Separating Jihadists fact and fiction

Glenn Carle dares to write, “Separating Jihadists fact and fiction”

Throughout the history of mankind, insecure men have found their false security in rattling up others, they have been wrong and will continue to err. You cannot have security when others around you are not; neither can you have peace when others can’t.

The Neocons believe in keeping the Americans frightened, and when we are vulnerable, they get away doing things that are not in the interest of our nation. Their polices have done nothing but destruction around the World and they have figured out the formula very well; to rule, you have to keep the public scared all the times and it is okay to manufacture the facts and tread on immorality.

It is like the 6 o’clock news, for 20 minutes all you see is murder, robbery, arson and other evils of the society, it is indeed a minute tiny speck of the truth but not the whole truth. Because you, your family members and your friends have made back home safely. Terrorism is there, but much of it is cooked up by the Neocons and their bonded media men. It is time to dare the scare.

Mike Ghouse is a Speaker, Thinker and a Writer. He is president of the Foundation for Pluralism and is a frequent guest on talk radio and local television network discussing interfaith, political and civic issues. He is the founding president of World Muslim Congress with a simple theme: Good for Muslims and good for the world. His comments, news analysis and columns can be found on the Websites and Blogs listed at his personal website www.MikeGhouse.net. Mike is a Dallasite for nearly three decades and Carrollton is his home town. He can be reached at MikeGhouse@gmail.com

Glenn Carle: Separating Jihadists fact and fiction
12:00 AM CDT on Wednesday, July 16, 2008

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/viewpoints/stories/DN-carle_16edi.ART.State.Edition1.4d54fa7.html

Glenn L. Carle, a member of the CIA's Clandestine Service for 23 years, retired in March 2007 as deputy national intelligence officer for transnational threats.

Sen. John McCain has repeatedly characterized the threat of "radical Islamic extremism" as "the absolute gravest threat ... that we're in against." Before we simply accept this, we need to examine the nature of the terrorist threat facing our country. If we do so, we will see how we have allowed the specter of that threat to distort our lives and take our treasure.

The "Global War on Terror" has conjured the image of terrorists behind every bush, the bushes themselves burning and an angry god inciting its faithful to religious war. The inclination to trust our leaders when they warn of danger is compelling, particularly when the specters of mushroom clouds and jihadists haunt every debate.

In my 23 years in the CIA, I drafted or was involved in many of the government's most senior assessments of the threats facing our country. I have devoted years to understanding and combating the jihadist threat.

From that experience base, I suggest that the next commander in chief base his counterterrorism policies on the following realities:

• We do not face a global jihadist "movement," but a series of disparate ethnic and religious conflicts involving Muslim populations, each of which remains fundamentally regional in nature and almost all of which long predate the existence of al-Qaeda.

Osama bin Laden and his disciples are small men and secondary threats whose shadows are made large by our fears. Al-Qaeda is the only global jihadist organization and is the only Islamic terrorist organization that targets the U.S. homeland.

Al-Qaeda remains capable of striking here and is plotting from its redoubt in Waziristan, Pakistan. The organization, however, has only a handful of individuals capable of planning, organizing and leading a terrorist operation. Al-Qaeda threatens to use chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear weapons, but its capabilities are far inferior to its desires.

Even the "loose nuke" threat, whose consequences would be horrific, has a very low probability. For the medium term, any attack is overwhelmingly likely to consist of creative uses of conventional explosives.

• No other Islamic-based terrorist organization targets the U.S. homeland, is part of a "global jihadist movement," or has more than passing contact with al-Qaeda. These groups do and will, however, identify themselves with global jihadist rhetoric and may bandy the bogey-phrase of "al-Qaeda." They are motivated by hostility toward the West and fear of the irresistible changes that education, trade and economic and social development are causing in their cultures.
These regional terrorist organizations may target U.S. interests or persons in the groups' historic areas of interest and operations. None of these groups is likely to succeed in seizing power or in destabilizing the societies they attack, though they may succeed in killing numerous people through sporadic attacks such as the Madrid train bombings.

• There are and will continue to be small numbers of Muslims in certain Western countries – in the dozens, perhaps – who seek to commit terrorist acts, along the lines of the British citizens behind the 2005 London subway and bus bombings. Some may have irregular contact with al-Qaeda central in Waziristan; more will act as free agents for their imagined cause. We need to catch and neutralize these people. But they do not represent a global movement or a global threat.

The threat from Islamic terrorism is no larger now than it was before Sept. 11, 2001. Islamic societies the world over are in turmoil and will continue for years to produce small numbers of dedicated killers, whom we must stop. U.S. and allied intelligence do a good job at that; these efforts, however, will never succeed in neutralizing every terrorist everywhere.

We must not delude ourselves about the nature of the terrorist threat to our country. We must not take fright at the specter our leaders have exaggerated. In fact, we must see jihadists for the small, lethal, disjointed and miserable opponents that they are.

Glenn L. Carle, a member of the CIA's Clandestine Service for 23 years, retired in March 2007 as deputy national intelligence officer for transnational threats.