In Parts One, Two, and Three, this series has discussed the types of websites and social media that influence would-be radicals, but not the materials that make up their ideology. This edition in the series will discuss prominent English-language magazines that are motivating jihad among Americans.
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“Terrorizing you, while you are carrying arms in our land, is a legitimate right and a moral obligation,” said the cover of the September 2009 issue of Jihad Recollections, a glossy jihadi magazine put out by al-Qaeda graphics artist Samir Khan. “These youths love death as you love life. These youths will not ask you for explanations. They will sing out that there is nothing between us that needs to be explained.”
Jihadi web forums make massive amounts of information available to would-be extremists. Blogs and social media synthesize those materials into a narrative about the suffering of Muslims and the solution of jihad. But it is the materials that peddle violence themselves — particularly the written word — which are the building blocks of terror.
The September 2009 issue of Jihad Recollections focuses on the background, motivation, and “real story” behind the “9/11 raid.” Like a personal tutor, the magazine explores the issues from multiple vantage points. It goes through the causes that motivated the attack in general and the hijackers in particular. As for the economic consequences of 9/11, it proclaims that “you can very well choose to interpret today’s situation as a result of 9/11, and thus maybe” Osama bin Laden “did succeed after all.” Other articles go further into the history and the side stories that show how 9/11 became a “launching pad” for Islamic revival:
It was not an attack on humanity but an attack on the symbols of the new world order that seeks to control the Muslims from within as well as from its external forces. The planes attacking New York and Washington then resulted in setting free the slavery mindset from the Muslims who were lost in the world of confusion. We all saw together the beginning of America’s demise and the rise of Islam’s head.
The glory attributed to attacking America, as outlined in Jihad Recollections, was more than words to some of the magazine’s writers. Abdullah as-Sayf Jones inspired terror through his leadership of the popular blog Revolution Muslim, while authoring the September 2009 issue’s article on the motivations of the 9/11 hijackers.
Another young man acted on the sentiments he read and wrote in the magazine. Mohamed Osman Mohamud, a Somali-American college student, started as a writer for the publication but later carried his violent fantasies to action. He was arrested in late 2010 after attempting to detonate what he thought was a massive car bomb near a Christmas lighting event in Portland.
Mohamud submitted three articles for publication in Jihad Recollections. His articles focused on the practical physical preparations necessary to undertake jihad, like “getting in shape without weights.” In that article, he wrote that a mujahid “must fulfill the obligation of preparing himself physically for jihad … in order to damage the enemies of Allah as much as possible.”
The criminal complaint against him noted that “Mohamud also wrote that it terrorizes the enemy when the Mujahideen strike with speed and planning, and that the ability to carry on for a long period of time is especially helpful during raids on the enemy.”
Why are not more “moderate” Muslims in this world standing up to the monsters that put up these web sites and magazines? Where is THEIR outrage, where is THEIR anger, where are THEIR protests in pulling down web sites and magazines that only want more bloodshed and death? I don’t seem to hear or see them. If they are out there, they do seem kind of quiet to me. They are either in this fight to help civilization, or, by their silence, they are supporting the animals who promote death and destruction over the Internet and in print. Time for the “moderate” Muslims to stand for something and help the rest of the world condemn these killers. Because, if they do not, then they’re no better than the people who run those web sites and magazines.
Thats easy to explain. there are no true ‘moderate’ muslims. Its a simple fact we must face. It is either full on terrorist mode or sypathizers not being a terrorist,.,.,.yet. We as a nation and as a thinking people MUST stop splitting hairs. in a loaf of bread there are many slices. but if one happens to turn green with mold, you throw out the whole loaf. The same can be said with islam. Understand, I dont talk about genocide with joy or with ease. but that is what it will take. I base this on their words and their actions. To be completly honest this is not the first ‘muslim’ problem. They have had 1500 yrs to change, to adapt, to learn. They choose to stay ignorant, and violent. They like it and want to remain primitive animals forever. We cant keep holding back the rest of the world because we ‘dont want to be mean and judge’. Either we move forward or they destroy us and drag everythng back the the 12th century. we wont be safe until every last muslim is dead.
Well, OK, maybe we should try to better understand what motivates these people to commit homicide. But it’s evident from their contorted and mentally stilted justifications that it’s really about their individual need to commit homicide. Their pseudo-intellectual grievance mongering uses vague or generic terms and terminology to describe acts committed by the ‘other’ as justification for murder and this kind of language is always a dead giveaway that it really is about homicide and nothing more. We shouldn’t get too deeply into the Jihadist mentality, though, there’s the danger in this that the Holder Justice Department might someday allow accused Jihadists to enter insanity pleas.
I don’t worry about the jihadis as much as I worry about the liberal elites who seek to keep us (workaday Americans) complacent and in doubt of our own basic right to fight back in order to preserve ourselves, our families, our fellows, and (above all) our distinct American culture (which the elites despise more than anything else).