Combating Jihadi Terrorism: Problems, Processes and Prospects

Jihadi Terrorism: Ridiculous Explanations, Complex Solutions

By Dr. Babu Suseelan

Few days ago, I was in a restaurant in New York .  The newspaper I had been reading reported the death of nine Jewish people by a Jihadi suicide bomber. An Arab Muslim sitting nearby screamed right into my face "for Jewish people we need more bombs". On the same day, four American marines were killed in Iraq by an explosive device planted by an Islamic terrorist. The next day 50 people including children and women were killed in a bomb explosion in Karachi . Last month a Taliban terrorist beheaded several infidel engineers working in Kabul . Muslim terrorists in Kashmir murdered 45 Kashmiri Hindus. Bombs planted by Jihadi terrorists exploded in the temple town of Varanasi , India killing twenty-five people. Attacking religious centers of infidels, schools, crowded shopping centers, torching people alive in passenger trains, bombing of hotels and rioting and disrupting public life by Jihadi terrorists is a daily occurrence in Israel , India , and all over the world. Last week, forty-five people were killed in a bomb exploded by Jihadi terrorists in Egypt . Several hundred people were killed or maimed by Muslim terrorists in Algeria.  Few weeks ago Islamic Thinkers Society of America demonstrated in front of the Israeli Consulate in New York . Shouting death to America they were carrying placards with the following slogans:  

• Israeli Zionists what do you say? The real Holocaust is on its way.
• The mushroom cloud is on its way! The real Holocaust is on its way.
• Israel won’t last long. Indeed, Allah will repeat the Holocaust right on the soil of Israel.
• No wonder they call you sons of apes and pigs because that’s what you are.
• May the FBI burn in Hell !
• CIA burn in Hell !
• Mossad burn in Hell.
• Homeland Security burn in Hell.
• Islam will dominate the world.

The following item was posted inside a major Mosque in London : 

"If a kafir (non-Muslim) is going into a Muslim country and he is walking by, he is like a cow. Anyone can take him. That is the Islamic rule. If Muslims cannot take them, you know, and sell them in the market, then kill them. It is ok".

("Extremism Shows Its Tenacity" The Wall Street Journal, August 15, 2005) 

These episodes and continuous Jihadi terrorist attacks in India , Israel , Great Britain , Spain , Italy , Sudan , and Indonesia have proven Islamic proclivity for terrorism. Jihadi terrorism around the world is unabated and continues to claim thousands of innocent lives each year. The media is replete with reports of terrorism, bombing, riots, arson, honor killing and beheading by jihadi terrorists. We are likely to encounter the ‘conversation about Jihadi terrorism‘ wherever we turn.  

One wonders what kind of culture promotes killing of innocent people.  In all Islamic countries, war, violence, riot, terrorism and hostility against non-believers serve Muslims to establish a culturally coherent community.   Jihadi culture is based on war against non-believers. Jihadi culture supports shouting "foreign pigs", harassing tourists with a Jewish name in Islamic countries, characterize non-Muslims as Kafirs, shouting Allahu Akbur while beheading infidels. For Jihadis, culture means ritualized violence. Muslims internalize this intolerance of no-believers; and the violent Islamic culture provides internal cohesiveness and unity and stability, and a sense of security and action guidelines for violence. Many hostile social practices against non-Muslims are organized around it, and it provides a rationale and support for ritualized violence.  

