An Inordinate Fear of Terrorism?
comment by Jerry Gordon
Bret Stephens in today’s Wall Street Journal has exposed the ‘pop psychology’ explanations of Islamist terrorism by former CIA forensic psychiatrist and Senior Fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute of the University, Marc Sagerman. We had commented on Sagerman in a November posting on a New York Times Magazine article by Andrea Elliot entitled, “Where Boys Grow Up to be Jihadis”, about the Moroccan hometown of the Madrid train bombers. Sagerman’s new book, “Leaderless Jihad” pins Islamist terrorism on ‘group dynamics’ what I call the ‘boyz ‘n the band’ syndrome.
Here’s what we said back then about Sagerman and his “theory”:
Sageman says that Jihadism is all about social peer pressure and group dynamics. Something that Elliot says the counter terrorism wonks call, by the acronym, BOG (Bunch of Guys) or GOG (Group of Guys). “Religious extremism”, Elliott opines “may play a part”, but it is really “where the boys are” in a Moroccan town like Tetuoan on the soccer fields or sharing a past common experience like prison, that turns them into Jihadis.
What neither Sageman, the former CIA shrink,nor Elliott, the Times Muslim beat writer, emphasize is that the Wahhabi sponsored Mosque in the Moroccan town of Tetuoan may be the igniter of these group dynamics. It is the canards of Islam fostered by fiery Imams that breed disaffection and a thirst for revenge against the unbelievers, whether they were the victims of the 3/11 Madrid bombings, the 7/7 bombings in London and the 9/11 Jihad attacks in America. It is also reflected in the Fort Dix Six in South New Jersey who attended Islamist Mosques in both their vicinity and Brooklyn that fostered hate of the kaffir, or unbelievers, like their Jewish neighbors in Cherry Hill, New Jersey and propelled them to acquire semi-automatic weapons to train for a suicide mission.
Sagerman should read Stephen Coughlin’s brief on Islamic Law and Jihad military doctrine to get the real lowdown. It is all about the Islamic compulsion by the will of Allah to commit jihad against Kaffirs- unbelievers- by killing, conversion and subjugation.
Global View, Bret Stephens, The Wall Street Journal, March 4, 2008
In 1977, Jimmy Carter told Americans to get over their “inordinate fear of communism.” This year, expect to be told to get over your “inordinate fear” of terrorism.
Among politicians, the case is still being made sotto voce. When Barack Obama lists the “common threats of the 21st century” as “nuclear weapons and terrorism, climate change and poverty, genocide and disease,” the suggestion is that Islamist terrorism is one of many problems, and not, as John McCain insists, the “transcendent issue of our time.”
Among policy experts, however, the argument is being stated more baldly. “The fear of terrorism has reached the bogeyman threshold,” writes Marc Sageman, a forensic psychiatrist formerly with the CIA. His new book, “Leaderless Jihad,” is worth reading if only because it makes the best of a bad case.
This case has been made before. “Americans are bedeviled by fantasies about terrorism,” wrote Larry Johnson, a former State Department counterterrorism official, in a New York Times op-ed. “They seem to believe that terrorism is the greatest threat to the United States and that it is becoming more widespread and lethal. They are likely to think that the United States is the most popular target of terrorists. And they almost certainly have the impression that extremist Islamic groups cause most terrorism. None of these beliefs are based in fact.”
Unfortunately for Mr. Johnson, his op-ed appeared in July 2001, two months and a day before 9/11. Mr. Sageman is a more sophisticated observer. He takes the terrorist threat seriously and understands that the U.S. is the chief target. He rubbishes most of the pop-sociological explanations for terrorism, including poverty, sexual frustration and so on. And he argues that, having mainly vanquished the old al Qaeda in Afghanistan, we are now faced with a “third generation” of jihadis who are disconnected from any kind of central organization and therefore harder to detect and thwart.
In Mr. Sageman’s account, this third generation is mostly a byproduct of Muslim anger about the U.S. invasion of Iraq. “The sight of U.S. soldiers fighting Muslims around the world triggers moral outrage and inspires sympathizers to join the movement,” he writes. “The sight of Muslims fighting back provides a heroic model to emulate.” By erasing the U.S. footprint in Iraq, “demilitarizing” the fight against terrorism, working toward a settlement for the Palestinians and otherwise assuaging Muslim sensibilities while making terrorism “uncool,” Mr. Sageman believes the air can slowly be let out of the jihadist balloon. (Continue Reading this Article)
March 4th, 2008 at 11:32 • opinion • STEPHEN COUGHLIN • Wall Street Journal • Marc Sagerman • Bret Stephens • Leaderless Jihad • Global View • 0 Comments •
Note: Comments on articles are unmoderated, and do not necessarily reflect the views of American Congress for Truth, Brigitte Gabriel or the Editor or the staff of American Congress for Truth. Any comments that are off-topic, offensive, slanderous, harassing or otherwise annoying may be summarily deleted at the sole discretion of the Editor. However, the fact that comments remain on the site IN NO WAY constitutes an endorsement by Brigitte Gabriel, the Editor or the Staff of American Congress for Truth.
No Comments
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI
Leave a comment
You need an OpenID login to post a comment. Learn more about setting up an OpenID
You must be logged in to post a comment.
