Making Sense of Jihad

How are we fighting the global jihad?

Why, with government programs.

CRS recently released a report summarizing the national security community’s current response to the terrorist threat, including a wide range of programs:

Antiterrorism Assistance and Terrorism and Crime Programs
Assistance to Victims Programs
Counterterrorism Research and Development Program
Diplomatic Security Program
Options for Program Enhancement

An Open Letter to CAIR: Gentlemen, Save Abdul Rahman

Dear Sirs,

I will be honest and blunt with you, my adversaries:  if you do not save Abdul Rahman, your long term plans to “convert” the West to Islam come to an end.  I notice that you have taken the right stand on the issue, but you’re going to have to do more than just post a press release.  You are going to have to save Abdul Rahman. 

The mainstream and leftist media may not provide the appropriate analysis of the situation, and so let me enlighten you a bit.  Every major newspaper and media outlet in the world (and many bloggers) is covering Abdul Rahman's persecution.  It is a stark and telling event that, unfortunately for you, the secular press is unable muddle and gloss over, like they can do in Iraq or the Palestinian Territories.  The issue is too fundamental for pretentious nuance, and though some among the secular media probably have no idea why any of this is going on, Christians know precisely why it’s happening, and have no problem calling this what it is: martyrdom. Since our definitions of martyrdom are different, let me give you the Christian one: a martyr is one who dies at the hands of others for the sake of the Truth of the Trinitarian God.

If Abdul Rahman is martyred –before the scrutiny of the international media – this will end every pretense that Islam is a religion of peace and tolerance.  You’re already losing the fight with reports like this. Our leaders will be unable to evoke “peace” and Islam  in the same sentence without losing credibility among other (and, quite frankly, more important) constituents, and there’ll be greater public pressure to reject the integration of Islamic opinion into the public discourse, ie. fewer speaking engagements.  The full weight of secular ideologies are no match to the simple act of faith in the face of intimidation and the threat of death.  And though you like to attend interfaith conferences and give presentations at Unitarian “churches,” I can say with honesty that your current efforts at public da’wah will come to an end.

Please don’t fool yourselves into thinking this will “blow over.”  "Small," dignified protests supported and covered by bloggers like Michelle Malkin, may not garner much mainstream attention, but I believe I can speak for many Christians when I say that I can identify with this man, and will not forget his suffering any time soon.  A sincere Christian is suffering persecution, and possible martyrdom, during Lent -- Christianity’s most sacred season -- itself filled with references to suffering and martyrdom.  Nothing your spokesmen can say on CNN will mitigate the effects of the martyrdom Abdul Rahman. 

Also, please consider this: if this event gets out of hand like the risible "cartoon jihad," you will not find the kind of obeisance you received from our secular press and cowardly government officials.  Freedom of conscience is at the heart of both conservative and liberal Western ideologies and political movements.  A man murdered at the hands of Muslims because he’s exercising his freedom of conscience will probably unify Western opinion against Islam the way no other event probably could.

If you’re smart, you’ll have Mr. Hooper or some other convert to Islam visit Sheik Qaradhawi and other fellow Muslim Brothers, and bring the weight of their reputations to bear to save this man.   

Your hopes of world domination balance on the head of an Afghan Christian.

Terrorism in France

The new volume of Current Trends in Islamist Ideology has an article that explores the current state of jihadist terrorism in France:

Today, France breeds two kinds of terrorists: those who plan to perpetrate attacks in France, and French nationals who target foreign countries. With the internationalization of jihad, the nature and targets of terrorism have evolved from the Iranian-sponsored attacks of the 1980s to a more recent Sunni radical transnational threat.

Also in the new issue…

The new volume of Current Trends in Islamist Ideology also includes a portrait of Abu Mu’sab al-Zarqawi’s mentor Isam Tahir al-Barqawi, aka Abu Muhammadal-Maqdisi and the growing rift between the two men:

For insight into Zarqawi, one needs to understand his teacher, the Palestinian-Jordanian theologian Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi. Maqdisi devoted much of his life to churning out religious and polemical works that condemn democracy, attack Arab regimes for their apostasy and disbelief, and provide ideological guidance to holy warriors operating throughout the greater Middle East. But unfortunately, the ubiquitous reports about Zarqawi rarely mention his mentor.

What our reporting also seldom mentions is the increasingly acrimonious dispute that has recently emerged between Zarqawi and Maqdisi (a dispute analyzed earlier in Volume 2 of Current Trends in Islamist Ideology by Nibras Kazimi).  This is indicative of a critical gap in our understanding of the contemporary salafi-jihadi movement, and especially our lack of appreciation for the disparate and often conflicting ideological strains within that movement. Examining Maqdisi’s life and thought will help to fill in these critical gaps and also help to explain what appears to be the growing estrangement of al-Qaeda’s field commander in Iraq from some of his fellow travelers in the salafi-jihadi movement.

