MILNET Briefing - Muslim Extremism News

MILNET Brief
Muslim Extremism News, August 23, 2007

This briefing is an ongoing status report on Muslim Extremism. The impetuous for this report is the obsfucation by news media and indeed human nature which began to focus on the U.S. led war in Iraq as it devolved into a nation wide urban crisis -- the Iraqi Insurgency as it is called by most pundits.

The briefing is comprised of three sections, Overview, Important Focuses, and Links. The Links section will typically link to a page of links derived from a Google search on Terrorist, bombs, attacks, and other keywords that focus on terrorism in general. As anyone who tracks terrorism will admit, there is little terrorism today and quite possibly into the far future that does not have some tie to Muslim Extremism. For more information on that topic, look at the MILNET pages International Terrorist Profiles, Pakistani Import of Militant Islamic Jihadists (MIJs) and Wahhabism. These three pages will have other links which can provide the visitor with a wealth of information on the subject including citations, excerpts and mirrors of important, well respected analysts on the topics.

First a definition

Muslim Extremism is defined by MILNET as active occurrence of violence by terrorists and those extorted or exhorted by terrorists or the terrorists themselves. The occurances can be anything from daily acts to an annual act of violence such as France's now annual car burning supposedly conducted by "angry disenfranchised Muslim Youths". Examples include violence conducted by members of terrorist organizations, those forced into violence by them, or even the so called "Arab Street" when it is clear their activities are in line with the violent Jihad. Jihad, on the other hand, is not always violent -- some uses of the word (whether correct or not) imply something more akin to the Christian Evangelical coercive attempts to dissuade one away from one's own religion to that of another -- in the non-violent case of Jihad, into Islam. Thus it should be clear from the onset, we are talking here about violent Jihad.

In relation to this definition is Wahhabism -- a particular sect practicing Islam teachings related to the Salafiyya. We summarize here, follow the link to Wahhabism and from there to Salsify to see more detailed information. The Islamic teachings in question focus on three major points. Non believers in these particular teachings are evil and even if they ARE Muslims, they can be classified as low as the common infidel, that is to say, lower than pigs and dogs and can be butchered at will. Indeed, the second point is that Infidels and all nonbelievers must be converted and if they cannot or obstruct that conversion, must be killed. The third point is a more modern teaching which is based upon ancient beliefs but which today is supported by radical Imams declaring it to be "God's Fact". The third point is that Jews and anyone who helps the Jew is automatically an infidel and rules one and two apply. Kill them all. Thus Israel, clearly a nation of Jews, and the U.S. and the U.K. who provide broad support for Israel, are clearly nations of infidels and can be destroyed. Indeed, the Muslim Extremist believes it is his or her duty to kill all Israelis, Americans or Brits. This simple explanation can be expanded...for instance, NATO nations, due to their alliances with the U.S. and the U.K., are also nations of infidels...and so on, and so on. Also, other Arab nations, those who do not subscribe to the extremist ideology and who do not govern strictly by Islamic Sharra (Islamic Law), are also nations of infidels and must be overthrown and converted or destroyed. Thus you have a major impetus for the actions and rhetoric of Iran versus most of the Middle East and indeed the entire world.

Overview

Updated: August 23, 2007

The worldwide expression of Muslim Extremism, while masked somewhat by events in Iraq since the U.S. led invasion of that country and the ouster of Saddam Hussein, continues at a brisk pace. On the MILNET blog, a section was active until August of 2007, devoted to the day-to-day activities in a number of regularly violent countries. Of those 18 countries, 90% of the regular violence was attributable to Muslim Extremism. After three months of tracking, MILNET's chief editor ceased the requirement for actively logging the activities in these nations, since the point had been made easily. Daily or at "best" weekly logs of violence by Muslim Extremists continued in those nations and any particular quarter in the years between 2006 through 2007 (or even decades ago in some) would read quite similar. It is the ideology and the resultant violence that creates the activities and until that ideology is destroyed, the activities continue, if not in different regions or cities in those countries.