Muslims have a commonality of understanding Islamic rituals and built in cultural hostility towards non-Muslims. In Islam, there is no such thing as listening to your conscience, or questioning of conscience. The history of Islam shows this trend clearly. Islamic clergy justifies killing of infidels according to the laws of Allah, in which a kafir, labeled as Dhimi cannot be regarded as equal to a Muslim, and cannot have any human rights. The Koran, Hadith and Sura clearly state:  

• Allah is the enemy of unbelievers and Dhimis are the enemies of Allah
• In Allah’s eyes, unbelievers are the worst of beasts, and the enemies of Allah
• Neither Allah can be expected to grant equal rights to his    enemies,
• Nor do these enemies deserve rights equal to those of Muslims  

For centuries, Jihadis have resorted to mass murder, oppression, intimidation, kidnapping, terrorism, and assassination in the name of Islam. And today, only the threat, the methods, and goals differ. Now, Jihadi terrorism is one of the greatest single threats to the existing world order. Modern day jihadi terrorist groups such as Hamas, Hezbollah, Lasker-Tobia, Al Bader, Taliban, Al Queda, Tehreek E-Jihadi, and Hizbul Mujahadeen virtually ensure that Jihadi terrorism will be with us for many years to come. 

DEADLY JIHADI IDEOLOGY 

It is absolutely essential to understand the deadly ideology, which transforms simple human beings into suicide bombers and terrorists. We cannot deal with the problem of terrorism until and unless we completely comprehend the ideology which extols the virtues of violence and preaches hatred, incite violence and encourage its followers to instill terror in the heart of those who do not believe in Allah, compels its followers to be harsh to unbelievers, tells them that ultimate abode of infidels is Hell, directs them to bind them, burn them in the fire of Hell. Jihad is a doctrine of permanent warfare. Jihad, the Holy War and terrorism are almost    synonymous terms. Islam has divided humanity in two parts: Dar-Ul-Harb and Dar-Ul-Islam. Dar-Ul-Islam means the nations where Islam has been firmly established and Dar-ul-Harb means the nation, which is yet to be subjugated by Islam.  

Prophet Mohamed has poisoned the minds of Muslims, by telling them that Kafirs are not just nuisances, but are enemies of Allah, emphasizing repeatedly not to question the morality of this conclusion, but to follow Allah’s system, and that Islamic system has descended to earth from Allah’s Janat (Islamic heaven). There is no God but Allah, and all other Gods are false Gods, they are the works of shaitaan (Devil). Don’t listen to these Gods. They will take you to Hell. It is the bounden duty of each and every Muslim to keep fighting till the rule of Allah is established in all over the world. The killing of 300 innocent children in a school in Beslan, Russia, bomb blast in a train in Spain in which more than 200 people were killed, bomb blast in UK, attack on World Trade Center in New York, riots and arson in Paris, destruction of Danish Embassy in Beirut after publication of prophet Mohamed’s cartoon in Denmark, all are part of that grand strategy to frighten and terrorize infidels and coerce them to accept Islamic domination. 

EXCUSE THEORIES OF JIHADI TERRORISM 

Liberal leftists, communists and Islmo-fascists have come forward with sophisticated, meaningless excusing conditions for Jihadi terrorism. Excusing Jihadi terrorism contains a mountain of unsubstantiated, irrelevant details including rapid social change, western, Israeli interference and social injustice. What is lacking is a deep examination of the ideological issues promoting Jihadis to commit terrorist acts. The leftists promote excuse theories despite knowing Jihadi cruelty and they care little about the victims. They produce and promote irrational arguments that are too flimsy and misplaced. These phony, precarious excuses excuse Jihadi murderers and view terrorists in a favorable moral light.  

Excusing Jihadi suicide bombers and terrorists beheading innocent infidels with speculative theories will have more deleterious consequences. Liberals and leftists are misguiding and misdirecting the public authorizing an open season for terrorism. Fictitious causation hampers liberal’s ability to affirm mens rea and preclude their responsibility altogether. These phony excuse theories are not justifiable defense of Islamic terrorism and are not realistic and persuasive. Recently some media pundits have joined the bandwagon to expand the number and range of excusing conditions without merit. These irrational, liberal excuses are a grievous insult to justice and morality. Liberal’s conditioning propaganda is to soften the general public for the long-term purpose of supporting Islamic terrorists.

