Making Sense of Jihad

Around the Web: 24 Inches and Counting Edition

That’s 24 inches of snow, folks -- lots and lots of snow.

The Current Intelligence Corner
Charli Carpenter’s blog, http://lefarkins.blogspot.com/
John Matthew Barlow’s blog: http://spatialitism.wordpress.com/
Tim Steven’s new ventures: http://ubiwar.com/2010/01/16/a-busy-week-and-a-new-venture/
Christopher Albon’s blog, http://conflicthealth.com/
For the entire impressive lineup of the Complex Terrain Lab, go here.

Finally!  Finally!  After years of terrible analysis and tedious talk, al-Qaida has finally realized its mythic connections to South American drug lords.  Yes, Virginia, there is a connection between al-Qaida and the narcoterrorists.

That didn’t take long!  Al-Qaida is a threat again.

Shocka!  Not really, Cesium sources are commonplace.  And al-Qaida’s interest in obtaining sources of lethal radioactivity is common knowledge. 

Leah has some old photos.

Apparently, the Pest has been visited by the Blonde Chick of Doom.  I’ll pray for him…or something.

Emerging cliche watch: they’re always “lonely treks” and “quiet, isolated” young men.

Oh, mon frere, here we go again.

Au revoir!

Where jihad and Clausewitz meet.

In the meantime, others of his ilk are busy creating a jihadi “prison narrative” for their compatriots building the “creds” essential for future leadership of the movement.
http://duaat.wordpress.com/2010/01/12/my-imprisonment/
http://www.feesabilillah.com/2010/02/what-its-like-part-2-by-tarek-mehanna.html
http://www.feesabilillah.com/2010/01/week-in-life-of-babar-ahmad-masjid.html

I think Rusty is on to something here, because when I typed “tawhed” and “muwahideen” in Arabic into Facebook, I may not have found al-Qaida Central’s @hugs list, but I did crack the door open into a world of sympathizers.

Ch-ch-changes
New blogs
http://onwarandwords.wordpress.com/
http://globalmbreport.com/
New addresses for old blogs
http://kingsofwar.org.uk/

Lots of ALL CAPS here, just in case you like reading your blogs like that.
http://reportingislaam.blogspot.com/

Elfarty
http://www.archive.org/details/elfarty

Jarret on the continuing importance of al-Suri

Anything interesting? http://islamicfiles.wordpress.com/

There’s more than just Sheikh Faisal, shakin’ it up in Kenya
http://muslimsinkenya.wordpress.com/2010/02/02/shaikh-abdul-hamid-kishk-on-said-qutb-english-translation/
http://muslimsinkenya.wordpress.com/2010/02/02/shaikh-abdul-hamid-kishk-on-said-qutb-english-translation/
http://www.warisboring.com/?p=3811

KSA’s continued low-key reforms

In Education
In the Religious Establishment

At Homeland Security Digital Library: "New Report Analyzes Muslim Perceptions"

Irresistible

Merry Christmas

Rolling Out for the Weekend

Along with the sounds of Rolling Thunder passing through my neighborhood, I, too, am rolling out for the weekend.

Enjoy the long weekend, folks.

One of the Bravest Men I've Ever Seen

Even if it is just a picture on a blog post.  I don't know whether that Iraqi gentleman drinks, but I'll raise a glass to his good health and long life tonight.

Using OSINT

I've posted a presentation entitled, "Using Open Source Intelligence, a Case Study:  The Oil Threat Timeline of Ideological & Operational Events," at my LinkedIn profile.

I believe you have to be a member of LinkedIn in order to view my entire profile and see the file.

Hi, Spengl--, er, Da...

"Spengler" is dead.  Long live....

Weekend Movie Break

It's a long and busy weekend for me, but I thought I'd leave you with one of my favorite moments in movies: Roosevelt's wonderful soliloquy on the American character from Milius' early 70s cheese-fest, The Wind and the Lion.  Complete with "cowboy" American characters, a reckless invasion of an Arab country, and a heaping pile of duplicitous, cynical Europeans, it is a movie that wouldn't even make it out of a first draft synopsis today, but remains my favorite among the flow-robe and sand movies.

Jarret's Challenge

Jarret has thrown the gauntlet at me, challenging me to come up with a name to describe the arm chair jihadis who populate the cesspool of online decrepitude that is the virtual jihadi safe haven.

I take this very seriously, and am drinking wine right now in order to prepare to meet Jarret's noble challenge. 

Belated Thanks

I was away over the weekend, and essentially off the grid.  And so I'd like to thank all the fine gentlemen who linked to my blog over the long Easter weekend:

The estimable Rusty @ Jawa Report

The steadfast Aaron @ Internet Haganah

And that fine bloke Tim @ Ubiwar

Thank you, gentlemen.  Smooch!

