| FrontPageMag.com | By Robert Spencer | By Hugh Fitzgerald | Books | Jihad Watch | Islam 101 | Qur'an Blog | Raymond Ibrahim | Robert Spencer |  |
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Jihad Watch Board Vice President Hugh Fitzgerald suggests some courses of action for the intelligence community:
How fares the C.I.A. with the jihad?Mr. Scheuer, he of pseudo-“Anonymous” fame, who was supposedly “in charge” of the Bin Laden desk, was clearly not up to the task. Instead of low cunning, he offered a kind of Boy Scoutish, or rather Cub Scoutish, simplemindedness, and clearly understood nothing about the theory and practice of Islam. His every remark showed this. Yet apparently he was kept on for many years. The C.I.A. needs to have a cadre created, or expanded, of people who will be given the necessary leisure to read widely in the history of Islam -- and particularly to learn something about its teachings, and about Jihad-conquest, and about the very similar treatment, through time and space, of non-Muslims under Muslim rule. They then need to be trained in the fissures, or disgruntlements, within Islam itself. They need to learn as well about the points of obvious weakness that can be emphasized to non-Muslims all over the world, who are grossly underinformed about the nature of Islam.
One hopes that the C.I.A. is not pulling any punches about Islam. If it echoes the nonsense from the government about the “extremists” in Islam, and continues to offer a sanitized version of Islam instead of the Ibn Warraq or Ali Sina version, then there is not much to expect from those on whom we rely for our own security, and from whom we have a right to expect at least as hard-eyed a view as was taken by the secret services of America and England with the Nazis and then with the Communists. All pieties, all vagueness, all denial of reality, really have no place, whatever role they may have in public diplomacy (and it has been a grave error to define the current, and continuing, and endless but manageable conflict as a “war on terrorism” instead of as a “war against the Jihad”). And even the latter formulation, while much saner and more realistic, needs to be amplified: the Jihad has many instruments, and the three D’s -- Da’wa, demography, and dhimmitude -- are more potent, in the end, than intermittent terrorism.
Does the C.I.A. possess a sufficient number of agents who understand this? Is it making use of those who have an intimate knowledge both of Islam, and of all the techniques of those who form the small army of apologists of Islam? What use is made of Maronite, Copt, or Jewish native speakers of Arabic? What use is made of other secret services with longer experience in the relevant areas, including the French and Russian and British and Israeli intelligence services?Where is the John Roy Carlson (author of “Under Cover”) who will infiltrate various Muslim groups and write a story that will electrify a mass audience? Or are the mass audiences that once existed now so jaded, or so unused to reading, or so unwilling to recognize that a world war is now upon us that is quite unlike any that has ever before occurred? So unlike earlier wars, in fact, that it is difficult to recognize the fact that it has actually been underway for a long time -- but only since 1973 have a concatenation of events begun to bring the conflict to a head, although few realized in ’73 or thereafter what was really happening. These events include, but are not limited to: $8-$10 trillion in oil revenues to Muslim OPEC states; the large-scale unopposed movement of millions of Muslims into Infidel countries; the redefinition of the Arab siege of Israel as a “struggle between two tiny peoples, etc.” or, still worse, a “struggle” by the “Palestinian people” against “occupation.” (Not one of the words or phrases can withstand critical scrutiny, but repetition has pushed them into our hapless consciousnesses.) Combine all that with the clever use of “islamochristian” Arabs as front men (Naim Ateek, Hilarion Cappucci, Hanan Ashrawi), who all help to obscure the real nature of the “Palestinian” and Arab and Muslim hatred of Israel, not as an “occupier” but rather, as an Infidel sovereign state -- and, what is more, one that is on land that was once clearly part of dar al-Islam (though that should not console those of us who live on land that never was dar al-Islam, for the entire world ultimately must belong to Allah and to his People; no other result is possible). Then there is the widespread use of Arab oil money to buy influence among politicians, diplomats, C.I.A. agents, journalists, public relations experts, and others, all of whom with great success have helped conceal from the peoples of Europe and America the tenets and history of Islam. This money has helped to keep tied up in knots even the most modest of efforts to limit, for example, the use of Saudi money to pay for mosques and madrasas all over the Western world, and to promote the spread not only of Islam, but of that version which is even more virulent than the others (although this should not be interpreted, as some have, to suggest that “only” Wahhabi Islam is the problem, because we have only to look at the Shi’a in southern Lebanon or Iran to see otherwise).