It is vital to understand that Islamic menace exists because of liberal’s habitual tolerance of intolerance.  Their tolerance of intolerance is not tolerance. This type of pathological tolerance, sobering sympathy for Jihadis and stony indifference to victims is immoral and barbaric. 

Democratic societies cannot survive or prevent terrorism with phony, meaningless, and manufactured theories of Jihadi terrorism. Uncritical acceptance of false, unsubstantiated root cause theories peddled by communists and leftist liberals will have disastrous consequences for everyone. Such mental misdirection and deliberate psycho-linguistic-programming will result in our psycho paralysis.   Free thinking, peace loving people would be wise to make a motivational analysis of such pseudo intellectual’s extreme insensitivity to the victims of terrorism, and syrupy sympathy for Jihadi terrorists.  

Jihadi terrorism is not over the policies of the U.S, Israel , U.S, or due to globalization, rapid social change, economic inadequacies, and lack of self-esteem. Rather, terrorism is stemming from the ideology, the cognitive-behavior process, and criminal thinking of jihadi Muslims.

DEMOCRACY AND ISLAM ARE INCOMPATIBLE 

It is not uncommon to promote the theory that introducing democracy in Islamic nations can eliminate Jihadi terrorism.   It is divorced from empirical evidence.   It is wishful thinking over reality.  Every empirical study of Islamic nations has demonstrated beyond doubt that Islam and the governmental system known as democracy are indeed incompatible. Democracy is the rule of the majority and Islam is the will of Allah. Either the society accepts the will of the majority or one accepts that society is ordered by the divine will of Allah. All Islamic societies accept the divine will of Allah. Promoting democracy in Islamic societies without breaking the closed Islamic dogma is futile and wasteful. Pakistan , Bangladesh , Iran , Sudan and Hamas of Palestine claim that the government is democratically elected. Yet these Islamic nations breed, sustain and promote terrorism. So here is the question: "Are Islam and democracy compatible?" It does not appear that one can have freedom of expression, an important principle of democracy, and Islam in the same place.  Their ideology is spawned around hate and masked under the label of democracy. Muslims have no freedom to scrutinize Islam, and when we give up freedom to think and criticize, there is no democracy. Unless we break the closed Islamic dogma and force Muslims to freedom from their slavery, we cannot have genuine democracy in Islamic nations. 

MISGUIDED MUSLIMS: A MISNOMAR 

There is one more misconception that Jihadi terrorists are misguided Muslims and that they are not real Muslims. The Jihadi terrorists are not misguided Muslims. They are the real Muslims doing what their prophet had instructed them to do. Several misguided leftists also nurture the fallacious notion that Islam is peace and Muslims are peace-loving people.   This assumption is based on ignorance and lack of understanding of the brutal past of Islam. Non-Islamic countries in Asia and the Middle East have been suffering from jihadi terrorism for hundreds of years. Jews, Hindus and Zoroastrians have been slaughtered by Muslim Jihadis for centuries.  

BRUTAL HISTORY OF ISLAM 

Throughout its recorded history, fundamentalist Islam tried to establish Dar-Ul Islam through Jihadi terrorism. Islamic past is replete with war, conquest, death and destruction. Islam caused the disappearance of several civilization and millions of innocent people throughout Europe, Middle East and Asia . Muslims invaders are known for ethnic cleansing, burning of libraries, destruction of temples and educational institutions and cultural institutions and artworks of historical significance. There were 24% Hindus and Sikhs in Pakistan in 1947 when India was divided. After Pakistan was declared as an Islamic nation, reign of terror, murder and rape was let loose against Hindus and Sikhs. They were given two choices either to convert to Islam or face death. At present, the number of Hindus has been reduced to 1 percent in Pakistan . In East Pakistan, now Bangladesh , there were 35% Hindus and Christians in 1947. They were also tortured and butchered in Jihadi tradition. Many were killed or forcefully converted. Today non-Muslims comprise only 8% percent of the population in Bangladesh . In 1989, in India ruled Kashmir , 350,000 Hindus were driven out by Jihadis. They are still languishing in refuge camps outside Kashmir . India has faced several deadly Jihadi terrorist incidences since 1947. Muslim Jihadis are engaged in riots, violence, bombing, murder, assassination, looting and terrorism against Hindus in India and it is unabated. Bombs are exploding daily in India . Historians have said that the Islamic conquest of India is probably the bloodiest story in the history of the world.   