More evidence of an evolving strategy

Hudson Institute recently published the third volume of Current Trends in Islamist Ideology. In one article, The Zawahiri Letter and the Strategy of Al-Qaeda, authors Shmuel Bar and Tair Minzili explore the influence of Zawahiri’s July 2005 letter to Zarqawi, intercepted by American military forces in Iraq and released last October:

Zawahiri’s letter is consistent with the thinking attributed to the radical Islamic leaders surrounding him, and the stages of action he lays out are consistent with their strategic game plan, which includes seven stages leading to the ultimate victory of Islam over the West in 2020. These stages are: (1) The “awakening,” which refers to the attacks of 9/11, designed to make the Islamic movement a central player on the global scene; (2) “opening the eyes,” the period from 2003 to 2006 that will transform al-Qaeda into a “mass movement”; (3) “arising and standing up,” the period from 2007 to 2010 that will focus on terrorist destabilization of existing Muslim regimes; (4) the toppling of the moderate regimes of Egypt, Jordan, Turkey and other Muslim states from 2010 to 2013; (5) the formation of a new world order between 2013 and 2016, based on an Islamic Caliphate as a world power and the weakening of the United States and Israel; (6) a total confrontation between Islam and the West in 2016-2020; and (7) a “Decisive Victory” for Islam in 2020.

The centrality of the Iraqi jihad has also affected al-Qaeda’s strategic thinking regarding terrorism outside Iraq. While the Zawahiri letter does not refer to jihad theaters outside of Iraq, other documents have pointed out how jihadi missions in the West should support the goal of weakening the coalition in Iraq and speeding up the American defeat. This thinking differs significantly from the classic rationale for such attacks, which is simply to “strike fear in the hearts of the enemies of Allah.”

The perception of the feasibility of victory in Iraq has led to a “proactive” jihad to establish a Caliphate replacing the “defensive jihad” to protect Muslim lands—the core principle of Abdullah Azzam, the leader of the Afghan mujahidin. Though the establishment of a Caliphate was an element of al-Qaeda’s ideology in the past, it remained in the background because it seemed to them less achievable than it does today. The Caliphate’s new prominence has far-reaching ramifications for intra-Muslim relations: while a Muslim regime may conceivably tolerate different Islamic sects, a Caliph is obliged to define the one true form of Islam that can be followed within the realm. The adoption of the Caliphate as a goal for al-Qaeda, therefore, imposes on the organization a fatal confrontation with other, heterodox Islamic schools. 

SITE Institute’s Rita Katz expands on the idea in the Boston Globe, The Coming New Wave of Jihad:

Zarqawi said in a January 2005 audio message: ''The caliphate is the entrustment [of Allah] on Earth, the guidance of people to the path of Allah, and the implementation of His world in life. . . . This group has no other choice but to be patient and endure [the hardship of] the path it has followed, and consider with Allah, the leaders and members it has lost, and must follow their path; for Allah has chosen this Ummah [Muslim nation], therefore it must not be impatient, as victory is inevitable."

Toward that goal, attacks by Zarqawi's group have expanded beyond Iraq's borders. His group participated in the rocket attack on US Navy ships at the Jordanian port of Aqaba on Aug. 19, 2005, the rocket attack on the Israeli city of Kiryat Shmona on Dec. 27, 2005, and the suicide attack on Western hotels in Amman on Nov. 9, 2005. Thus, Zarqawi and his Al Qaeda in Iraq are not gone; they have simply moved to the next stage of their jihad against the West.

New Summary

Heritage Foundation's James Phillips sums up the current state of the GWOT:

The American vision of the global struggle against terrorism has evolved significantly in the more than four years since the September 11, 2001, attacks. Although the Bush Administration defined its post-9/11 policy as a "war against terrorism," this really has been a misnomer. While it has been a useful paradigm for preparing the public for a grueling long-term struggle and for galvanizing sluggish bureaucracies, the Administration has not followed through on its own rhetoric. It has gone to war against al-Qaeda and its Taliban allies, but not against other terrorist groups. The Bush Administration subsequently refined the definition of the enemy to be terrorist groups with "a global reach." But the Administration did not follow through on this definition either. It has not moved against Hezbollah, often called the "A-team of terrorism," which has spread its tentacles from Lebanon to include segments of the Lebanese Shiite diaspora around the world.