One hopes that the C.I.A. itself has not been infiltrated. The most important task is that of pedagogy. The C.I.A. has to have people who will be able to fully inform themselves, and not to worry constantly about a lawsuit from CAIR or similar groups. Certain home truths have to be understood and communicated. Those entrusted with the task of protecting and instructing us cannot allow themselves to be inhibited in the slightest by those whose loyalties are with Islam and with the Jihad to spread the power and dominance of Islam, however it is pursued.
Posted by Robert at December 17, 2005 8:58 AM
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The CIA has to some degree infiltrated Al-Qaeda but like you stated, it may only have been an effort focused on thwarting attacks on Western troops and interests.
"...The agents -- Afghans, Pakistanis, Uzbeks, and others recruited and run by CIA case officers -- "are more senior than the agents [the US had] three years ago who were on the periphery," the official said.
"Aided by these agents, electronic intercepts, satellite imagery, and extensive help from foreign intelligence services, the United States during the past two years has captured or killed two-thirds of bin Laden's top aides and broken up plots against US embassies, US and foreign aircraft and ships, and other targets worldwide."
One would be hard pressed to think the recruits don't have a clue about "the three D’s" but their superiors are less concerned about anything but the immediate threat. Not much of a procactive strategy if that is the case.
Posted by: XRDC![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.jihadwatch.org/dhimmiwatch/nav-commenters.gif)
at December 17, 2005 9:40 AM
I'll wager a hundred bucks al Qaeda / Islam has the FBI and CIA better infiltrated than the other way around. The CIA is too easy because there's a daily leak in every major newspaper.
at December 17, 2005 9:56 AM
To contact the CIA:
By email:
https://comm.cia.gov/cgi/comment_form.cgi
By postal mail:
Central Intelligence Agency
Office of Public Affairs
Washington, D.C. 20505
By phone:
(703) 482-0623
7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., US Eastern time
There are many JW/DW posters, far more articulate than I, who should consider providing them with factual points of view.
I have emailed them with the following list of pedagogical sites:
JihadWatch.org
DhimmiWatch.org
FaithFreedom.org
Other posters can provide them with additonal site addresses, and I'm sure that one of Hugh's insightful letter's would catch their attention.
I've already purchased several copies of the PIG as Christmas gifts to relatives, so perhaps someone could donate a copy, by mail, to the above address.
at December 17, 2005 10:08 AM
I personally am not educated in the ways of Islam. I do read a little though and I do understand the concept of dhimmitude. That alone has made me wary of Islam (which prefer to call Mohammedanism just because it is not politically correct). I will come to this site often to be kept up to date.
Posted by: Theway2k at December 17, 2005 10:15 AM
Right on,Hugh.
Posted by: tsweeney at December 17, 2005 10:51 AM
Bravo Hugh, another manifesto that clearly lays out the current state of the world, our governments lack of response and the publics depth of Ignorance.
Brilliant! I will add it to the arsenal of your other great posts, from which I try to reach those that should know.
Pedagogy, indeed, a message for the world's survival.
Posted by: El Cid at December 17, 2005 11:06 AM
Once again, Hugh ignores the powerful, and powerfully crippling, effects of our PC culture.
When he mentions the 3 D's -- Dawa, demography, and dhimmitude -- he fails to note that dhimmitude is largely self-imposed, by our PC culture.
