The many forms of Radical Islam all threaten America
PART 1 OF 3 First Published April 14, 2008
EDITORIAL COMMENT: The following is the first in a series of three articles written by Peter S. Probst and drawn to our attention by Dr Mark Durie of St Mary’s, Caulfield, Victoria, Australia with te comment: “This provides a stimulating overview of the radical Islamic challenge facing the US. A similar story can be told for other nations”. Mark Durie is an Anglican priest who was trained as an academic linguist and has written extensively on Islam.
By Peter S. Probst
Most of us who study terrorism focus primarily, if not exclusively, on the violence and the carnage. But there is another aspect to terrorism that represents a long term, sub-threshold threat and highly effective form of attack to which we are subjected on a daily basis. It is a campaign of sophisticated Political Warfare that is largely unacknowledged by the government and, as a consequence, is unappreciated by the American public.
Radical Islam in a multitude of forms and guises, using a broad array of tactics and strategies represents the prime internal security threat to our country. The government focuses primarily on the external threat but for literally decades highly trained Islamist cadre have been operating successfully and with significant effect on American soil. The nature and scope of this growing and complex internal threat is rarely addressed in public forums. Some have described it as the “third rail” of American political discourse.
These American-based Islamists and the groups they represent are increasingly reliant on sophisticated Political Action operations designed to eviscerate government capabilities to uncover and dismantle terrorist cells and support mechanisms. They capitalise on our government’s failure to recognise and counter their Political Action activities, which are being promoted through a variety of instruments including seemingly independent and benign front groups established to advance the radical Islamist agenda. They use our freedoms, constitutional guarantees, and the advantages of an open society as both a sword and shield in this latest iteration of ideological warfare.
They seek to foster malignant self-doubt as best expressed by the question so many of the well meaning ask: “Why do they hate us?” The answer should be painfully obvious but, regrettably, eludes too many political figures and pundits. The truth is the Islamists do not hate us because of the freedoms we enjoy. They do not hate us because we are wealthy and powerful. They do not hate us because of our support of Israel. They hate us because they see us as the prime impediment to the realisation of their messianic vision of a global caliphate under Sharia law. They recognise that they cannot conquer us through force of arms, economic warfare or even terrorism. Their strategy is one of Political Warfare to sap our strength, self-confidence and will to resist and, thereby, leave us vulnerable to more conventional forms of aggression. History has taught that once a nation’s internal defences are compromised and the public psychologically disarmed, a country can fall into the hands of an adversary like a ripe fruit a strategy practised successfully by both the Bolsheviks and the Nazis.
Political Warfare is an unfamiliar concept to most Americans. Essentially, it is an umbrella term that embraces a panoply of strategies, tactics and capabilities. It is, in essence, a tool kit from which the operator may draw to mount and tailor a campaign to demoralise, paralyse, bleed and, ultimately, vanquish an adversary. At its most effective it is usually a mix of Psychological Operations, Political Action, and Terror. Tactics may oscillate between extreme violence and the apparently benign, the aim being to erode the public’s will to resist and to foster a readiness to accept seemingly reasonable compromises that in reality represent a slippery slope to ultimate surrender. The approach is insidious and effective.
“Allah is our objective. The Prophet is our leader. Qur’an is our law. Jihad is our way. Dying in the service of Allah is our highest hope” —Credo of the Muslim Brotherhood
The term best used to describe the process, was coined by Matyas Rakosi, the Hungarian Communist Party Boss, who prided himself on his slavish devotion to Stalin and who, in a moment of cynical candour, explained how the communists seized power. Basically, it was “Salami Tactics,” Rakosi boasted “demanding a little more each day, like cutting up a salami, thin slice after thin slice” Salami tactics were a favourite of the Communists, the Fascists, and now have been embraced by the radical Islamists.
Although we may be loath to admit it, for years, America has been used as a safe haven by terrorist groups. Shielded by our constitutional guarantees, such groups have felt free to raise funds, disseminate propaganda, recruit cadre and foot soldiers, and mount operations. One of their prime goals has been to influence the American public and our elected representatives. They lobby, lie and dissemble, counting on American naïvety and good will to cut them the slack they need to promote the revolutions they seek.
They burrow deep, and integrate themselves into our communities and political fabric. They cultivate members of congress, media, pundits, civil rights organisations, and those the Communists labelled “useful idiots”. Through a variety of mechanisms such as political fronts, mass organisations, friendly media, NGOs, charities and agents-of-influence, they mobilize support, forge alliances, and exploit the sympathy needed to provide political advantage and expand their political base.
American-based Islamists intensively promote coalition building across divisions of class, party, religion and ethnicity. They are extremely adroit at exploiting the hubris, vanity and lust for power of politicians, pundits and opportunists; as well as, the best impulses of the well-meaning who are desperately seeking to build a better world through accommodations that too often paper over fundamental differences and promise peace in our time.
