Author Topic: Counterterror Adviser Defends Jihad as 'Legitimate Tenet of Islam'  (Read 2369 times)

Desertdog

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No wonder we are losing the war on terror.


Counterterror Adviser Defends Jihad as 'Legitimate Tenet of Islam'

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/05/27/counterterror-adviser-defends-jihad-legitimate-tenet-islam/


The president's top counterterrorism adviser on Wednesday called jihad a "legitimate tenet of Islam," arguing that the term "jihadists" should not be used to describe America's enemies.


    The president's top counterterrorism adviser on Wednesday called jihad a "legitimate tenet of Islam," arguing that the term "jihadists" should not be used to describe America's enemies.

During a speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, John Brennan described violent extremists as victims of "political, economic and social forces," but said that those plotting attacks on the United States should not be described in "religious terms."

He repeated the administration argument that the enemy is not "terrorism," because terrorism is a "tactic," and not terror, because terror is a "state of mind" -- though Brennan's title, deputy national security adviser for counterterrorism and homeland security, includes the word "terrorism" in it. But then Brennan said that the word "jihad" should not be applied either.

"Nor do we describe our enemy as 'jihadists' or 'Islamists' because jihad is a holy struggle, a legitimate tenet of Islam, meaning to purify oneself or one's community, and there is nothing holy or legitimate or Islamic about murdering innocent men, women and children," Brennan said.

The technical, broadest definition of jihad is a "struggle" in the name of Islam and the term does not connote "holy war" for all Muslims. However, jihad frequently connotes images of military combat or warfare, and some of the world's most wanted terrorists including Usama bin Laden commonly use the word to call for war against the West.

Brennan defined the enemy as members of bin Laden's Al Qaeda network and "its terrorist affiliates."

But Brennan argued that it would be "counterproductive" for the United States to use the term, as it would "play into the false perception" that the "murderers" leading war against the West are doing so in the name of a "holy cause."

"Moreover, describing our enemy in religious terms would lend credence to the lie propagated by Al Qaeda and its affiliates to justify terrorism -- that the United States is somehow at war against Islam," he said.

The comment comes after Brennan, in a February speech in which he described his respect for the tolerance and devotion of Middle Eastern nations, referred to Jerusalem on first reference by its Arabic name, Al-Quds.

"In all my travels the city I have come to love most is al-Quds, Jerusalem, where three great faiths come together," Brennan said at an event co-sponsored by the White House Office of Public Engagement and the Islamic Center at New York University and the Islamic Law Students Association at NYU.

BrokenPaw

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Re: Counterterror Adviser Defends Jihad as 'Legitimate Tenet of Islam'
« Reply #1 on: May 27, 2010, 03:31:05 PM »
What's the problem?

"Jihad" is a term that means many things to many people in the muslim world, and only some of them (the ones who have decided to attack the west) equate "jihad" solely with holy war.

It's no more sensical to say we're at war with "jihadists" than it is to say that we're having "mammal" for dinner; yes, it may be true, but it's uselessly imprecise.

We're not at war with terror.  Or with terrorism.  Those are correctly pointed out to be an emotion and a tactic, respectively.

We are at war with people, not things.  We are at war with radical Islamic terrorists.  There. 
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longeyes

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Re: Counterterror Adviser Defends Jihad as 'Legitimate Tenet of Islam'
« Reply #2 on: May 27, 2010, 04:52:23 PM »
If it's not "a holy cause," why are we "the Great Satan?"  Why do those men in black with big scimitars shout "Allah u akbar!" before they take off a head on video?  Perhaps Brennan missed that memo while he was busy studying in Cairo...
« Last Edit: May 27, 2010, 11:21:01 PM by longeyes »
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Headless Thompson Gunner

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Re: Counterterror Adviser Defends Jihad as 'Legitimate Tenet of Islam'
« Reply #3 on: May 27, 2010, 07:46:22 PM »
What's the problem?

"Jihad" is a term that means many things to many people in the muslim world, and only some of them (the ones who have decided to attack the west) equate "jihad" solely with holy war.

It's no more sensical to say we're at war with "jihadists" than it is to say that we're having "mammal" for dinner; yes, it may be true, but it's uselessly imprecise.

We're not at war with terror.  Or with terrorism.  Those are correctly pointed out to be an emotion and a tactic, respectively.

We are at war with people, not things.  We are at war with radical Islamic terrorists.  There.  
Yes, we're at war with terrorists, but we're also at war with the ideologies that drive the terrorists.  This is a struggle of philosophies, a struggle between competing ways to order the world, reason vs Islamic fundamentalism.  This is not merely a struggle between individual people.  

And while it's true that terms like "terrorism", "jihad", and "Islamists" have multiple meanings, in the context here they have specific meanings that are well understood by all.  All except Obama and his people, it seems.  


dm1333

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Re: Counterterror Adviser Defends Jihad as 'Legitimate Tenet of Islam'
« Reply #4 on: May 27, 2010, 09:54:55 PM »
Does this mean that "Crusading" could also be a tenet of Catholocism?

Perd Hapley

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Re: Counterterror Adviser Defends Jihad as 'Legitimate Tenet of Islam'
« Reply #5 on: May 27, 2010, 10:45:46 PM »
Like jihad, "crusading" can be military or peaceful.
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longeyes

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Re: Counterterror Adviser Defends Jihad as 'Legitimate Tenet of Islam'
« Reply #6 on: May 27, 2010, 11:23:33 PM »
What Brennan missed is that certain cultures depend at the root on authoritarianism, the suppression of the individual, and intimidation.  That is "terrorism" up close and personal.
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MicroBalrog

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Re: Counterterror Adviser Defends Jihad as 'Legitimate Tenet of Islam'
« Reply #7 on: May 27, 2010, 11:34:06 PM »
There are some Muslim scholars that define defeating Al-Quaeda and the Iraqi insurgents as a holy Jihad, and  America's war on terrorists to be blessed by Allah. Is that a legitimate tenet?  :angel:
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