It is our self-imposed PC dhimmitude that is making the other 2 D's the enormously and insidiously growing problem they are. Had we the mind and heart of yesteryear, neither Dawa nor demography would be spreading their tentacles to the extent they are now. We would have been putting a stop to it, in the clear light of public day, without dragging our crippled PC limbs about in a fucking sleepwalking daze as we are.
And had we the mind and heart of yesteryear, we would have already been waking up to Jihad years before 911, and 911 would have been the spark that galvanized us to take the many rational measures that are still, at this ridiculously late date, in the shameful closet at best, or unthinkable because they contradict the PC dogmas.
at December 17, 2005 11:33 AM
The Plamegate story forever destroyed my confidence in the CIA. The agency may not be infiltrated by jihadists, but it is clear that radical leftists are running amok there. When an agency of the federal government colludes to bring down the sitting U.S. government, and when it provides endless leaks to the press in support of that goal, then it is not protecting me, my family, or the civilization in which we live and wish to continue to live.
The CIA should be done away with and replaced with a new agency with all new people. Since that is not likely to happen, we need to focus on educating (to the Islamist threat) the officer corps of the U.S. military.
The intellectual rot in the CIA, State Department, and Washington in general is breathtaking. The military services are the only reliable protectors of our way of life. Contrary to the infantile popular caricatures of military life, theirs is the most open-minded institution in the federal government, appreciative of the ideals and accomplishments of western civilization, and dedicated to its preservation. As the officers move through the ranks, fresh with combat experience against the jihadists, and from there into industry, business, and government, their influence will help stem the tide of the Islamic assault on the west and on civilization in general.
at December 17, 2005 12:01 PM
"As the officers move through the ranks, fresh with combat experience against the jihadists, and from there into industry, business, and government, their influence will help stem the tide of the Islamic assault on the west and on civilization in general."
-- from a posting above
One of the best things to come from the Iraq adventure is not what happens to Iraq, but the experience -- not necessarily combat experience -- of half-a-million or more American soldiers. They will have seen, up close, a Muslim society. The rumors, the conspiracy theories, the hopeless inshallah-fatalism, the childlike greed, the ingratitude toward Infidels, the distinct difference in the views of non-Arab Muslims who possess another identity and the views of Arab Muslims for whom Islam, and "Arabness," are everything, the belief and desire and initial demand that Iraq be transformed, overnight, by American acts, into America, and all the other things that one can observe elsewhere in Dar al-Islam, but are most obvious, because most prnounced, in the Arab countries of the Middle East.
Posted by: Hugh at December 17, 2005 12:19 PM
Stendec:
Able Danger was proof enough to support your belief that a military run operation could me much more effective than the bureaucratically diluted CIA.
There is enough open source information out there as well that has not been tapped into.
Hugh:
Great points about our the insights our troops are gaining in Iraq and Afghanistan. The challenge will be keeping them enlisted or at least working in government positions after their enlistment is up.
Posted by: XRDC at December 17, 2005 1:32 PM
How can the CIA be reformed in a vacuum?
The White House, academe, the MSM, and nearly every other fabric of our culture calls for deference to Islam. Let's call it the Order of Obsequiousness.
So then, how would an agency renowned for laziness and disloyalty emerge into a position of practical leadership?
SWT SWT SWT SWT SWT SWT SWT SWT SWT SWT SWT SWT SWT SWT SWT SWT SWT SWT
IMNSHO, our only hope sits within the walls of the Pentagon and our three military academies.
Posted by: Alarmed Pig Farmer at December 17, 2005 1:46 PM
How fares the F.B.I. with the jihad? I think we should be equally concerned about that. After 9-11, the revelations of bureaucratic incompetence in the F.B.I. were revealed. Then came the exposure of the "wall" that prevented the sharing of information between intelligence agencies, which is about to be re-erected if the Patriot Act is not renewed. What is wrong with our elected leaders?! How many egregious abuses of the Patriot Act have occurred, not counting the arrests of a few "innocent" muslims who were either financing jihad or were actively involved in it?