Koran and Hadith encourage and motivate Muslims to fight against infidels. Jews, Christians, Buddhists, Sikhs and all non-believers are target for attack. They often seek to identify infidels as targets because of their ideological beliefs. Jihadis justify terrorism by rationalization and show no fear, guilt, remorse, shame or empathy. Islam is a control system, a closed dogma and it is designed to exclude dialogue, outside input, and forbid freethinking. Whatever Muslims do, wherever they go, Muslims are mandated to maintain status quo of the closed paradigm. They cannot tolerate the existence of different versions of the closed Islamic paradigm. Differences within the Islamic paradigm are settled with war (Sunni against Shia, Ahamedia, and Bahai). In so doing, this provides more conviction for those committed to the paradigm tightly. Islam cannot and will not tolerate any emerging cosmic, epistemological, scientific, philosophical concepts if it is a threat to core components of Islam. Muslims are forced to neutralize new ideas by the power and control system of the Islamic clergy. Islamic states use force and other control mechanisms including Fatwa to maintain equilibrium and the closed Islamic thought system. Their goal is to make the world as Darul-Islam (the house of Islam) where Islam rules and the non-Muslims world as Darul-Harb (the house of war) that has to be conquered. The non-Muslim world should be terrorized, intimidated, oppressed and conquered for Muslims.  

The Islamic paradigm’s primary core belief is in a powerful Allah, and Allah has revealed his will through Mohamed, the only and the last prophet. All other means of knowing other than through Mohamed are subject to error. Any emerging knowledge of even the most insignificant nature cannot be true if it is in any way incompatible with Allah’s revelation. The Islamic system has very strong prescriptive implications. All norms and social practices are rooted in Allah’s will. Allah’s divine "will" cannot be thwarted and must prevail always Thus the Islamic paradigm may influence anything a Muslim might do or think about.

CRIMINAL THINKING OF JIHADI  MUSLIMS 

Islamic thinking patterns are very similar to criminal and addictive thinking. Jihadi Muslims, addicts and criminals say it is okay to violate others (infidels) or their property. Jihadi Muslims, addicts and criminals think it is okay to infringe the freedom of others as much as you like and to do whatever you need to get high.  

The main feature of this addictive, criminal, Islamic thinking is denial. They construct a wall of denial and hide behind their wall of denial and justify the use of force and deceptive techniques no matter what harm they cause to others. They have no fear, guilt, shame, empathy, and remorse and engage in constant blame game. They are obsessed with their desire to hurt others and march towards a self-destructive road through their dysfunctional behavior. Obsessed with their addictive/criminal thinking, they think and act irrationally, because their thoughts and behavior revolve around their obsessive thoughts, false justification and erroneous excuses about their criminal acts.   The continued pattern of such thinking and behavior leads to destructive acts. When thinking errors become thinking patterns the stage is set for continual, habitual destructive behavior. To stay in their denial, they blame the victims, they lie; invent imaginary causes, twists facts-anything that serve their addictive/criminal thinking and deadly actions. They are governed by the pleasure principle. They seek pleasure by inflicting pain on others. The addicts, criminals and Jihadi Muslims have a tendency to ‘Push’ responsibility for their actions to the outside ( i.e., blaming circumstances, society, or even the victim). They exhibit grandiose ideas and are reluctant to accept personal responsibility for their destructive behavior. Instead of critical, constructive or concrete thinking, or taking purposeful actions, they tend to show a false sense that they can do anything and blame others. Like criminals with criminal thinking, Jihadi Muslims think the rules don’t apply to them and they do not recognize rights of others, and con innocent people, and compel others into doing what they want. The greatest obstacle in successful prevention and cure for terrorism is the denial mechanism, and addictive/criminal-thinking pattern of Jihadi Muslims.