In the immediate aftermath of 9/11, the U.S. government focused on Osama bin Laden as a terrorist criminal rather than as a revolutionary leader. But it has listened to critics who argued that terrorism is a tactic used by enemies, not an enemy that can be defeated. The Bush Administration, after initially over-personalizing the threat posed by bin Laden, has developed a more refined definition of the enemy and more nuanced counter-terrorism strategy for defeating the threat. In a widely overlooked October 6, 2005, speech at the National Endowment for Democracy that was originally scheduled for the fourth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks but postponed due to the Hurricane Katrina emergency, President Bush redefined the enemy.

By identifying the enemy specifically as Islamic radicalism, rather than the more generic "terrorism," Bush's speech was a step forward in the evolving U.S. approach to defeating al-Qaeda. The change signifies a recognition that terrorism is only a part of bin Laden's revolutionary strategy for imposing his harsh Islamic ideology on the Muslim world, and that "bin Ladenism" will outlast bin Laden. A wide variety of radical Islamic groups have copied al-Qaeda's terrorist tactics and share its revolutionary ideology. To defeat al-Qaeda, the U.S. and its allies must not only destroy its leadership, but also destroy its ability to recruit replacements by discrediting its violent ideology.

Bush also restated his five-point strategy for defeating Islamic terrorists: prevent attacks before they occur; deny terrorists weapons of mass destruction; deny terrorists sanctuary; prevent terrorists from gaining control of any nation; and promote democratic reform, respect for human rights, and enforcement of the rule of law in the Middle East to undermine the ability of terrorists to recruit new followers.

Moussed Mujahideen Update

The pre-trial hearings related to the Albany jihad case have taken a dramatic turn.  Federal prosecutors have declassified FBI reports that place Yassin Aref in three Kurdish Al Qaeda locations before the Iraq war.  They have him calling an Al Qaeda number located in Syria, and they have him associated with Al Qaeda's other man in Iraq, Mullah Krekar.  It was Krekar who invited Zarqawi to Kurdistan after he found himself running from American/Northern Alliance forces in Afghanistan:

The FBI report, which was based on information from a confidential informant, was among several once-secret documents that federal authorities say raise questions about Yassin Aref's connections to terrorist organizations across the Middle East.

Aref, 35, a Kurdish refugee who moved to Albany with his family in 1999, is in jail without bond while awaiting trial on charges related to an FBI counterterrorism sting. He has denied any connections to terrorism.

But federal authorities paint him as an intelligent religious scholar with strong ties to some of the world's most notorious terrorists, including Mullah Krekar, the founder of a violent Iraqi terrorist organization with ties to al-Qaida.

The FBI report on bin Laden is undated and heavily redacted. It states that an informant told the FBI that during October 2001 he was approached by someone soliciting intelligence about "flight training schools, access to airports in (redacted)" and information about "how close the individual could get to an aircraft."

The informant said he was instructed that any information could be distributed to "brothers" through two phone numbers in Damascus, Syria. One of the numbers was called repeatedly by Aref from his Albany home, according to federal authorities.

Aref's attorney, Terence L. Kindlon, said the information is "meaningless" because the number appears to have been the headquarters for Islamic Movement for Kurdistan (IMK), which had an office in Damascus where Aref once worked after fleeing Iraq.

"He called IMK all the time," Kindlon said. "He had friends there, guys he went to college with."

Of course, didn't everyone go to college with terrorists?!  What college is this?  Salman Pak? A Pakistani madrassa?

When I first read the federal indictment against Aref and his toadie Mohammad Hossain, I got the impression that Aref was definately the "brains" in the criminal scheme that actually turned out to be a sting operation.  This is a very smart man.

UPDATE:

Local news station, Capital News 9, gets all puffy-eyed over our Moussed Mujahideen's.

1001 Fantasies

Blogger Tigerhawk points out local news coverage of a new UK exhibition purporting to celebrate "How Islamic inventors changed the world."

Actually, I'm uninterested in the fantastical claims of a single, Islamic culture that lived in peace and harmony for hundreds of years before the evil Crusaders arrived.  No, what interests me are those sponsoring the exhibition, because more than anything, this exhibit has radical Islamist da'wah written all over it. 

First, it's a joint government-private partnership (always needed when you want a facade of legitimacy) -- check.  Second, there's at least one Gulf-based "charity" or corporation involved -- check.  Third, it pushes a certain Islamocentric (as opposed to Arab) view of history that tends to ignore the syncretic character of much Islamic thought and society throughout the Middle Ages -- check. 

"Islamic unity" or the idea that a single, monolithic Islamic culture thrived in the Middle Ages is a key element to most packaged-for-infidels education programs, and is the fantasy that drives radical Islamist desires for the return of the Caliphate.

That said, who's sponsoring this exhibition?