Here is the list of the nations with regular Muslim Extremist activities as of the date of this update (ordered relative to recent activities):

Iraq - Insurgency, with some 20% to 30% composed of outside instigators including members of Iran and/or Syrian sponsored organizations or by members of Hezbollah, Hamas, and/or Al-Qaeda and associated terrorist groups
Pakistan - home grown Militant Islamic Jihadists of many different flavors, many of which have "exported" to nations around the world to join in Al-Qaeda or associated terrorist groups to foment and participate in the violent Jihad.
Israel - West Bank/Gaza/Golan Heights - Most activities are in the West Bank and Gaza regions, and are usually comprised of members mainly of Hamas or Fatah, and recently attacks between the two as well as against Israelis and those Muslims who work at jobs deemed friendly to Israelis, the U.S. or the U.K. One could generalize and say today this is mostly the result of the continuance of the Infitada, however, this is all bundled up with Palestinian Resistance and the effort to create a new nation of Palestine, something the U.S. tries to generalize politically as "The Middle East Peace Process".
Lebanon - Hezbollah, as a political and "wet works" arm of Iranian and Syrian intelligence agents is the main protagonist in the civil strife in Lebanon. At risk, however, are non-muslims in Lebanon, with huge percentages fleeing (better than 30% of Lebanese Christians for instance have fled in the last three years). Hezbollah continues to blackmail the elected Lebanese government, attempting to force Sharric rule in a nation which is not yet a majority of Muslims. Hezbollah continues to provocate Israel with the usual results of an Israeli incursion or months long high intensity conflict (as occured in the early summer of 2007).
Somalia - Tribal warlords, once professing to be Muslims and following Sharric rule, continue to plague the new government. A major effort to eject the Muslim Extremists (called the Islamic Council) now places those same warlords into new positions of power. This is ironic since their claims to being devout Muslims have proven to be false, they now claim they act in the interest of the nation and people of Somalia, when it is quite clear they act on behalf of their own positions of power and continued flow of wealth into their own pockets. The situation is somewhat exacerbated by other African nations involved in helping Somalia control the violence -- for instance Ethiopian troops incite other violence that stems from age old African national prejudices.
Algeria/Morroco - The Salafist Group for Call and Combat, having changed its name to the Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (literally "al-Qaida in Islamic North Africa") is responsible for a new rash of activity plaguing Algiers and Morocco. The group, like most Muslim Extremists, is intent upon setting up Sharric rule in the region and will stop at nothing to destroy the governments there.
Philippines - Muslim Extremists began a major campaign in 2007 to destabilize the Philippines, having linked up with the former communist inspired rebels. Some believe this effort is related to similar efforts in Indonesia, and most ominously (and quite active) in Thailand.
Thailand - Muslim Extremists began a major campaign in 2007 to destabilize Thailand, beginning in the south where rule of law seemed weakest. It is spreading north and events in major Thai cities are doing what the terrorists desire, frightening the people of the nation and bringing out the iron hand of the Thai government and thus making the beginnings of destabilization of the nation.

Semi-Regular violence occurs in the following nations (ordered alphabetically, not by occurrences of violence):

Bangladesh - Muslim Separtists, perhaps spill over from the Pakistani-India (Kashmir) based conflict
Chad - Tribal and Muslim related, but not exclusively the violent Jihad.
Colombia - Drug lords, not Muslim related, however some reports are that drug operations that have tendrils up into the Mexican border crossing and drug gangs also provide safe haven and transport for terrorists intent upon using the Southern Route into the U.S. across the Mexican border.
Ethiopia - This is typically tribal violence but of late there may be links to the Somalian Aid mission -- i.e. violent protest to Ethiopian military aid (soldiers and equipment on the ground) to Somalia.
India - Muslim in nature, but more of the Kashmir and Pakistani-India conflict as in the dispute over Kashmir and general malise to do with the separation of Pakistan and India decades ago. Unfortunately this is bound up in Pakistani terrorist groups which also have ties to other Pakistani contributed terrorist organizations...for instance al-Qaeda.
Nigeria - This is a socialist/communist derived response to capitalism and what rebels call exploitation of oil resources in the Niger Delta, not really related to Muslim Extremism or the violent Jihad.
Sri Lanka - This violence is primarily hosted by the terrorist group LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam)
Turkey - Occasional Muslim Extremism rears its ugly head in this nation that sometimes belives it is still running the Ottaman Empire. Muslim rule in Turkey is very schizophrenic as a member of NATO, a heritage of hatred of Greece, and an Arab Street that demands more adherence to Islamic Sharra (strict adherence to Islamic Law).
Yemen - Al-Qaeda in Yemen, perhaps the same cells that aided or even planned the attacks on the U.S. Cole, with links to Pakistani indigenous groups as well.

The reader should note that week by week this list might change in order but certainly not in anyway diminish the death and destruction occurring in these countries.