BTW:  The report referenced in my Somalia post can be found here.

Around the Web – “Extra Big A**” Edition

This edition of Around the Web is dedicated to my favorite movie.  “Now with more molecules!”

We start off with a bit of Tim, or more accurately, the excellent work of ICSR, Countering Online Radicalisation: A Strategy for Action.

Looking for nasheeds in Urdu? (Go ahead, admit it, I know you are) Well, look no further, http://bintulislam.wordpress.com/taranay/

Michael over at The Opposite End of China needs your help: Who is on his carpet?

Staying in the region, here are two posts on Islam in China: One on the Persian influence, and one on the cultural divide between Malay and Chinese Muslims

Reviewing the reviewer: Kilcullen’s review of a review of his book. (via SWJ)

What is it about HTS that makes functional academics go off their rockers?  Just asking.

Good news for Yanni’s evil twin, Ali al-Marri, and bad news for us:  Al-Marri detention case ended from (via SCOTUSBlog)

And then there’s this from MEMRI: An In-Depth Summary of Sayyid Imam's New Polemic against Al-Qaeda, 'Exposing the Exoneration'

That from BBC Monitoring (via Lexis-Nexis): Al-Arabiya programme on dispute between Al-Zarqawi's followers, Al-Maqdisi. BBC Monitoring International Reports (March 4, 2009)

Ulema matter.

So do jihadi forums.

A little polemic here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/12662613/Shaykh-Albani-explains-why-we-should-ascribe-to-the-SalafusSalih

A little dawah guidance there: http://ii-muflihah.blogspot.com/2009/02/10-tips-for-muslim-activists-to-deal.html

Much needed skepticism (via Axe)

But much more needed here.  [Poor bloke.  He wasn’t a terrorist, just really good friends with Abu Zubaydah]

Found via Aaron: Jihadi video and auto-radicalisation: evidence from an exploratory YouTube study

The DORAS subject bibliography has links to more studies in this area, including interesting results from a search of “Islamic law.”

A review of The Islamist at Abu Muqawama, that includes this passage:

The image of easy going weed-smoking free love (Islamic style) Sufis has always appealed to some in the West. After 9/11, it has gained new supporters who see it as a “form of Islam that we can live with”. Quite a few Muslims seem to have become drawn to Sufistic approaches to Islam precisely because it seems more West-friendly.
 
But politics is not the right reason to adopt or support an ascetic and esoteric religious path. It’s also misguided. Sufis can fight when they want to.

More nuance here with an article on Egypt’s evolving Islamism

Meanwhile, Ganesh Sitaraman advocates a reconsideration of the laws of war. (via SWJ) [Not a bad idea]

Two from the current issue of Studies in Conflict and Terrorism

Fighting Cosmic Warriors: Lessons from the First Seven Years of the Global War on Terror
Author: Heather S. Gregg a
Volume 32, Issue 3 March 2009 , pages 188 – 208

The 9/11 Attacks—A Study of Al Qaeda's Use of Intelligence and Counterintelligence
Author: Gaetano Joe Ilardi a
Volume 32, Issue 3 March 2009 , pages 171 - 187

In the OSINT corner

My post on the Revelation

A new book to get the OSINT juices flowing: The Fat Tail: The Power of Political Knowledge for Strategic Investing by Ian Bremmer and Preston Keat

Something called Elastic Lists, a new data-mining tool

And a new intel platform for the EU? (via IntelliBriefs)

"French military intelligence and European security agencies appear keen to acquire WebLab, a platform designed by EADS to extract and disseminate all types of information"

And now for something completely different

Honoring Jacques Barzun

Reviewing George Steiner

Out the Door

P. Philly may have been accurate this year, but even six weeks will pass.  I'm out the house the rest of the weekend, folks.  Have fun, and I hope your weekend weather will be as good as this:

You Dirty Rat

 

Six more weeks of this crap?

Is Ground Hog Day un-Islamic?
No answer here.

I think we need to consult the Pest.

Oh, brother

DC's wonderful weather and a punishing schedule of personal tasks have done the inevitable to me:  I'm sick. Really sick.  All the chicken soup in the world is not going to do what two days of rest will.  I'll be back next week.

That said, I thought you may enjoy a bit of crack CT reporting in this week's Inside the Ring.

It's been three weeks since the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center issued its informative 2009 calendar, complete with a provocative mock photograph of a buffed and trimmed Osama bin Laden.