1. Home Office  (government)
2. IHG (International Holdings Group) (no clue)
3. Bin Hamoodah  (A huge multi-national, multi-purpose "holdings" company based in Abu Dhabi, UAE)
4.  MTE Studios (no clue)
5. Manchester City Council (government)
6. Northwest Regional Development Agency (government)
7. DTI (government -- UK Dept of Trade & Industry)
8. Wellcome trust (apparently a non-profit arm of UK-based pharma co. GlaxoSmithKline)
9. Foreign and Commonwealth Office (government)
10. Muslim Youth Foundation (Please read this Guardian article from last year.  Described a "progressive.")
11. Muslim Heritage Consulting (described here; based out of Dubai) and associated with..
12. Foundation for Science Technology and Civilization (a Manchester-based "charitable" group that appears to be funded out of Dubai)

I'm going to speculate here and say that upon closer inspection (if I cared) 11 & 12 will be funded (in part) by 2 or 3 or both.  Now, there's nothing wrong with astonishingly successful Muslim-owned businesses supporting charities and even da'wah programs like this exhibition.  I just remind my readers that whenever you see ANY Islamo-centric "exhibition" like this:  caveat emptor.

Tigerhawk debunks the myth of the Muslim tolerance by focusing on the persecution of Averroes.  However, he doesn't go far enough.  The source of Islamic enlightenment was, of course, the Greeks, not the Arabs.  The conquering Arab tribes subsumed a 1000 y.o. culture that already claimed Greek and Roman learning.  They added to an already strong foundation.  The same could be said for European Renaissance.  It had its source -- in part -- in the interaction with the Islamic east, especially as warring Arabs pushed Greek Christians further and further West.   Greek art and learning brought to Italy by the retreating Byzantine Christians also played a part in the emergence of the Renaissance. Westerners tend to forget the Christian East. But people will continue to believe that Enlightenment learning began in Muslim Spain, if they wish.   

It's actually a perfect form of da'wah, because it plays to the current academic fad of Western self-loathing.  Historians have been denigrating Western civilization for quite some time.  Most people believe it.  Unfortunately, it also becomes a perfect opportunity for Muslim educational foundations to remind us of how inadequate Western civilization is, including other a-historical "facts," like California was  named after the Caliph or that America was discovered by a Chinese Muslim. 

I also suspect that the British government would have NEVER supported this project if it came with unapologetically Christian interests attached.

Meanwhile, speaking of shilling for radical Islamist interests, the Washington Post continues its open access policy for Hamas and Hamas-supporting charities with this bunch of hooey from today's Outlook section (check out the sweeping generalizations and worthless hyperbole):

The Treasury Department is playing target practice with American Muslim charities.

No, it's taking down terrorist funding front groups.

On Feb. 19 Treasury seized the assets and froze the operations of KindHearts, a Toledo-based humanitarian organization, acting on the dubious allegation that it is financing terrorism.

Really?  Looks pretty solid to me.

Someone from Treasury once told us, "There are folks here who look at you guys like notches on their belts . . . just waiting to take the next one out."

Who?

Unfortunately, those of us in the American Muslim community who want to give to legitimate causes in a lawful manner are getting mixed messages from the U.S. government. We are told that if we conduct due diligence and function transparently, we should be able to give to charities of our choice. Then the government closes most of these charities, using the weakest of evidence to support its actions and leading many American Muslims to believe that our government opposes efforts to help needy Muslims around the world. Moreover, the arbitrary freezing of assets ensures that the money will never reach the destination intended by the donors -- the truly indigent.

The column ends with this flourish:

None of us is interested in engaging in illegal activity; (Well, that's nice to know -- ed) it is immoral, unethical and un-Islamic, and it serves no useful purpose whatever. Our crime is that we care about what happens to the children of Palestine. Who knows what price we will have to pay for our hot-breakfast program for hungry kids in Gaza, for our playground project in the West Bank, for our psychosocial trauma center in Hebron.

Under former attorney general John Ashcroft, American Muslim charities were closed as part of the charade to make the American people believe the government was disrupting terrorist financing. Today, under Alberto Gonzales, the message is that Muslim Americans will be punished if they want to help Palestinians. Either way the assault on our charities is not about the safety and security of the American people but about politics.

I'm still stunned, but our (alleged) terrorist financiers and their supporters are nothing if not bold.

Burn, Baby, Burn

Nowruz comes on March 2oth this year (a Monday).  That means that Chahar Shanbeh (Red Wednesday) is this Wednesday, March 15th.   I'll be on travel.

To all life-loving Persians, may you have a blessed New Year! 

And please do an extra leap over the fire for this infidel!

Man to Watch

I’ve found nothing but this ABCnews report on this guy. 

Matiur Rehman

Never heard of him.  ABCNews report relies on anonymous Pakistani officials, not the most reliable souls for intel, and there are now reports that he was behind the murder to a US diplomat on the eve of the president’s trip to Pakistan.

