Al Qaeda’s Offensive Rhetoric (What Does Al-Qaeda Ultimately Want?)

The New York Post ^ | October 5, 2005 | Raymond Ibrahim

[TheForceOfOne]

Al-Qaeda has shrewdly seen to it that, along with the sword, they also employ the pen in their Holy War. In order to vindicate their actions and rally support, they have orchestrated a series of carefully constructed messages. These messages fall into two distinct genres, each revealing a different goal.

The West is familiar with one of these genres: those many al-Jazeera communiqués and internet statements. Strategically directed towards the West, the gist of these messages is always the same: all the injustices inflicted upon the Muslim world by the West, every conceivable grievance Muslims have experienced at the hands of their adversaries. The litany always includes: unqualified support for the Israeli occupation of Palestine, the Western occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq, the deaths of one million Iraqi children due to sanctions, U.S. support for dictatorial regimes in the Muslim World, and so forth. Every message sent to the West by al-Qaeda always includes these core grievances.

[TheForceOfOne]

Know thy enemy?

[AZLiberty]

Picture the Islamic Republic of France, including nukes. Demographics beats all, if you're patient.

[correctthought]

They just want to be loved......


..... and nothing says love like MOAB.

[TheForceOfOne]

Thus while al-Qaeda tells the West that it is launching a defensive war, that is definitely not the culmination of Islamic teaching on jihad. The fact is, defensive war — that is, “terrorism” — is all that they are capable of for the present. But just as they justify defensive war through the Koran and Tradition, so too do these sources justify offensive war, until the whole world either embraces Islam or lives under its authority in complete submission and humility [Koran: 9:29].

Wow, wait until the Liberals hear about this justification by Islam for an "offensive war", they may actually take Osama off their party ticket before 2008.

[marty60]

Convert or Die....pretty much sums it up. I can't wait to see Cidie Sheehan in a Burka.

[Boundless]

Gullible World: What do you want?

Al Qaeda: You let us jihad. We kill you last.

Gullible World: Well, OK, if you say so.

... not too much later ...

Al Qaeda: Guess what ... we lie to infidels.

[Brilliant]

It's simple: They want what Hitler wanted.

[Enterprise]

"(What Does Al-Qaeda Ultimately Want?)"

HA! This one is easy. Al-Qaeda only wants the Taliban lifestyle. They want to whip women, marry 9-year-old girls, live in caves, and sodomize small boys and goats.

[TheForceOfOne]

They're only doing the job Nazi's were unable to do.

[Tolik]

Raymond Ibrahim:

...But there’s another genre of writing, directed solely to Muslims, and whose clandestine nature rarely makes front-page headlines in the West.  Here the theme is not so much how bad the West is but what Muslims, according to their faith, are required to do. To that end, the two fundamental sources of Islam, the Koran and Tradition (the Word of Allah and the example of the Prophet), are tirelessly cited in al-Qaeda’s writings to remind Muslims of their religious duty — unlike the messages directed to the West, which contain emotional appeals and arguments evoking Western standards of universal justice.

In these writings, Muslims are reminded of the history of Muhammad and his warrior-companions in the glorious first years when Islam was launched by the sword.  Militant verses are continuously hammered out.  Muslims are reminded that these verses are not just historical, but contain literal Truth that transcends time.  Moreover, in contrast to the messages directed to the West, the tone here is much less compromising and concerned with trying to find an amicable and peaceful solution with the West. Far from depicting the Islamic world as a wounded and hunted animal fighting back for its very life, statements such as this by bin Laden are much more aggressive and uncompromising...

...The only reason there hasn’t yet been an offensive jihad is simply because the Islamic World is currently incapable of initiating one — not because they have consciously forfeited the command to establish Islam all over the world by any means necessary.  The last time an Islamic people was capable, it fully engaged in conquest, as memories of the Ottoman Empire’s religiously sanctioned invasions and genocides attest. 

So, in a sense, the infidel West is damned if it does, damned if it doesn’t. If the West voluntarily concedes to the demands of al-Qaeda, that will be perceived as a weakness and will eventually only encourage an offensive jihad. And if the West actually loses the War on Terror, that too will provoke an offensive response, one seen as the natural next stage in the struggle towards the total victory of Islam.  Either way, that lethal combination of revenge and religion will ensure jihad from the Islamic World in order to fulfill what was started in the 7^th century.   

This is an important reminder to those many who, while condemning al-Qaeda’s methods, agree or sympathize with their grievances.  The current battle at hand may ostensibly revolve around those grievances; but the eventual war will ultimately be about militarily establishing Islamic supremacy over the entire globe.   

Some will discount this possibility as implausible since it seems so distant.  But the wild vicissitudes of history prove otherwise, and we owe it to posterity to be vigilant now, when the threat is distant and hardly realizable — if in fact it is — and to take actions to ensure that it never have the capacity to come to fruition. 

Very Interesting!

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[TheForceOfOne]

I'm surprised they don't have their own version of "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" with their own Robin Leach character hosting it.

And over here is where we keep our goats, and over here is where the rapes occur, and over here is where we make the bombs, and over .....

[Aquinasfan]

The truth is very unpleasant, which is why so few people want to face it.

[DannyTN]

"The only reason there hasn’t yet been an offensive jihad is simply because the Islamic World is currently incapable of initiating one " - article

This is an offensive jihad. It's merely pretending to be defensive in order to soften the West's response. The greivances are largely made up.

[DannyTN]

My initial response to reading this is that someone like Bush should call Al Quaida on their hyprocrisy and publicly point out their other teachings which indicate that it's not a defensive jihad.

But that would just cause the Muslims to take sides. As it is, polls might be indicating that Muslim support for Al Quaeda is down. But you know how polls lie.

[layman]

The gullible West has been accepting Muslim immigrants because we find it difficult to believe that they can hate us simply because we are so-called 'infidels'. But, sadly, as is being played out in Europe, they are like a cancer which, if left untreated, rots its host country. It's time for treatment .... it's time for some chemotherapy.

[Oatka]

Remember the movie "Back to the Future"?

Well, "Muslims are reminded of the history of Muhammad and his warrior-companions in the glorious first years when Islam was launched by the sword."

As in "FORWARD TO THE PAST!"

[Valin]

Well put!

[TheForceOfOne]

I was watching CSPAN about a week ago during a press conference and a Liberal reporter asked a question about blah blah blah do you think we are losing the war of wills against the "insert Liberal terminology to soften tone" terrorists and the military spokesman stated that Al Qaeda has its own media propaganda machine designed to influence opinion in the west and weaken are will to carry on the fight.

Then the military spokesman ask the reported if he thought Al Qaeda has had any success, and I swear you could almost read it one the reporters face that the answer was yes and that he knew that meant he was a tool, a shill for the terrorists. I wish I had recorded it.

[Valin]

As it is, polls might be indicating that Muslim support for Al Quaeda is down.

As I keep pointing out 9-11 was their high water mark. since that day, and thanks to Americas response they have been losing EVERYWHERE.

The only way they will start to gain support in the Islamic world is if we withdraw.

[Valin]

Then the military spokesman ask the reported if he thought Al Qaeda has had any success

I keep asking that question to some nervous nellies here.


So far no answers.