It's a "just-in-case picture" -- on the chance that the most wanted man in the world is not hiding in a cave in Pakistan's tribal region but is, instead, playing the part of a Western-style businessman traveling in suit and tie.

Sanford and Son meets the Shahadah

As seen this afternoon on Route 29 in Maryland.

I took it with my phone camera.  Right below, the Arabic was translated, "There is no authority but God..." 

Is this an unusual translation of the text?

Exit question: who did the detail work?  It's pretty good.

I can't resist.

Merry Christmas

I won't be blogging the rest of the week.  Blame it on the convergence of Christmas and a dramatic and exhilarating personal "turn of events" that has me crisscrossing DC on a daily basis for the next several weeks.  I'll be blogging before the new year, but for now I'll leave you with a little reminder of what Christmas actually means for many and for me.

From Handel's Messiah.

Question for CARL

I have a rhetorical question for the staff at the Combined Arms Research Library.  Is it really to your users' advantage to deep link to jihadi docs hosted at Islamist websites? 

http://cgsc.leavenworth.army.mil/CARL/cultural_rss.asp?article=11191

http://cgsc.leavenworth.army.mil/CARL/index.asp?article=11190

http://cgsc.leavenworth.army.mil/CARL/cultural_rss.asp?article=11189

A Frownie

Three days into December, and it's already been a month of personal disappointments.  And lo!  Even the sky is in a bad mood.

 

Music for Rainy Day

It's a chilly, rainy day here in DC:

It's a perfect day for cooking and music for piano solo:

Happy Thanksgiving

No jihad -- analysis -- for the rest of the week for me.  I'll be back next week.  Eat, sleep, and enjoy the holiday, folks.

Homage

Just a note of thanks to the men and women I have the honor to know who bore the brunt and bear the scars of war. 

To Jack:  thanks for walking into some of the shittiest situations under the sun.
To Bob: thanks for being a great boss and even better story teller.
To Alex: thanks for being opened to OSINT and taking a chance with an unproven analyst.
To Eileen P: thanks for creating the best data mining tool evah.
To John: thanks for having the courage to be the only registered Republican on Mercer Island.
To Frank: thanks for telling me all about "Goat Lab."
To Jacqui: thanks for all those stories of being the "only round-eyed girl for fifty-miles in any direction."
To Tom: thanks, good man.  Only Bowden could tell your story. 

The list could be longer, but it still wouldn't be complete without a special prayer to the young men and women I see testing their prosthetics in my neighborhood: May God bless you and keep you safe.  

Oh, Brother

New articles of interest (sort of)...Well, maybe not....

Those “Evil” Muslims! Orientalist Fears in the Narratives of the War on Terror
Author: Tim Jon Semmerling
Published in:  Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, Volume 28, Issue 2 August 2008 , pages 207 - 223

Abstract

...This essay analyzes four articles published in The Atlantic Monthly, January/February 2005, which discuss the “evil” Muslims and our war against them. First, I shall demonstrate how to detect and dismantle Orientalist fear; then I apply this methodology to the four articles and expose how the magazine's authors, illustrators, and editors have employed this cinematic device in their presentations of Muslims and the war. I will further discuss how these magazine articles promote prejudices against Muslims. Once armed with an understanding of Orientalist fear, readers can become more analytically sophisticated and self-evaluating when confronted with new narratives and images that profess to represent the “evil” Muslims for them.

Lethal Muslims: White-trashing Islam and the Arabs
Author: Shiraz Dossa
Published in:  Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, Volume 28, Issue 2 August 2008 , pages 225 - 236

Abstract

In the West, I argue, anti-Muslim disdain is driven by both racial and class antipathy. Since the Crusades, racist slander against Muslims has been a staple of Euro-Islamic relations. Muslims know this well. In Canada and the US, anti-Muslim disdain has been incorporated within the settler logic of white supremacy. Muslims have been demoted to the lowest of the low. As communities, they are envisaged as a species of what Max Weber called “poor white trash”. Some un-Muslim Muslims do find acceptance but they are few in number. Overall in the wake of 9/11, the white-trashing of Muslims and Arabs has been the norm. I support my claim with evidence from Canadian, American and European sources.

I should have walked

I noticed that Gateway Pundit has a roundup from the annual Muslim Day Parade yesterday in New York.  I was in town over the weekend and passed right through this little event in a cab on my way to Penn Station.

Sentimental Journey

Never thought my heart could be so yearning
Why did I decide to roam
Gotta take this sentimental journey
Sentimental journey home

Back next week, folks. 

Coming Review

My review of Brynjar Lia's Architect of Global Jihad  is coming up in the new issue of Political Studies Review, just announced.