Meanwhile AJ has been collecting news reports on anti-terror activity across the Middle East and, importantly, Pakistan.  Just keep on scrolling.

Fits and Starts

Congressional Research Service recently published an overview of major data mining projects designed to support intelligence and homeland security efforts.  It’s a frustrating narrative of poor planning, bureaucratic bumbling, interagency whining and the cynical hysterics from the self-proclaimed arbiters of “privacy rights.” 

Having worked on a data mining development project, I can appreciate some of the obstacles described in these efforts:

As with other aspects of data mining, while technological capabilities are important, there are other implementation and oversight issues that can influence the success of a project’s outcome. One issue is data quality, which refers to the accuracy and completeness of the data being analyzed. A second issue is the interoperability of the data mining software and databases being used by different agencies. A third issue is mission creep, or the use of data for purposes other than for which the data were originally collected. A fourth issue is privacy. Questions that maybe considered include the degree to which government agencies should use and mix commercial data with government data, whether data sources are being used for purposes other than those for which they were originally designed, and possible application of the Privacy Act to these initiatives.

They Love Him; They Hate Him

In the halls of many SCIFs, you whisper your admiration for Steve Emerson:

Despite broadly supporting the work done by US law enforcement agencies, Emerson alludes to an underlying malaise. “If I were to publicly disclose the degree to which there is a dysfunctional common denominator to agencies, people would not believe it.” Nor does he hold fire when it comes to Karen Hughes, whom George W. Bush hand-picked to repair bridges to the Muslim world. “When Karen Hughes runs into the arms of the Muslim Brotherhood in Cairo and says, ‘Oh forgive us, we’re on the same page. We can agree on our values’, we can’t agree on the saHe's me values with the Muslim Brotherhood! There’s no possibility of agreeing on their same values if they believe in the notion of sharia. I think that what she has done has been exceptionally detrimental to our national interest of upholding the rights of women, of pluralism, of democracy in the Muslim world.”

He's right.  They wouldn't.

Stagnation of Whose Project?

Austin Bay recently posted on Al Qaeda’s curious interest in the “oil spot” or “ink spot” strategy.  Employed since at least WWII, the strategy includes military units creating an area of control (real estate) where it then becomes more effective to strike out at the enemy, guerrilla style.  (please forgive me, I have NO military background)

However embedded in this analysis Mr. Bay quotes from document #AFGP-2002-003251 , one of the dozen or so recently declassified Al Qaeda documents released to the West Point Countering Terrorism Center.  The document is described as an Al Qaeda member writing “to his honored mentor and [presenting] his views on the leadership skills and tactics that Al-Qa’ida must use to achieve victory.  Emphasis is given to the political and military methods as well as public relations strategies and information management techniques.

Page 9 of this document includes this odd statement:
A great information and political vacuum developed especially after the stagnation of Al-Mis’ari and Al-Faqeeh project, and subsequently, most of the people, especially the committed, left this project.

What?  What project is this?  I haven’t gotten around to reading the West Point doc dump, but Doc # AFGP-2002-003251 is the first on my list.

More on Mr. Al-Mis'ari and Dr. Al-Faqeeh.

Ah, The Good Ole Daze

ADNKI reports on new posters showing up in the streets of Lebanese cities:

In the streets of Sidon, Lebanon's third city, posters from banned groups glorifying the defunct caliphate have begun appearing on walls. "The caliphate, one sole state for all the Muslims of the world" read a message, written in red on a white background, and signed by Hizb ut-Tahrir, an outlawed Islamic party. "The absence of the caliphate has handed us over to our enemies, the colonialist and evil Western countries who have undermined our spiritual force. "The caliphate is the only solution for Islam", read another message.

The leaders of Hizb ut-Tahrir (the Party of Liberation) explained that it was not an explicit invitation to create an Islamic state in Lebanon, adding that "the posters have been put up for the anniversary of the fall of the Ottoman calliphate."

It’s a weird and somewhat ominous sign of a fully developed Islamic political ideology.  I’ll just call it Caliphatism for now, but it is associated with other forms of Islamic ideology including Bin Ladenism, Qutbism, and the all-encompassing Islamism.  Islamists have long sought the re-establishment of the Caliphate, but since 9-11 the idea has taken on momentum and a sort of urgency.  In the 1990s many Islamists viewed Taliban ruled Afghanistan as a blue-print for the true Islamic state.  The fall of Taliban rule and the Iraq war has brought the democratic experiment directly into the heart of the Middle East, and many Islamists are unhappy at the thought of unislamic, democratic ideals spreading. 

HUT designed and distributed the posters to commemorate the dissolution of the Caliphate in 1924.  HuT is an Islamist group founded by Sheikh Mubarak Ali Gilani, and are politically active in Southwest Asia and in countries with large Pakistani, Indian and Bangladeshi populations.  They’re also a terror supporting group with accused and convicted members in UK, Australia, Russia, and Pakistan.

