Update: Still here...ReadingKnow Thine Enemy

Well, I got a little writers block again and in between that, somebody sent me a link to an interesting site: Liberals against terrorism. Yes, liberals. Their intent seems to be to claim back some of the classic liberal ideas about freedom and security of the US for the Democrat party. Now don't get your panties in a wad. I actually found some interesting materials on the site.

I don't know if you need to register to get to these pages, but, which ever way, I highly suggest reading this project in which they have two of al-Zawahiris books translated into english. The one I am reading now and is most important to our fight against the radical tenets of Islam is called Knights under the prophets banner. This link takes you to the first section. There is a table of additional sections for the book including some analysis. I highly suggest that you read it if you are interested in the mind of a brilliant, ideological madman who sounds about as sane as the next person except he believes he has been at war with the United States for over 40 years, the United States plans for the expansion of Israel, the United States is a slave to the Zionist state and the United States is planning to destroy Islam.

When you read the book, you'll understand why I say he sounds sane and that this view is what compells so many young men to join the jihad, even in the face of near destruction and utter failure of the cause, time and again.

If you are unable to read it from that link, go to FAS: Ayman

Read it and understand the enemy, how his views and strategies in a pre 9/11 world exactly plays out in our current situation.

The Folks at Liberals against terrorism are looking for input on alternative approaches to combatting terrorism. Or, you can read it and we can have a discussion here.

An extract:

"It was then God's will, may He be praised and Whom we thank for the
good and the bad that befalls us, that I should spend three years in an
Egyptian jail that ended in late 1984 but, because of certain private
circumstances, I was unable to return to the arena of Afghan jihad until
mid-1986."

"During my contacts and dealings with those who worked in that arena, several vitally important facts became clear to me and it is necessary to mention them here:

"1. A jihadist movement needs an arena that would act like an incubator where its seeds would grow and where it can acquire practical experience in combat, politics, and organizational matters. The brother martyr-for this is how we think of him-Abu-Ubaydah al-Banshiri, may he rest in peace, used to say: 'It is as if 100 years have been added to my life in Afghanistan.'" {Al-Banshiri drowned in Lake Victoria in 1996.)"

"2. The Muslim youths in Afghanistan waged the war to liberate Muslim land under purely Islamic slogans, a very vital matter, for many of the liberation battles in our Muslim world had used composite slogans, that mixed nationalism with Islam and, indeed, sometimes caused Islam to intermingle with leftist, communist slogans. This produced a schism in the thinking of the Muslim young men between their Islamic jihadist ideology that should rest on pure loyalty to God's religion, and its
practical implementation."

"The Palestine issue is the best example of these intermingled slogans and beliefs under the influence of the idea of allying oneself with the devil for the sake of liberating Palestine. They allied themselves with the devil, but lost Palestine."

Al-Zawahiri says: "Another important issue is the fact that these battles that were waged under non-Muslim banners or under mixed banners caused the dividing lines between friends and enemies to become blurred. The Muslim youths began to have doubts about who was the enemy. Was it the foreign enemy that occupied Muslim territory, or was it the domestic enemy that prohibited government by Islamic shari'ah, repressed the Muslims, and disseminated immorality under the slogans of
progressiveness, liberty, nationalism, and liberation. This situation led the homeland to the brink of the abyss of domestic ruin and surrender to the foreign enemy, exactly like the current situation of the majority of our [Arab] countries under the aegis of the new world order."

Frankly, he reminds me of Rommel who, in writing his memoirs, gave Patton the information and impetus necessary to defeat him.

Read it if you haven't already.