Another country not listed above but which suffers from a genocidal level of Muslim Extremism, albeit within its very government, is the Sudan, whose lack of action in Darfur continues to defy logic or humanitarian reason. Also not listed is Iran, where daily oppression of the moderate Muslims and those of other religions is held behind the veil created by President Ahmadinejad and the clerics that support his regime.

Finally, there are several countries which MILNET has tracked for some time, which seem to flare up from time-to-time. Examples are Myanmar, East Timor, Indonesia, and others in that region of Asia. See the older (but very accurate still) assessments in MILNET's Flashpoints briefings of some years ago.

We might also list (as we indicated earlier) European nations. The United Kingdom has had another series of attacks, this timed aimed at a night spot and its visitors downtown and a Glasgow, Scotland airport. And France, of course, which has one of the largest low income Muslim populations, exeriences an annual riot where supposedly youths go out and burn up cars to reflect their disastisfaction with their economic plight.

Lastly, there are a number of nations which might include western allies and/or whose governments may be hiding a number of civil rights and basic human rights violations, if not simply oppressive to any dissident of their government. The top of this list would China, and somewhere in that list would be Saudi Arabia. Indeed most Middle East Arab nations have questionable governments and thus contribute to Muslim Extremism by providing (willing or through ignorance feigned or real) sanctuary to terrorist group members and indeed organizational logistics). Another country not on the list but which bears watching is Russia. That government continues to take steps that pull back from democratic reforms and the next national elections (if they occur) may be quite telling for the future of that nation and its movement towards a nation of law and democracy. In that regard, as Russia fights its own Chechnyan Muslim Extremists, watch how they deal with the balance between rule of law and the crushing of terrorism.

Another country one does not associate with Muslim Extremism is North Korea which may constitute a nuclear weapons and nuclear weapons delivery systems proliferation threat by its dealing with a number of Muslim nations who aid or profess to Extremist Muslim beliefs. Another such country (not a Muslim issue but ironically siding with a number of Muslim extremists including Ahmadinejad of Iran) is Venezuela and its President Hugo Chavez who appears to be providing passports and other travel aid to Muslim Extremists intent upon taking the Southern Route into the United States across the Mexican Border. There are also reports that Venezuela is also providing Spanish language and adaptation (how to appear to be a Mexican illegal immigrant) lessons to these extremists.

Important Focuses

Updated: August 23, 2007

In this update, we'd like to focus on the Iraq situation. Since January of 2007, the U.S. Congress has been trumpeting their goal to pull the U.S. and its troops out of Iraq, while the Bush Administration has dug its heels in to give the U.S. military a chance to stabilize the country. Soaring violence in the first six months has lessened somewhat since July, and as the so called "surge" has been on the ground, even the New York Times and Washington Post have allowed editorials saying so. The situation remains dire, however, and the Iraqi government, and specifically (if one has to blame a single person responsible for the mess over there) Iraqi leader Prime Minister Nouri al-Malik, have failed to find a means for improved cooperation and decrease in violence between Shiite and Sunni, and of course to control the foreign based terrorists that remain a significant threat to the country's move toward a new democratic nation. Hillary Clinton has made this a 2008 Presidential campaign issue by calling for the Iraqi Parliment to replace Malaki, probably a good idea, but perhaps a little early yet to make that call. Perhaps that is why it is good she is not currently the President.

And while the U.S. Left admonishes the Bush Administration for idealism and incompetence, the fact remains that this centuries (if not millennia) old strife can only be controlled by the Iraqi people (and mostly Sunni and Shiites) themselves. It is clear that while the ideals for change to democracy might exist in Iraq, there is little doubt left that significant will has not yet shown itself. It is not clear that a change is forthcoming, and clearly a new administration in the U.S. in 2008 may be forced to withdraw U.S. support. If that occurs, you can look upon Iraq as a new major problem in the Middle East, even worse than the nationally contained violence there today.

Of course there are the usual idiots who proclaim it would have been better to leave Saddam there -- at least he contained the mess -- ignoring the fact that someone could have overturned his government someday and face this surprise with less preparation or "boots on the ground". In any case, Iraq is both a national security problem for all nations in the world, it is also a political problem for Britain and America as their leaders fight to, ironically, give peace a chance. Again, anti-war nutcases scream that withdrawing U.S. troops will bring immediate peace -- an arrogant fantasy based upon wishful thinking, not factual or even possible without strong, democratic leadership in Iraq.

Links

Terrorist Activities as of August 10, 2007 (860Kb)