The idea of re-establishing the Caliphate has an allure with enough Muslims that it could gain in popularity and eventually develop into a viable political goal.  The best way to counteract this movement is to create democratic states that prefer to look to the future, rather than attempting to recreate the past.

Misleading AP Report on Madrid

AP reports today that there was no Al Qaeda connection to Madrid:

MADRID, Spain - A two-year probe into the Madrid train bombings concludes the Islamic terrorists who carried out the blasts were homegrown radicals acting on their own rather than at the behest of Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida network, two senior intelligence officials said.

Spain still remains home to a web of radical Algerian, Moroccan and Syrian groups bent on carrying out attacks — and aiding the insurgency against U.S. troops in Iraq — a Spanish intelligence chief and a Western official intimately involved in counterterrorism measures in Spain told The Associated Press.

Uh, no.   There's something wrong here, and I suspect it has something to do with spin.   If leftists and assorted moonbats can prove that Al Qaeda wasn't involved in Madrid then they will say that Al Qaeda really isn't part of the problem, and that we're making all of this up for oil, etc. It's only 8 AM here on the east coast and I'll predict that by the end of the day they'll be folks across the blogosphere saying, "See, Al Qaeda isn't the problem."

I'm busy this morning and I can't devote as much time to this as I'd like, but here are a few problems I have with the AP report.  I'll get back to it tonight, because this needs to be addressed thoroughly. First, no one talked on the record for this story.  According to this Expatica report, this is part of official court report:

MADRID — The judge leading the investigation into the Madrid bombings has said the attacks were carried out by a local cell linked to a international terrorist network.  Judge Juan del Olmo said the cell of Islamic fanatics which planted the bombs had links stretching through France, Belgium, Italy, Morocco and to Iraq.  The judge's claims come in documents issued with a judicial order to detain nine suspects for up to two more years without trial. They show an extensive terrorist apparatus which conceived, planned and carried out the attacks which killed 191 people and left 1,500 injured.

If it's official why isn't anyone talking on the record?  Second, the AP report doesn't mention Rabei Osman at all.  Osman is on trial in Italy, and is suspected of being the mastermind behind the Madrid bombings:

An Egyptian man suspected of masterminding the March 2004 Madrid bombings appeared in a Miilan court on Tuesday at the start of his trial on charges of international terrorism, including conspiring to plan more attacks. Clad in white robes and a skullcap, a handcuffed Rabei Osman Sayed Ahmed was escorted by police into the courtroom. He was placed in a caged enclosure from where he listened to the proceedings through an interpreter.

I don't believe anyone's been able to identify this man's full role -- if any -- in the Madrid case.  He's key to any full conclusion into Al Qaeda's role.  He's certainly not talking.

Again, there's more here than I can cover at the moment, but I see that AP sort of fudges at the end, by quoting a CT expert (the only named source) who says the obvious:

Paul Wilkinson, chairman of the Center for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence at the University of St. Andrews, Scotland, said the model used in Madrid, and likely for the July 7 London transport bombings fits in well with al-Qaida’s business plan.  “Al-Qaida is not and never was a topdown organization that did everything in terms of attacks around the world. They have a key role in ideological terms ... but they rely on local cells and those that are inspired to carry out these attacks,” he said.

(Much) more later.

UPDATE: The more I read about this report, the more I see anti-war spin in AP's report.  The Al Qaeda hierarchy is rarely directly involved in an attack, as Chad at In The Bull Pen says:

The embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania and the attack on the USS Cole are a perfect example.  It is believed the embassy bombings were carried out by Al Qaida members working under the group’s organizational shell, but the bombs were ‘placed’ right where they would do the most damage to the building structure therefore making it very probable an engineer looked over the plan and authorized it.  That engineer, most likely, was Osama bin Laden.  The attack on the USS Cole was partially carried out by an Al Qaida cell in Yemen, therefore a homegrown terrorist network, but that attack was also directly under the Al Qaida umbrella.  In both attacks, there is not a direct link to the Al Qaida hierarchy, but there are several broken links between the attack and Al Qaida leadership.

More later.

Defense Abhors A Vacuum

The New York Times breathlessly reports today that the Defense Department has integrated DoD intel units (called Military Liaison Elements) into our overseas posts (embassies, consulates).  Of course, the Times reporters are writing this for their old leftie readership, and so it's implied from the very first sentence that this is a BAD thing:

The military is placing small teams of Special Operations troops in a growing number of American embassies to gather intelligence on terrorists in unstable parts of the world and to prepare for potential missions to disrupt, capture or kill them.

