighting any well organized criminal organization, a street gang ruled from the top, sometimes from prison where the generals are already incarcerated but still pulling the strings outside. To break this vicious military cult will take as much skill if not more than cracking mega prison gangs. The devotion of loyalty is what these gangs demand, unswervingly from their soldiers, to go and kill when ordered to. Informers, insiders, infiltration, is only part of strategy for undoing these criminal Jihadi gangs. It will also take deprograming, the kind used against cult members who are trapped inside the gang system. Trouble here is this is the oldest gang on the planet, now going on some 1350 plus years of control, murder, and something no other gangs had yet been able to perfect, the suicide killers. Breaking the mega gangs of Jihad will be a major challenge of intelligence and force. The military with all its might is ill prepared to face these gangs. Perhaps better to employ local gang busters are the city and state levels to map out strategy. Forget the religion, go for the gangs.
What should the security services do?
First they need to be educated about what Islam is and the kind of mortal threat it represents to non-muslim societies. The lack of knowledge within the security services and bureaucracy is the main hurdle. Here the peoples of kafir lands can make a big difference. Everyone has to do their part in educating our fellow infidels. Donate a few books to the libraries. Send a few to your politicians, government offices, troops, .......
"Well, they should find those who have suffered from within Islam, or whose families have done so. Think of Berbers who might be disaffected from Islam because of the Arab supremacist ideology. Or Kurds. Or a Hindu who might have been driven out of Bangladesh, and who, properly schooled, might be able to pass as a Muslim. Think of Arabic-speaking Jews. Think of the pool of Christians from the Middle East -- Maronites, or Copts, or an Armenian from Haleb or Beirut, who suffered along with other Christians during the Civil War. A Christian from the Moluccas, whose village was attacked by Muslims. Find these people."
You rightly criticize the current selection of security services, but not everyone who has suffered under Islam will turn against it. There are many dhimmis among the victims. Take the case of Hindus of Bangladesh. They have been hounded out of their homeland, yet they will feel more comfortable supporting communist causes than their fellow Hindus in India, and they buy into the leftist concocted reasons for what happened to them. The leadership of Communist Party of India is filled with the refugees from East Pakistan/Bangladesh. Or the Maronites, many of whom are conflicted between their Christian and Arab identities, and wouldn't turn against the PLO till it was too late because they wanted to remain loyal to the "Arab causes". Even among those who fled to the US, you will find more Jim Zogby types who identify themselves as Arabs (and promote "Arab causes") than Christian Arabs. That is not to say that they won't find a few willing souls among the victims, only that they have to be very cautious about their choice, and that requires an understanding of the Islam whose application resulted in the grievances.
"They get a new Arab name and a secret decoder ring"
LMAO
Unfortunately, when our "intelligence" [sic] services want a few good Arab language speakers, readers, and writers, they prefer "real"--that is Moslem--Arabs to Jews who are native Arabic speakers and are as fluent in the langauge as any Arab Moslem.
Why is that?
As these translators, undercover operatives or whatever will have to work alongside "real" Arabs and Moslems, there might be a conflict if those disparaged by Mohammed join the ranks of the service.
Perhaps the people doing the hiring feel that Arab-speaking Jews cannot be trusted (because they might care about Israel) While Moslem Arabs, Pakistanis, and others can be trusted because they are loyal to our "allies" that are our communication lines with the Arab/Moslem world: Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Jordan, and --who knows--"Palestinians" (who have heretofore been armed and trained by the CIA [ostensibly to contain the "militant" elements among the "Palestinian" population]). [This, we know is a joke, as with allies like the Saudis and Pakis and Jordanians, you need not look far for enemies.]
The Arab-leaning culture of State cannot be changed--too much Arab money flowing into American pockets.
Therefore, I fear that things will not change unless the "big one" hits the fan. I along with everyone else here (except for some who know who they are) hope that it won't (hit the fan). So, merrily we roll along, roll along . . .
Look at her, there she flies, Alice under moving skies.
(Makes about as much sense as anything else that's going on)
I am ready to sign up..
