http://www.thespectrum.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050518/OPINION02/505180320/1014/OPINION Wednesday, May 18, 2005
Modern-day assassins form nucleus of Islamic terrorism One of the toughest things about the global war on terror is figuring out who the enemy is. The enemy is certainly not Islam itself and even Islamic "fundamentalism" is not specifically the adversary. Fundamentalists are not necessarily terrorists. When we get down to defining "radical" Islam, or the so-called Islamists, we are a bit closer. The Islamist philosophy starts with an immutable demand - that God's laws (as defined by the Islamists) are superior to man's laws and it is justified to establish God's laws by force. Islamism also declares the strategic goal of reestablishing a worldwide Caliphate. However, to find the main enemy, we have to peel layers off the onion, to uncover various schools of Islamist thought such as the Wahabis, and terrorist groups such as Hamas, Hezbollah, and the infamous al-Qaida. But hidden within this nest of vipers is a small group, sharing a dangerous and deadly philosophy that makes them the core terrorist enemy. They are known as Takfiris and they have become the modern embodiment of the Assassins, that ancient order of secret political killers. Their doctrine, or movement if you will, is called "Takfir wal Hijra" - translated as "excommunication and exile." In many ways, their existence was obscured by the attacks of Sept. 11 and the subsequent hunt for al-Qaida operatives around the world, but the Takfiri are now a main focus of counter-terrorism experts. It is said that both al-Zawahiri (bin-Laden's number two and ideological mentor) and Abu-Musab Zarqawi (his man in Iraq) share in Takfiri views. The March 2004 train bombings in Spain were the work of Takfiris from Morocco and North Africa. Jonathan Schanzer, a terrorism analyst at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy has dubbed the Takfiris "al-Qaida 2.0". The Takfiri movement was born in the Egypt of the 1970s, the breeding ground of so much of Islamic extremism. Today Takfirism has taken root mainly in North Africa, in the slums of Morocco and Tangiers. It has also spread among the growing Islamic minorities of Europe, particularly among the younger generation that feels excluded from society - not just from Western society, but traditional Islamic society as well. And that is perhaps the defining characteristic of Takfiris, the sense of being complete outsiders, of being beyond the pale. For Takfiris, the enemy is not just the United States, Israel or even secular Muslim leaders and regimes. For those who espouse this violent outlook, armed jihad is a life-long obligation and other Muslims are apostate (and therefore fair-game) if they are not likewise inclined. A core concept for Takfiris is that of "taquyaa," which makes them the ultimate sleeper agents. Taquyaa is practicing the art of deception by adopting Western dress, lifestyle and habits in order to better blend in. Adherents are encouraged to essentially abandon traditional Islamic values, so that they can better fight the holy war in Islam's name. This justifies all sorts of very un-Islamic behavior, including shaving beards, frequenting nightclubs and strip joints, engaging in fraud and petty crime, drug use and drug dealing, and of course, murdering innocent people. As an example, Spanish police reported that the Madrid train bombers traded 55 pounds of hashish for the explosives they then used to kill 189 innocent people. Tad Trueblood has more than 20 years of experience as an officer in the U.S. Air Force and as an analyst in the national security community. He is a Santa Clara resident. Originally published May 18, 2005 ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Give underprivileged students the materials they need to learn. 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