The F.B.I. is crippled by political correctness and layers of bureaucracy that inhibit expeditious action against suspected terrorists and their supporters. In addition, it has been infiltrated by seditious muslims who refuse to perform their duties when fellow muslims are being investigated. It is only logical to assume that muslim F.B.I. agents are warning muslim suspects about potential investigations, and thwarting efforts to disable terror cells within the U.S. No muslim should be trusted as a translator, yet our security has been placed in their hands.
Political correctness and relativism are the most insidious concepts to ever contaminate our society. There is a gaping chasm between relativism and tolerance but to many dimwits, they are synonomous. There are far too many dimwits in positions of power and influence in this country and they hail from the liberal camp, the conservative camp, and everywhere in between.
The relativist is deluded by the presumption that all people, religions, and cultures are equal and there is no conflict among equals. He rejects contradiction and competition because true and false, good and evil are either identical or nonexistent. The noble concept of tolerance becomes horribly distorted, resulting in the tolerance of intolerance; i.e. Islam. Americans are the most tolerant people in the world, but nobody should tolerate intolerance. I pity people who lack the wisdom to discern between good and evil, but I also detest them because their self-righteous ignorance threatens us all.
at December 17, 2005 3:15 PM
Beagle sez:
"...I'll wager a hundred bucks al Qaeda / Islam has the FBI and CIA better infiltrated than the other way around..."
I'll double that!
Posted by: sheik yer'mami at December 17, 2005 3:56 PM
"The challenge will be keeping them enlisted or at least working in government positions after their enlistment is up."
-- from a posting above
This is a matter that should get Congressional attention. A cadre of officers and men who have returned from these places, who deserve to be supported in further study in fields related to Islam in some way, whether it is Middle Eastern studies, Ottoman studies, dhimmi studies, the study of comparative religion, the relations of Islam and the West or Islam and the non-Muslim world. But such study will be meaningless if conducted at such places as Georgetown and Columbia, given their present faculty members and courses. Perhaps some universities will meet the requirements, or perhaps the government can set up its own institutes, or give fellowships directly to all those who served in Iraq or Afghanistan (regular army, Reservists, National Guard), which fellowships, to make sense, should cover the costs of doctoral and even sometimes post-doctoral study, and should be portable -- that is, awarded to the student who may use it one institution and then, should that institution prove to be toeing the Esposito-Dabashi-Khalidi line, the student can withdraw and continue his studies elsewhee, thereby punishing those schools that continue to treat all matters pertaining to Islam as the untouchable fiefdoms of MESA Nostra.
And here is one more suggestion. Federal grants to universities should be pegged to criteria that will assure, in certain areas, such as the teaching of literature and history, a certain number of veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan. Why should such a requirement be instituted? Because the Federal government has a stake in creating, and finding positions for, people who have understood Islam. And those who served in Iraq and Afghanistan are less likely to find nourishing the thin gruel offered by the assorted espositos (a word that should be elevated to a pejorative epithet), and to want the real think -- Fattal, Schacht, Snouck Hurgronje, Abel, Fagnan, Tisdall, and so on. To get university administrations and departments to pay attention to this perfectly reasonable desire, the government should require all institutional recipients of Federal money to have a certain minimum number of veterans on the faculty. This would also, not unsurprisingly, likely lead to a better ideological mix on campuses.
Can this be done? Sure, if Congress is alerted, and if the proposal is presented as not the usual kind of veterans' preference, but a sensible measure to make sure that everyone understands that training in so-called "critical languages" is less important than training in "critical fields," made up of those fields -- in history and other departments -- where Islam is a major part of the study.
Who will craft the legislation, and who will introduce it? There is no reason to limit this to Republicans. Everyone claims to be a friend of the servicemen, of the veterans of these campaigns. And everyone claims that we need to "understand" the situation better. Fine. The most appropriate pool of candidates for academic life, and also for the C.I.A., the F.B.I, and other security services, consists of all those who served, as soldiers, Marines, as officers and men, in Iraq and Afghanistan.