PATHWAY TO MADNESS 

How do Muslims train Jihadi terrorists?  Jihadi terrorists are indoctrinated and socialized into deviant behavior at an early age in Islamic religious schools called madras’s. Islam is a closed political dogma disguised in ecclesiastical terms and it is designed to exclude dialogue, outside input, and it forbids freethinking. They are brainwashed into the closed, dysfunctional paradigm and they are mandated to maintain the rigid, reductionist dogma wherever they go, whatever they do. Muslims are trained to neutralize new ideas, reject any paradigm shift, new concepts, theories and rational ideas. Islamic states and Islamic religious leaders use force, other control mechanisms including fatwa to maintain equilibrium and the closed, rigid, dysfunctional thought system. Islamic states spend their resources and energy to reinforce their Islamic closed paradigm and make Islamic societies into ‘islands of no change‘ where individual freedom, human rights, and creativity are curtailed and crushed. In order to maintain their closed Islamic system, Islamic states ignore modern education, human rights, women’s liberation, art, literature, science, philosophy and diplomacy. As a result, Muslim fundamentalists never tolerate freethinking, rational ideas, pluralism, secularism, and religious tolerance. The Islamic toxic order is maintained by intimidation, threat and violence. For Muslims, maintaining the closed system is more important than social progress, democracy, and free spirited, creative thinking.   This leads Muslims being ‘chewed up’ by the dogmatic system and they are willing to sacrifice their life through suicide bombing, terrorism, riot, arson, violence and constant war against infidels.  

Who are behind Islamic education system? Who are the financiers? Saudi Arabia , Syria , Iran , Libya , Pakistan , Bangladesh , United Arab Emirates and Sudan are providing financial and logistical support for terrorists. Government of India has also earmarked millions of dollars for Islamic education. They train young Muslims and indoctrinate them with rigid, hostile Islamic ideology… There are more than 70,000 Madrasas in Bangladesh and Pakistan training Jihadis to fight in the name of Islam. Jiahdis settled in Europe and USA also finances Jihadi training schools in Pakistan and Bangladesh . Muslim immigrant communities who are alienated from the mainstream society and refuse to assimilate into host countrie’s culture provide support for Jihadi terrorism. The hidden agents of Islam are working overtime behind and on the sidelines of the scene to spread the destructive Jihad dogma into democratic countries. Their ultimate goals are to subvert democracy, and introduce intolerant Sharia type Islam. Islamic clergies funded by Saudi Arabia and Pakistan and aided and abetted by immigrant Muslims recruit and indoctrinate Muslims for Jihadi terrorism. They use sophisticated brainwashing techniques to indoctrinate them, provide financial and logistical support and send them to different parts of the world for terrorist acts.

OBSTACLES TO EFFECTIVE TERRORISM PREVENTION 

Given that the primary outcome anticipated from terrorism intervention is the protection of the public, efforts to prevent Jihadi terrorism are paramount. Resistance to reform has been evident in Islam. Since its inception, prophet Mohamed resisted various forms of reform including tolerance, freedom, pluralism and democracy. Although resistance to reform has been observed throughout the history of Islam, it has manifested in a variety of defensive mechanisms intended to protect Muslims from becoming aware of unacceptable thoughts.  

Reformation in Islam is not possible until Muslims are forced to freedom from their pathological addiction to the rigid, closed dogma. Thus the elimination of resistance is the cornerstone of any counter terrorism strategy.  

