Washington Times
December 8, 2011
Pg. 7
Terrorists Said To Be Infiltrating Military
'Fort Hood attack was not anomaly,' lawmaker contends at Hill hearing
By Shaun Waterman, The Washington Times
Al Qaeda and other terrorists are trying to infiltrate the U.S. armed forces, which makes military facilities in the U.S. dangerous for American troops, lawmakers said Wednesday.
"The Department of Defense considers the U.S. homeland the most dangerous place for a G.I. outside of foreign war zones - and the top threat they face here is from violent Islamist extremists," Rep. Peter T. King, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said during a special joint House-Senate hearing.
Military officials testified about the homegrown terrorist threat at U.S. military bases in the wake of several attacks, including the November 2009 shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas. Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, 41, has been charged in the killing of 13 people and wounding of 29 others in the worst shootings ever to take place on an American military base.
"The Fort Hood attack was not an anomaly," said Mr. King, New York Republican. "It was part of al Qaeda's two-decade success at infiltrating the U.S. military for terrorism - an effort that is increasing in scope and threat."
The Congressional Research Service has identified 54 homegrown terrorism plots and attacks since Sept. 11, 2001. Of those, 33 were directed against the U.S. military, said Sen. Joe Lieberman, chairman of the Senate Governmental Affairs and Homeland Security Committee.
"The American service member is increasingly in the terrorists' scope and not just overseas in a traditional war setting," said Mr. Lieberman, Connecticut independent.
The publicly disclosed plots and attacks by military insiders "represent the leading edge of al Qaeda's ongoing effort to infiltrate the U.S. military and to recruit or radicalize vulnerable servicemen to commit future acts of terror," according to a report published Wednesday by Mr. King's staff.
There is "reason to believe that the actual number of radicalized troops is far more than publicly realized or acknowledged," the report states.
Officials and lawmakers went into a closed session to discuss radicalized troops and other matters at the conclusion of the hearing.
After the Fort Hood shooting and a similar, attempted attack in 2010, the Pentagon has developed a series of "behavorial indicators" for radical motivations that troops will be encouraged to report if they detect them in their comrades, Paul N. Stockton, assistant secretary of defense for homeland defense, said at the joint hearing.
"Expressing sympathy or support for a violence-promoting organization, associating with terrorists, having a copy of [al Qaeda's] Inspire magazine on your desk - these are behavioral indicators that we apply to focus on the primary threat," he said.
Mr. Stockton denied charges from several Republican lawmakers that the military's approach is hamstrung by political correctness.
"We know who the adversary is. The primary threat is al Qaeda and its affiliates. And everything that we are doing in terms of primary focus of our efforts concentrates on that threat," he said.
Asked repeatedly by Rep. Daniel E. Lungren, California Republican, about his refusal to use the word "Islamic" or "Islamist" when describing al Qaeda, Mr. Stockton said branding terrorists as Muslims plays into their narrative that the United States is at war with Islam.
"Sir, with great respect, I don't believe it's helpful to frame our adversary as 'Islamic' with any set of qualifiers that we might add, because we are not at war with Islam," he said.
Consider the following:
"World View: The Islamic world view divides the world into the House of War and the House of Islam (dar al-harb and dar al-Islam) and a state of war, not peace, perpetually exists between Islam and unbelievers[i],[ii],[iii],[iv],[v],[vi],[vii],[viii],[ix],[x],[xi],[xii],[xiii]. The purpose of waging war is “one of two things: it is either for (the non Muslims) conversion to Islam or the payment of thejizya.”[xiv],[xv],[xvi],[xvii],[xviii],[xix] and jihad becomes the tool for advancing the ideology toward its defined goals.[xx]"
[i] (Book) Pruthi, R.K. The Encyclopedia of Jihad, (Vol 1-9), Anmol Publications, PVT, LTD, New Delhi : (2002, (Vol I), p. 3. The editor was awarded a Phd from Kurukshetra University , Harayana , India , and served as the Deputy Director (Research) at Indian Council of Historical Research, New Delhi .
[ii] (Book) Malik, S.K. The Quranic Concept of War, Adam Publishers, Delhi : (1992), p. 3 of the un-numbered preface. “Islam views the world as though it were bipolarized in two opposing camps –Darus-Salam facing Darul-Harb – the first one is submissive to the Lord in co-operating with the God’s purpose to establish peace, order and such other pre-conditions of human development, but the second one, on the other hand, is engaged in perpetuating defiance of the same Lord. Such a state of affairs which engages any one in rebellion against God’s will is termed as ‘Fitna’ – which word literally means test or trial. The term ‘Fitna’ refers us to misconduct on the part of a man who establishes his own norms and expects obedience from others thereby usurping God’s authority – who alone is sovereign. In Sura Infa’al Chapter 9, Verse 39, it is said, ‘And fight on until there remains no more tumult or oppression and the remain submissive.’”
The author served as a Brigadier General Malik in the Pakistani Army. Endorsing the text as “a useful contribution” to the discussion of jihad General M.Zia-Ul_Haq, Chief of Staff of the Army and later President of Pakistan, noted: “This book brings out with simplicity, clarity and precision the Koranic philosophy on the application of military force, within the context of the totality that is jehad.”
[iii] (Book) Khadduri, Majid, War and Peace in the Law of Islam, Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore (1955), p. 63-64. “It follows that the existence of a dar al-harb is ultimately outlawed under the Islamic jural order; that the dar al-Islam permanently under jihad obligation until the dar al-harb is reduced to non-existence; and that any community accepting certain disabilities - must submit to Islamic rule and reside in the dar al-Islam or be bound as clients to the Muslim community. The universality of Islam, in its all embracing creed, is imposed on the believers as a continuous process of warfare, psychological and political if not strictly military.” Dr. Khadduri founded the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies Middle East Studies Program, Johns Hopkins University and authored more than 35 texts on multiple Islamic issues.