Successful terror groups demonstrate a keen appreciation of the art of Political Warfare. They capitalise on the mistakes of governments that either fail to respond to the threat they represent, or respond in a heavy-handed and predictably counterproductive fashion. Only recently have we come to realise that organisations committed to Global Jihad are active in the United States, and for years have been engaged in operations designed to destroy the nation.
Most Americans are unaware that until 9/11, the terror group HAMAS, a creation of the Muslim Brotherhood, received its primary funding not from the Middle East or the Gulf States, but from American citizens and legal resident aliens who constituted its primary source of financial support. Radical Imams and HAMAS cadre from Jordan, Egypt, Gaza and the West Bank criss-crossed the country speaking and raising funds at radical mosques, local community centres, college campuses and corporate boardrooms, as well as at gatherings in private homes where they courted the wealthy and influential. They inspired their audiences by vivid accounts of heroic sacrifice and lauded the success of suicide operations. Sometimes they would even be accompanied by a wanted HAMAS terrorist who would regale the audience with first hand accounts of mayhem and murder. These “circuit riders” galvanised support among the impressionable and the committed, generating a flow of contributions that kept HAMAS flush and lethal.
Successfully circumventing INS controls, individuals such as Abdel Aziz Odeh, the spiritual leader of Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) and an unindicted co-conspirator in the World Trade Centre bombing, made multiple visits to the U.S. to fundraise and for purposes of political recruitment. Yusef Al Qaradawi, the Muslim Brotherhood leader who has called for the taking over of the United States and for suicide bombings also travelled throughout the country, as has Kamal Hilbawi, a Muslim Brotherhood spokesman, who advocates attacks on American targets.HAMAS and other Jihadii groups use such visits to propagandise, identify new opportunities, spot and develop new talent and, ultimately, recruit likely prospects. Young Americans blond haired, blue eyed, and carrying American passports are the gold standard. Former military are particularly prized. By virtue of their American citizenship, such operatives can travel the world in the cause of revolutionary Islam, and for the most part, remain above suspicion.
For some 16 years, the head of the political wing of HAMAS, Mousa Abu Marzook, lived in Falls Church, Virginia. The current head of Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), Ramadan Abdullah Shallah, worked as a professor at the University of South Florida. There he taught America’s children, before leaving the United States for Damascus to assume control of the PIJ. Khalid Sheik Mohammad, the architect of the 9/11 attack, went to school in North Carolina. Sami al-Arian, an engineering professor at the University of South Florida, opened a university-affiliated think tank called the World Islamic Studies Enterprise from where he ran PIJ terrorists world-wide. These American-based operatives hid in plain sight. They often chose small towns and cities because they presented, and continue to present, a permissive operational environment.
Some of the most valued al Qaeda operatives have been U.S. citizens. Wadi Al Hage, Osama bin Laden’s former private secretary and a trusted al Qaeda operative, is a U.S. citizen. He attended the University of Southwest Louisiana, and lived in Tucson, Arizona and Arlington Texas. Al Hage was a prime mover in al Qaeda’s entry into the international diamond trade which resulted in a close working relationship between Sunni (al Qaeda) and Shia (Hizbullah) Jihadists. (Jihad makes strange bedfellows.) Al Hage is now serving a life sentence in a maximum-security prison for conspiracy to commit terrorism and for his role in the August 1998 bombings of our embassies in Nairobi, Kenya and Dar Es Saalam, Tanzania.
Ali Muhammad, a former Egyptian Intelligence Officer, became a U.S. citizen and worked at the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Centre at Ft Bragg. There, he lectured on Middle East Culture and terrorism to some of our most sensitive and elite military units. He was widely regarded as an expert on radical Islam, a reputation that was well deserved since he also served as a key bin Laden military advisor, helping to plan some of al Qaeda’s most devastating attacks including the bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi.
Adam Ghadan, convert to Islam and the American spokesman for al Qaeda, was born in California. Attracted to Islam at an early age, he ultimately embraced it in its most radical form. He promotes the concept of an Islamist America under Sharia law and owing fealty to Osama bin Laden.
About The Author: Peter S. Probst For most of his 30-year career, Peter served with the CIA and the Office of the Secretary of Defence. He recently left federal service to establish a private consultancy and to join the Washington-based Institute for the Study of Ter¬rorism and Political Violence as its vice-president and director of programs. Mr Probst’s work while at the DoD primarily focused on the future terrorist threat and the development of strategies, tactics and policy initiatives to more effectively counter it. He co-authored a major and provocative study, Terror-2000: The Future Face of Terrorism, that in the wake of the events of 11 September has gener¬ated new interest and controversy. More recently, he participated in meetings with senior Russian government officials that were held in Moscow in conjunction with a National Academy of Science symposium on how best to combat catastrophic terrorism. Prior to joining the department, Mr Probst served 20 years with the Central Intelligence Agency working in both the directorate of operations and the directorate of intelligence. There, his primary focus was terrorism, insurgency, political violence and international narcotics trafficking.
