CIA director John Brennan is at it again—equivocating over the nature of jihad by evoking paradigms familiar to the West.
Last Tuesday, “during an event at the Council of Foreign Relations, Brennan was asked about the ‘war of ideas’ surrounding Islam, which the questioner said many Americans tend to equate with violence.”
The CIA chief responded by saying that al-Qaeda’s ideology is “a perverse and very corrupt interpretation of the Qur’an”; that “al-Qaeda has hijacked” Islam; that “they have really distorted the teachings of Muhammad.”
Even so, “that ideology, that agenda of al-Qaeda,” confirmed Brennan, “has gained resonance and following in many parts of the world.”
So what is the CIA chief’s explanation as to why such a “perverse and very corrupt” understanding of Islam—one that has “distorted the teachings of Muhammad”— resonates among Muslims?
He gives none—other than to say that this ideology is “fed a lot of times by, you know, political repression, by economic, you know, disenfranchisement, by, you know, lack of education and ignorance, so there—there are a number of phenomena right now that I think are fueling the fires of, you know, this ideology.”
Interestingly, if you watch the video clip of Brennan talking, you will note that he only “you knows” in the above quotation (four times) and right before it, when he says that al-Qaeda has “distorted the teachings of Muhammad, you know, for violent purposes.”
The rest of his talk is relatively smooth.
Could Brennan be self-conscious of his own equivocations—hence all these stilted “you knows” in one sentence?
Could he be aware of the Rand Corporation report on counterterrorism, prepared for the Office of the Secretary of Defense in 2009? It found that “Terrorists are not particularly impoverished, uneducated, or afflicted by mental disease. Demographically, their most important characteristic is normalcy (within their environment). Terrorist leaders actually tend to come from relatively privileged backgrounds.”
At any rate, this is all déjà vu… Keep reading
Wellington says
Injustices, economics (gone awry) and ignorance exist aplenty in Christian, Buddhist, Hindu, animist, etc. societies. Why then don’t such societies approximate the terrorism that emanates from Islamic societies? John Brennan, fool that he is (or even worse, someone complicit), will never address this point. Never.
thomas_h says
“Why then don’t such societies approximate the terrorism that emanates from Islamic societies?”
A powerful argument, Welington!
“John Brennan, fool that he is (or even worse, someone complicit), will never address this point. Never.”
If he had he would have never got the job.
Wellington says
Hello, thomas_h. Always good to see you post here at JW. Hope you are well, my friend.
Peter Buckley says
A few years back, a British jihadi, Hassan Butt, publicly admitted that it wasn’t perceived “injustices” against muslims that was driving terrorism, but “Islamic theology”. He said it:
“When I was still a member of what is probably best termed the British Jihadi Network, a series of semi-autonomous British Muslim terrorist groups linked by a single ideology, I remember how we used to LAUGH IN CELEBRATION whenever people on TV proclaimed that the sole cause for Islamic acts of terror like 9/11, the Madrid bombings and 7/7 was Western foreign policy.
By blaming the government for our actions, those who pushed the ‘Blair’s bombs’ line did our propaganda work for us. More important, they also helped to draw away any critical examination from the real engine of our violence: ISLAMIC THEOLOGY.”
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/jul/01/comment.religion1
Maybe someone could forward this article to the dhimmi John Brennan. Who knows…he might actually learn something…….
Bezelel says
I think it’s insane that someone can peddle B.S. that obvious and still keep his job. A Fish rots from the head down,”You Know”
mortimer says
When Obama security adviser John Brennan was sworn into office as chief of the Central Intelligence Agency, he put his hand not on a Bible, but on a copy of the Constitution – before it included the Bill of Rights. We can safely assume he is not a Christian. What is he?
Chances are, the rumor is correct? Who can find out?
dumbledoresarmy says
Brennan’s own organisation has been white-anted; and it happened in 2006.
See here.
http://www.newenglishreview.org/blog_direct_link.cfm/blog_id/41263
Sunday, 25 March 2012
“Chief of the CIA’s Counterterrorism Center is a Convert to Islam”
“…Since becoming chief, Roger has worked for two presidents, four CIA directors and four directors of national intelligence…”.
The fox is inside the henhouse, bigtime.
Inchoate says
Re:
““…Since becoming chief, Roger has worked for two presidents, four CIA directors and four directors of national intelligence…”.
The fox is inside the henhouse, bigtime.”
If he survived the Washingtonian nasty political bureaucratic infighting of two presidents, four CIA Directors and four Directors of National Intelligence……hmmmm, then “Roger” must be a pretty good man to have embedded inside that henhouse out there in the wilds of Nawthun [phonetic accent simulation] Virginia.
….really? Then, maybe we need more such irascible, gruff, chain smoking foxes exactly like him [this anonymous “Roger”] if he engineered the killing of Osama binLaden and convinced the then Director to cease notifying our “ally” Pakistan of impending drone strikes, enabling them to move things around, and then he even increased the number of our drone strikes against alQaeda nesting so snugly there in Pakistan, our ostensible “ally”.
Frankly, I’m surprised at this sub rosa quasi-favorable, back-handed compliment to “Roger” even appearing in the Washington Post, which has a very sniffey holier-than-thou-and-everybody attitude towards our secretive ops.
Engineered the killing of Osama, eh? My kind of man.
Inchoate says
Post Script…..
…after a suitable interval, ponder the Damocles’ Sword implication of this paste from the article….
“…and making decisions on who the agency should target in lethal strikes — all while knowing that the CTC director will be among the first to face blame if there is another attack on U.S. soil.”
Would you, Dear Reader be able to survive that 24/7 responsibility? ….year after year? No wonder he smokes cigarettes. Send him a carton of his favorite brand.
That’s what Abraham Lincoln is said to have quipped about the whisky drinkin’, irascible Union General U.S. Grant, “An apocryphal story about Grant’s drinking has the general’s critics going to President Abraham Lincoln, charging the military man with being a drunk. Lincoln is supposed to have replied, “By the way, gentlemen, can either of you tell me where General Grant procures his whiskey ? Because, if I can find out, I will send every general in the field a barrel of it!”[4]”
….end paste.
Inchoate says
Post Script #2
After another decent interval, ponder this:
“He [ our mysterious ‘Roger’ here] presides over a campaign that has killed thousands of Islamist militants and angered millions of Muslims, but he is himself a convert to Islam.
His defenders don’t even try to make him sound likable. Instead, they emphasize his operational talents, encyclopedic understanding of the enemy …”
pasted from,
“Chief of the CIA’s Counterterrorism Center is a Convert to Islam Bookmark and Share
What, me worry? Greg Miller writes in the Washington Post:”
harridan says
good god… just look at the picture of ahemnnn, the CIA director, brennen…. 2 fingers poking the air…. i just want to wake up from this nightmare!!!
Kepha says
Look no further than this to understand why US foreign policy is so utterly futile. The best Brennan can do is come up with a hackneyed old cliche to explain why there is is terrorism. Sheer boilerplate, no new ideas, no willingness to re-assess or reconsider a position become virtues rather than signs of bureaucratic timidity and inertia.