The Ideology Behind Islamic Terrorism

Ibn Warraq argues that we must take the beliefs of the jihadists seriously. He believes that the acts of ISIS or other Taliban are carefully and strategically planned operations that are a part of a long campaign by educated, affluent Muslims who wish to bring about the establishment of an Islamic state based on the Shari a, the Islamic Holy Law derived from the Koran, the Sunna and the Hadith. He doesn't believe that the United States was targeted because of its foreign policy, or that it has to do with their socioeconomic background, with poverty as the favorite explanation.

The radicalization of Muslims and Islamic institutions in the United States, Europe, and across the Islamic world has fostered a new generation of Islamist activists, many of them willing to use violence to achieve their aims. In Radical Islam in America, Chris Heffelfinger describes the development of the Islamist movement, examines its efforts and influence in the West, and suggests strategies to reduce or eliminate the threat of Islamist terrorism. The book distinguishes Islamism (the fundamentalist political movement based on Islamic identity and values) from the Muslim faith and explores Islamists' substantial inroads with Muslims and Muslim educational institutions in the West since the 1960s, as well as the larger relationship between Islamist political activism and militancy. Heffelfinger argues that the West has often mischaracterized jihadists as a nihilistic, irrational force desiring nothing but death and destruction. Instead, we need to recognize that Islamists are part of a much broader struggle over the political, social, economic, and legal direction of Muslims around the world. Our failure to understand the motives behind terrorist tactics has resulted not only in ineffective counterterrorism strategies but also in the proliferation of Islamist militants and sympathizers. Among the hundreds of terrorism-related arrests since 9/11, a large number were young, socially alienated Muslims who were moved by the jihadist message but not directed by jihadist networks overseas. That phenomenon—and the ideology behind it—is what Western society and governments must fully understand in order to construct a viable policy to confront it. This book will appeal to scholars and general readers interested in global politics, current affairs, Middle East terrorism, and counterterrorism.

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This is the first anthology designed to enhance the reader's understanding of the multiple dimensions of Islamic terrorism by presenting a cross-section of recent articles and selections from cutting-edge books on the subject.

This is a print on demand edition of a hard to find publication. Examines terrorists¿ involvement in a variety of crimes ranging from motor vehicle violations, immigration fraud, and mfg. illegal firearms to counterfeiting, armed bank robbery, and smuggling weapons of mass destruction. There are 3 parts: (1) Compares the criminality of internat. jihad groups with domestic right-wing groups. (2) Six case studies of crimes includes trial transcripts, official reports, previous scholarship, and interviews with law enforce. officials and former terrorists are used to explore skills that made crimes possible; or events and lack of skill that the prevented crimes. Includes brief bio. of the terrorists along with descriptions of their org., strategies, and plots. (3) Analysis of the themes in closing arguments of the transcripts in Part 2. Illus.

Today's radical Islamist terrorist could be just a breath away from you now: a fellow student, a fellow employee or even the soldier in the next bunk. Americans today are facing an alarming new terrorist threat: 'self-radicalized' terrorists. Unlike previous 'sleepers' like the 9/11 hijackers who infiltrated the United States from abroad, this new breed of 'self-radicalized' terrorists come from within. Many are natural born Americans or immigrants to the U.S. who over time 'self-radicalized' themselves through radical Islamist internet propaganda and undertook terrorist action on their own initiative with little or no guidance from overseas terrorist groups. Unpredictable and often disguised in their previous identity as loyal American university students, government employees, or even members of the US military, this new 'franchise style' of terrorist is difficult to detect. RJ Parker documents in a single volume some of the prominent and frightening recent cases of self-radicalized terrorist strikes in the United States. This book provides a review of: Introduction by Dr. Peter Vronsky - "Why They Hate Us: A Politically Incorrect History of Global Islamist Terrorism"San Bernardino Shootings in California The Boston Marathon Bombings Fort Hood Shootings Sniper Attacks in Washington, D.C Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu Attack, Canada Parliament Hill Shooting, Canada Radicalization Islam versus the West Islamic Terrorism Influence of ISIS Self-Radicalization Recruiting through Social Media WARNING: SOME PHOTOS ARE GRAPHIC

In compiling this annotated bibliography on the psychology of terrorism, the author has defined terrorism as "acts of violence intentionally perpetrated on civilian noncombatants with the goal of furthering some ideological, religious or political objective." The principal focus is on nonstate actors. The task was to identify and analyze the scientific and professional social science literature pertaining to the psychological and/or behavioral dimensions of terrorist behavior (not on victimization or effects). The objectives were to explore what questions pertaining to terrorist groups and behavior had been asked by social science researchers; to identify the main findings from that research; and attempt to distill and summarize them within a framework of operationally relevant questions. To identify the relevant social science literature, the author began by searching a series of major academic databases using a systematic, iterative keyword strategy, mapping, where possible, onto existing subject headings. The focus was on locating professional social science literature published in major books or in peer-reviewed journals. Searches were conducted of the following databases October 2003: Sociofile/Sociological Abstracts, Criminal Justice Abstracts (CJ Abstracts), Criminal Justice Periodical Index (CJPI), National Criminal Justice Reference Service Abstracts (NCJRS), PsycInfo, Medline, and Public Affairs Information Service (PAIS). Three types of annotations were provided for works in this bibliography: Author's Abstract -- this is the abstract of the work as provided (and often published) by the author; Editor's Annotation -- this is an annotation written by the editor of this bibliography; and Key Quote Summary -- this is an annotation composed of "key quotes" from the original work, edited to provide a cogent overview of its main points.