[iv] (Book) Khadduri, Majid. The Islamic Law of Nations: al-Shaybani’s Siyar, Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore: (1966), p.17: “The state of war should, accordingly, come to an end when the dar-al-harb had disappeared. At such a stage the dar al-Islam, as the abode of peace, would reign supreme in the world. It may be argued, therefore, that the ultimate objective of Islam is the achievement of permanent peace rather than the perpetuation of war. Thus the jihad, in Islamic theory, was a temporary legal device designed to achieve Islam’s ideal public order by transforming the dar al-harb into the dar al-Islam.” Dr. Khadduri founded the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies Middle East Studies Program, Johns Hopkins University and authored more than 35 texts on multiple Islamic issues.
[v] (Book) Bernard Lewis, Cultures in Conflict, New York : Oxford University Press: (1995), p. 14. “The world was divided into the House of Islam, where the Muslim faith and law prevailed, and the House of War, where they did not, and between the two there would be a perpetual state of war, interrupted only by truces, until the Word of God was brought to all humanity. For most Muslim writers, Christendom — first Byzantine and then European — was the House of War par excellence.” Dr Lewis is a widely recognized scholar of Oriental Studies and is regarded as one of the West’s leading scholars of the Middle east .
[vi] (Book) Global War On Terrorism: Analyzing the Strategic Threat - Discussion Paper Thirteen, Joint Military Intelligence College , Washington , DC: (2004), p. 39. “The dar al-Islam is in perpetual war with the dar al-harb.” See also, p. 40 “Islam is a peaceful religion that is in perpetual (but not necessarily constant) warfare with the dar al-Harb. ‘This obligation [Jihad] is without limit of time or space. It must continue until the whole world has either accepted the Islamic faith or submitted to the power of the Islamic state.’ Lewis, Bernard, The Political Language of Islam. Chicago, The University of Chicago Press: (1988), p. 73”
[vii] Quran 2:216 Jihad is ordained for you though you dislike it, and it may be that you dislike a thing which is good for you and you like a thing that is bad for your. Allah knows but you do not know.
[viii] Quran 2:193 And fight them until there is no more Fitnah (disbelief and worshiping of others along with Allah) and all and every kind of) worship is for Allah (Alone). But if they cease, let there be no transgression except against Az-Zalimum (the polytheists and wrong doers.)
[ix] Quran 9:5 Then when the Sacred Months have passed, the kill the Mushrikun wherever you find them, and capture them and besiege them, and lie in wait for them in each and every ambush. But if they repent and perform As-Salat (Iqamat-asSalat), and give Zakat, then leave their way free. Verily, Allah is Oft-Forgiving, most Merciful.
[x] (Book) Ibn Rushd, Abu al-Walid Muhammad ibn Ahmad. The Distinguished Jurist’s Primer (Vol 1 -2), Garnet Publishing, Reading , UK : (1994) (Vol-I) p: 454-487. Better known as Averoes, ibn Rushd (d. AH 595/CE1198) served as a Qadi (Jurist) in Seville and Cordova. This text has been incorporated into the “Great Books of Islamic Civilization” initiative by the Center for Muslim Contribution to Civilization, under the patronage of H.H. Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, Amir of Qatar.
[xi] (Book) al-Misri, Reliance of the Traveller. p. 599-605, passim. See specifically “The caliph fights all other people until they become Muslim” p. 603 and “it is offensive to conduct a military expedition against hostile non-Muslims without the caliph’s permission (A: though if these is no caliph, no permission is required.)” p. 602.
[xii] (Book) al-Mawardi, Abu al-Hasan. Al-Ahkam al-Sultaniyya w’al-Wilayat al Diniyya (The Ordinances of Government), Garnet Publishing, Reading , UK : (2000), p. 63.
[xiii] “Despite the fact that Islam is a religion of jihad and war,(emphasis added) its sanctions are to avoid discord, fitna. Haddad, Yvonne. “Muhammad Abduh: Pioneer of Islamic Reform” in Rahnema, Ali, Pioneers of Islamic Revival. World Book Publishers, Beirut (2005), p. 55
[xiv] (Book) Azmi, Islamic Economics, p. 82 : Jizyah. "The term is derived from the ‘jaza’ meaning compensation. In Islamic fiscal terminology the term is used for the levy taken from the non-Muslim inhabitants of the state (ahl al-dhimmah) in lieu of the protection provided to them. Jizyah is the financial obligation upon non-Muslim citizens of the Islamic state in lieu of which they are granted protection of life and property and freedom to practice their religion."… "Jizyah was not only a tribute of military defeat and political subjugation, but rather by its payment the Non-Muslims enjoyed protection and other benefits from the Islamic state."
[xv] (Book) Ibn Rushd, Distinguished Jurist’s Primer, (Vol. I), p. 464 The Muslim Jurist’s agreed that the purpose of fighting the People of the Book, excluding the (Qurayshite) People of the Book and the Christian Arabs, is one of two things: it is either for their conversion to Islam or the payment of the jizya.
[xvi] (Book) Khadduri, Majid. The Islamic Law of Nations: Shaybani’s Siyar. Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore: (1966), p. 5.
[xvii] (Book) Kelsay, John. Arguing the Just War in Islam. Harvard University Press, Cambridge : (2007), p. 102.
[xviii] (Book) The Encyclopaedia of Islam (Vol 2), p.538.
[xix] (Book) al-Misri, Reliance of the Traveller, p. 602.
[xx] (Book) Khadduri, The Islamic Law of Nations: Shaybani’s Siyar. p. 15.
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