Senior Pentagon officials and military officers say the effort is part of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld's two-year drive to give the military a more active intelligence role in the campaign against terrorism. But it has drawn opposition from traditional intelligence agencies like the C.I.A., where some officials have viewed it as a provocative expansion into what has been their turf.

For the story, the Times reporters draw from a deep well of "officials" none of whom are named. However, it's not as hysterical as it looks because about twenty graphs into the article, some officials are named and do make on-the-record comments:

Paul Gimigliano, a spokesman for the C.I.A., gave a measured response to the program [what was he supposed to do? scream into the phone? -- ed], but emphasized the importance of the agency's station chief in each country.

"There is plenty of work to go around," he said, adding: "One key to success is that intelligence activities in a given country be coordinated, a process in which the chief of station plays a crucial role."

A State Department official said late Tuesday, "We don't have any issue with D.O.D. concerning this," using the initials for Department of Defense. The State Department official said the Military Liaison Element program was set up so that "authority is preserved" for the ambassador or the head of the embassy.

That doesn't sound bad.  But wait!  It wouldn't be a NYTimes piece without...Cue the ominous music!

The problem is difficult in nations where the American military is not based in large numbers, and in particular where the United States is not at war. Thus, the Military Liaison Elements may not be required in notable hot spots, like parts of the Middle East, where the American military is already deployed in large numbers.

There are shades of Salvadoran death squads and schools of the Americas in this graph, as if the military is seeking out countries we should be at war with.  In the 2004 Presidential election we got to relive the 60s.  In 2005 we relived the 70s with hysterical reports on supposedly improper intel gathering.  It looks like 2006 is going to be the year we relive 80s-era leftist death squad fantasies.

The reporters also get around to identifying one MLE by detailing an incident unrelated to their mission, and then add:

One official who was briefed on the events, but was not authorized to discuss them, said the soldiers were not operating out of the embassy, but out of a hotel.

Why didn't the NYTimes just report the name of the hotel and what room they were staying in?  What they did was just as bad. They put those soldiers'  lives at risk. 

Actually, the reporters have a real story here.  The Defense Department -- ever mission-driven --  is filling a void left by the civilian intel agencies.  They're not receiving the kind of information they need to identify and accomplish their missions, and so they're doing it themselves.  That's reassuring to me.  At least someone sees a mission that needs to accomplished.

Summary & Timeline of the Cartoon Jihad

Here's a partial timeline of the protest activity surrounding the Cartoon Jihad:

February 15
Dubai, UAE -  A sailor on board a Norwegian oil tanker allegedly was beaten to death by his colleagues following an argument over the cartoon incident.

February 14
Lahore, Pakistan --  Several large groups of protestors demonstrated in Lahore in reaction to the Danish cartoon of the prophet Mohammed.
Makati City, Philippines - At least 600 members of the Anak Mindanao (AMIN) and other Muslim organizations staged an anti-Danish protest outside the Philippines Bank of Communications.

February 13
Peshawar, Pakistan - Demonstrators broke windows at a Christian school and hurled stones in the business district.
Cairo, Egypt - Thousands of students of Egypt's al-Azhar University protested against the cartoons at campuses in Cairo and in the southern city of Assiut.
Antwerp, Belgium - Police arrested 55 people after a protest was marred by violence and vandalism.

February 12
Jalalabad, Afghanistan - Demonstrations were held, and local police were deployed in order to control the situation.
Hebron, West Bank - About 500 Palestinian children from a school affiliated with the Islamic militant group Hamas stomped on a Danish flag and shout anti-Danish slogans in protest, which ended peacefully.
Divarbakir, Turkey - At least 30,000 people demonstrated in the eastern city of Diyarbakir. In Istanbul, protesters threw eggs at the French consulate and called for revenge.
Copenhagen, Denmark - About 25 Muslim graves in western Denmark were vandalized, bringing swift condemnation from Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen.

February 11
Antwerp, Belgium - Some 500 Muslims had gathered on the Antwerp city square. In the Great Market area, violent clashes occurred between police and protestors.
Brussels, Belgium - Some 200 Muslims gathered on the Brouckère Square, and the demonstration there passed off largely without incident.

February 10
Sri Lanka - Protests have been currently staged in Amapara and Akaraipathu. Smaller protests also took place in the capitol city of Colombo.
Freetown, Sierra Leone - Thousands of Muslims demonstrated peacefully in the capital after Friday prayers.
Kinshasa, DR Congo - A group of approximately 400 people marched peacefully into the Gombe District of town, where most foreign missions are located.
Nairobi, Kenya - Thousands of Muslims took to the streets of Nairobi.

February 9
Capetown, South Africa - A crowd of approximately 35,000 protested by marching and chanting slogans.
Mombassa, Kenya - Several hundred protesters marched peacefully.