If qualified, they should benefit from some kind of government program intended to force open the departments that long ago were conquered and seized by MESA Nostra's army of apologists
Such a policy, discussed, brought to the attention of the universities, their Presidents, their Development Offices, their relevant department heads, will have a salutary effect.
Posted by: Hugh at December 17, 2005 4:02 PM
Hugh-
Why do I have a feeling that “FBI Senior Agent in Charge” will add to the recruits learning by calling in the local CAIR representative for sensitivity training?
The culture in our governmental agencies has to change from the top down. Merely recruiting and raising up “next generation” leaders will lose momentum unless it is properly directed by the top of the chain.
Momentum is propelled or lost at the point of assignment. Kind of like a "squid" fresh out of bootcamp, reporting to his ship only to find out it's not much more than a job on a boat.
Posted by: XRDC at December 17, 2005 4:47 PM
Thousands and thousands and thousands of military officers and men served at numerous bases throughout the Middle East during and since the first Gulf War.
Most have since retired or left the service. And many of those have gone on to college and professional positions.
Those who remained are now mid and upper level officers and enlisted personnel -- today's leaders and policy makers.
Even today, many of the thousands and thousands and thousands who've who've recently served in Afghanistan and Iraq have also retired or left the service. And many of them are in colleges right now.
I can't help but think that they've by now begun to express their experience based knowledge of Islam and the mindset of the Middle Eastern Muslims they've personally crossed paths with.
PRCS
USN (Retired)
at December 17, 2005 4:48 PM
PRCS-
If they keep their heads about them amidst PC college professors and student groups, as it appears you have, then we may be getting somewhere. Now they just need to be placed into "decision-making" positions to initiate change.
BTW...Thank you for your service.
Posted by: XRDC at December 17, 2005 4:57 PM
The FBI/CIA were destroyed by 8years of clintonian acts of kindness. like you cant' deal with the bad guys to get information.
the wall that was put by a clintonian appointee, who was on the 9-11 commission.. someone from the CIA has been leaking the the NYTimes... like the secret prisons for terrorist, just recently about the government intercepting on emails, phones calls within the US, now they have not renewed the "Patriot Act", the FBI has been . l you have a former State Dept lacky who quit, and now wrote a book claiming that Bush and Cheney have taken over the State Dept.. yeah elected officals should have no say over bureacrats! its bad enough that you have an enemy to deal with, but when your own government officials are looking to destroy the president, that cant see the country will suffer as well!
at December 17, 2005 6:33 PM
Whatever its failings the CIA is not useless.
Read "The CIA AT WAR" (I can't remember the author as someone loaned me the book)
Their success stories in the fight against terrorism of course never reach the MSM.
But then that is okay > why broadcast what they are doing and how.
Posted by: learjet0450 at December 17, 2005 6:38 PM
Hugh - What do you think of this new DOD counter-intelligence analysis shop, as reported by Paul Sperry on 12/14/05 in Frontpage Magazine (http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=20539)?
If the report is accurate I think it is a very hopeful sign.
Posted by: MarcH at December 18, 2005 12:43 AM
Susanup, excellent post, you have put into word many of the observations and thoughts that I have about the matter - we have put our safety into the hands of many Muslims of whom we can never be sure.
Many non-Muslim people on the front-lines, have admitted to me, that they are always looking over their shoulders with some of their Muslim colleagues they do not trust.
Unfortunately, I fear, it will take a tragedy or a real breach of security for something to be done about it!
Posted by: El Cid at December 18, 2005 2:13 AM
"What do you think of this new DOD counter-intelligence analysis shop, as reported by Paul Sperry..."
-- from a posting above
What could I possibly think? I hope it's true.
Posted by: Hugh at December 18, 2005 10:48 PM
Debbie Schlussel reports on her site that the FBI took a very cavalier attitude toward a death threat that she received from a Muslim living in the USA.
So the FBI needs a lot of renovation too.
at December 19, 2005 6:14 AM
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