Battle_of_Tours,
I agree that these guys are working as gangs.
In my country the salafi gang has taken over the textile retail business and are moving in and taking over other businesses too.
Follow the money to the oil wells in Arabia. The west has to deal with the oil situation (and the books of course) if they want an end to the Jihad.
Damn...Hugh, you've really outdone yourself with this latest essay. Dead serious yet drop-dead hilarious in parts as well. And I almost didn't need to consult my dictionary to understand it fully. (except for Durkheim's Anomie).
Keep it up.
Hugh-
That first part of your comment is very insightful re the immature nature of the Jihad mind. For the joiners, everything becomes clear all at once with membership in Our Gang, meaning is found in the collective, significance given to drab lives, and someone or some group can be pointed to to blame for every personal failure. It's magic. I suspect Mohammad was much like Hitler in knowing how to exploit empty lives devoid of a reality based reason for living. The followers enter a make-believe world where the belief-system is treated as fact.
For children, treating beliefs as fact is normal to their developing immature mind. For an adult, treating beliefs as fact is mental illness. It's also delusional to call beliefs treated as fact "religion". They are only beliefs-not facts.
"Make-believe" is cute with a child but sick with grown men. Much of Islam is filled with grown men who are mentally ill.
infiltrate, document, create confusion, create distrust among enemy leaders,create diversions,identify most valuable targets,ambush,kill (no arrests, please),create internal division, indentify and disrupt terrorist plans for terrorist operations.
If certain information is gathered identifying state sponsored terrorist activity, then use that information to devise appropriate action to take against the regime of the states sponsoring terrorist activity. (could be economical, political or military response).
Security forces should be used to detect and neutralize the threat before an attack happens instead of just being a response unit to be used after the attack.
First strike capability remains top priority.
Yesterday I came across a guy who calls himself Al, a cleric withe the Church of What's Happening Now. They believe in Unicorns. He told me I have two choices on the matter. I'm paying the protection money.
Should the U.S. actually have the sense to create a HUMINT group capable of penetrating Islam, the last people we would want to be involved is the CIA.
In Kenneth Timmerman's book Countdown to Crisis, he tells of an Iranian intelligence officer named Hamid Reza Zakeri. Zakeri walked into the U.S. embassy in Baku, Azerbaijan, and asked to speak to the CIA.
The CIA sent an expert named"George". Zakeri showed George an organizational chart of Section 110, which George called ridiculous, because the CIA had never heard of it. This is preposterous, George said. There is going to be a big attack on America on the twentieth of Sharivar
(10 September), Zakeri insisted. That's the date my boss told us to be ready. Six people who have trained as pilots have just left Iran. This was two months prior to 9/11. Thanks to "CIA George" and his bosses back in Langly, Zakeri's warnings were never taken seriously.
Considering the 9/11 Commission's and America's reaction to this book,no one has bothered to look beyond the obvious.
Excellent essay, Hugh, couldn't have said it better.
The point you make about American arms is one I've tried to make before. Yes, we Americans have excellent arms, but this is a war where arms are only part of the arsenal. Islamists have been very skilled at Dawa, at recruiting and using todays hi-tech communications. It can be said they are winning the propaganda war, along with their willing acomplices on the Left, convincing many in the West that the US and Israel are the demons and preventing recognition of the Islamist threat.
Elaboration on the offer from Al:
Yesterday I came across a guy who calls himself Al, a cleric withe the Church of What's Happening Now. They believe in Unicorns. He told me I have two choices on the matter. I'm paying the protection money.
I had told Al I did not believe in Unicorns, that I was a member of Spaghetti Grows on Trees Mosque, that I believe spaghetti grows on trees. Al said no problem, that the Holy Kook-ran of the Church of What's Happening Now permitted me protection as a Person of the Cook Book and that I would be alright as long as I paid the Ronzoni Noodle tax. However, he warned me that there's a guy named Frank who says people who treat beliefs as facts are mentally ill. He said he's a regular Kookranaphobe, to keep a sharp eye out for him. I told him I'd be sure to do that.