February 8
Baidoa, Somalia - There was a peaceful demonstration in the morning hours to protest against the Danish cartoon of Prophet Mohamed.
Zinder, Niger - Approximately 600 demonstrators protested peacefully at EID Prayers Place.
Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina- A protest in Sarajevo.

February 7
Moscow, Russia - A Dagestani man shot a Danish man with a rubber bullet.
Baku, Azerbaijan - A group of 200-300 protesters assembled in front of the Azerbaijani Minister of Foreign Affairs to protest the cartoon publication.

February 6
Prague, Czech Republic - A bomb threat was called into local authorities threatening American and British students at the Technical University in Prague.
Lascanod, Somalia - Peaceful demonstrations took place.

February 5
Galkayo, Somalia - Peaceful demonstrations took place.

February 3
Garowe, Somalia - Protesters assembled at the town center where Imams gave speeches criticizing the cartoons.

This is part of a longer report that will identify the players and strategy behind the cartoon jihad. 

For the record:  I thought those Mohammed cartoons were a very bad idea.  I believe there's a lot of power in well-focused ridicule,  but the enemy isn't Mohammed, it's the Islamists.   Publishing the cartoons was a sneering act of weakness, typical among secularists unprepared and devoid of will for fighting the well-tuned strategy of the Ikhwan (and I suspect our Muslim brothers know this).  Far from being a statement of conviction, they were a foreshadowing of the inevtiable obseisance offered when things started to burn. 

That Intelligence Mystique

As soon as I submitted the paperwork for my clearance, I told the people I had listed on the forms to expect a call or visit from an investigator.  There was the usual "Wow!" response.  In the eyes of  most, I gained in respect. In a few I was thought to be "selling out" to the government war machine (yes, I have friends who still think like this).  There was, however, a general sense that I was joining this secret association, like the Free Masons. 

The mystique afforded to our intelligence agencies is both a blessing and a curse.  For me, it was stifiling.  The intelligence community drowns in senseless paperwork and procedures that numb creativity and frustrate end results.  By the time I left, I believed, and still do, that the IC is mired in pure process.  Nothing matters much beyond creating and following procedures.  And there are plenty of bureaucrats around to make sure you get nothing completed.  Far from connecting the dots, they're drowning in them. The IC unable to analyze the unimaginable amounts of data pouring in because they are too focused on managing it all.

There are exceptions.  There are a few groups within the IC who focus on results, but most of these are related to military operations, where results are the only measure of progress, not another round of peer review meetings to assess next year's assessment meeting goals.  Far from being a fast-paced world of spooks and trenchcoats, most IC members push paper and create more.

Over at Kent's Imperative, there's a discussion of intelligence mystique, that sense of wonder about the IC that's both a blessing and a curse:

Thus the mystique does serve a value, or did once. But the reverse side of the equation is the damage it does. It is most often subtle, creeping and insidious. The mystique too often warps the collective practitioners, in our insular world behind the curtain. We begin to rely on the incantations to cover our slips of tongue or of pen. We assume we should be believed because our judgements carry with them the weight of many seals, and cannot understand why our consumers dismiss what is irrelevant or ill-served. We depend upon the mystique to shield us within the walls of our vaults, so that none may enter and pose challenge before the carefully crafted illusion is complete.

This is not to say we are dishonest, or even shamans clutching ancient beliefs. We as an aggregate body are but human, and we the authors just as much as anyone. It is a difficult enough thing to shatter our preconceptions day by day, and reexamine the tenants of our knowledge on every subject again and again to ensure we take nothing for granted. But intelligence is an ego investment profession. The mystique in some ways begins to define who we are, and not just for the posers and wannabes on the cocktail party circuit. Even the most respectable and most balanced among us to some extent defines themselves by the all-encompassing nature of the work – in some ways, we couldn’t be as good at what we do if we did not live and breathe it. But it is a far harder thing to reexamine who one is – this is for most the stuff of mid-life crisis or at least major life events, not a daily task on the to-do list. But in essence, that is what is demanded of analysts seeking to avoid the pitfalls of too-hardened mindsets and other flavours of cognitive bias. The measure to which we succeed is often based as much on the flexibility of personality than the rigor of imposed training or personal discipline – but one aspect of the myriad of factors that combine to self-select the practitioners that will stand above the crowd.

Free Elections for a Former Enemy

The National Archives recently released dozens of WWII-era news reels, including one fascinating reel featuring Japan's first post-war election, in 1946.

The images of angry political protests and men and women lined up to vote (75 % turnout) will be familiar to anyone who followed the Iraq elections, and it helps put post-war Iraq into a little more perspective. 

You need Google Video to view the files, but what did you expect?  Google is evil.