Resistance serves as a self-protective function for Muslims. Resistance occurs due to their distorted thinking and thinking errors. It seems from Muslims cognitive rejection of explanation of their rigid Islamic dogma that is inconsistent with their pre-existing schema is to preserve their rigid, deadly Islamic dogma. The degree of resistance and the reasons for it are constantly changing. It is imperative that resistance to change could be eliminated through the development of strong paradigm breaking strategies. Effective result oriented programs shall be implemented to reduce or weaken the conditions that maintain resistance.  

To further compound the situation, Islamic societies often do not acknowledge that they need to reform Islam. Jihadis view their criminal behavior in an egosyntonic manner. That is, they are relatively unconcerned about their actions. Lack of proper understanding of Islamic culture and its influence on terrorists mask our awareness of terrorist psychology. We need a systematic and comprehensive assessment of Islamic social constructs for the successful planning, implementation and delivery of appropriate and effective plan of actions. Muslim’s temperamental and personality factors conducive to criminal activity such as grandiosity, callousness, impulsivity, anger, egocentrism, and poor problem solving skills are all potential factors to consider, since they can influence Jihadi terrorists to engage in terrorist acts. Attitudinal characteristics that should be addressed include antisocial attitudes, values and beliefs and their perception of non-believers.   Best prevention policies and strategies must start with good assessment, knowing Jihadi terrorist’s ideology, motivational level, cognitive style, criminal risk and need. If we can study their criminal ideology, and target their criminal risk and need, then we can design more effective plan of action to prevent and counter terrorism.  

The policies of preventing and countering terrorism have changed dramatically since September 2001. Currently western democratic nations are engaged in identifying, arresting, and prosecuting Jihadi terrorists. High-intensity prevention and detention policies and programs are probably a step in the right direction. But here too, if Islamic societies do not accept change and reform islam the chances are very high they will revert back into old criminal behaviors and most likely resort to terrorism.   What more can be done to that is not already being done?  We currently point to the amount of dollars we spent, the number of people we have employed in security, and we show that we have arrested several terrorists. However, we still have little to show in the way of winning the war on terrorism. We have enacted several security policies and introduced several high tech programs. Although these policies may be understandable within the boarder political, societal and cultural context, they are loosely related to the root cause of Jihadi terrorism. Identifying, imprisoning and detaining individual Jiahdi terrorists tend to have less impact. The same is true of negotiation with Islamic militants, appeasement, economic assistance, and political truce. Some of these less appropriate policies and plan of action have been found to have negative effects. Various types of policies and strategies are relatively successful in the short term, but will fail over the long term. There are many inconsistencies and blind spots in these legal, military, economic strategies.   

We need to develop high-intensity programs including psycho-linguistic programming, cognitive-behavior restructuring strategies and psychological warfare to break the closed Islamic paradigm. A powerful tool that may help us to break the rigid Islamic paradigm and win the war on terror is the media. We need films, videos, TV channels and Internet games, audiocassettes, videocassettes made available to the public that deals strictly with Jihadi terrorism and related issues. On the film and TV shows, there could be stories of victims, reformed terrorists, and what’s going on in their lives now and "were are they now feature", stories of oppressed women in Islamic countries, honor killing, and stories of women and teenage suicide bombers.  

The challenge before us is to translate all available legal, military, economic, political, psychological and social concepts and strategies to eliminate Jihadi terrorism once for all. Jihadi terrorism could be wiped out from the face of the earth only democratic nations including USA, UK, Russia, Israel, France, Japan and India join together and take concrete plan of actions to destroy the deadly Jihadi terrorism and the dogmatic, reductionist ideology that sustains and promotes Jihadi terrorism.        

Remember, many of us have never been stripped of our freedoms, because we haven’t the slightest clue of what if we have to wake up one day and have our freedom taken away, and that is why it is so much more important for us to take the responsibility of understanding what is truly going on in the name of Islam. Therefore, we should not wait until our freedom is torn and weak. Freedom is not free until we fight for it. It is the responsibility and obligation for every peace loving, free people to protect, preserve and promote freedom and also force Muslims to freedom.

Source: FaithFreedom.org