US Military Academy Essay Contest

Introductory Note: The figurative bookends to this essay are quotations whose two authors -- Confucius and the late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan -- lived 2400 years apart but whose truth-in-language messages were much the same. Clearly, both of them are written in the spirit of Sun Tsu's admonition that we should "Know The Enemy" and are, word-for-word, as follows:

First, when Confucius was asked what is the first and most important thing he would do if he were placed in charge of the Government of China, he responded:

"It would certainly be to correct language. If language is not correct then what is said is not what is meant. If what is said is not what is meant, then what ought to be done remains undone. If this remains undone, then morals and acts deteriorate. If morals and acts deteriorate, justice will go astray. If justice goes astray, the people will stand about in helpless confusion. Hence, there must be no arbitrariness in what is said. This matters above everything."

Second, when Moynihan (a great man of words himself) addressed the "war of words" aspects of the Cold War, he voiced grave concern about the insidious and mind-bending problem of semantic infiltration -- which he defined as follows:

"Simply put, semantic infiltration is the process whereby we come to adopt the language of our adversaries in describing political reality. The most totalitarian regimes in the world would call themselves ‘liberation movements.’ It is perfectly predictable that they should misuse words to conceal their real nature. But must we aid them in that effort by repeating those words? Worse, do we begin to influence our own perceptions by using them?”

In context of the War on al Qaeda-style Terrorism -- which this essay labels "Cold War II," as well -- it becomes vitally important that we learn and prudently begin using those several Qur'an-compatible words which describe the Fascist-Left and patently evil nature of what the enemy calls "Jihadi Martyrdom" but which is, instead, "Irhabi (terroristic) Murderdom" and also "The al Qaeda Apostasy" against authentic, Qur'anic Islam.

JIM GUIRARD

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In 1999, a decade after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Harvard University Press finally published the English language edition of “The Black Book of Communism.” This brought home to us a controversy begun by the French and German editions in 1997: Was Soviet Communism as inherently evil as Nazism and Fascism, or perhaps even worse?

A time will come -- hopefully, only a few years from now, rather than a few decades -- when a similar book will be written, called "The Black Book of The al Qaeda Apostasy." The question then will be "Was neo-Leninist and fascist-Left bin Ladenism as inherently evil as Communism and Fascism were -- or perhaps a nasty mutation combining the worst of both: jackboot, hyena-like murderdom behind a pseudo-religious mask which calls itself "holy" and "Godly" and worthy of Paradise.

Back to Communism, from its counter-revolutionary (it overthrew not the Czars but an infant revolutionary democracy) beginnings in 1917-18, Vladimir Lenin's version of Karl Marx's utopian "dialectical materialism" held itself out as a heaven-on-earth pseudo religion. In the holy name of "the people," the single-party Leninist State would play the all-powerful role of God.

It was in this omnipotent role of judge, jury and executioner that Josep Stalin brainwashed and terrorized his way into the Russian psyche as a virtual demi-god -- sometimes attacking religion, sometimes manipulating it to advantage. During periods when infiltration and co-option of religion rather than frontal attack on it were the Soviet tyranny's preferred approaches, its modus operandi was reflected in Lenin's cynical pronouncement that

"We find our greatest success to the extent that we inculcate Marxism ...[substitute bin Ladenism] ... as a kind of religion. Religious men and women are easy to convert and win, and will easily accept our thinking if we wrap it up in a kind of religious terminology.”

Note: A later and central element of this thesis will relate this Leninist deceit to the 1970s advent of so-called "Liberation Theology" in far-Left elements of the Catholic Church in Central and Latin America, and among certain "progressive" (socialist) communities in the United States and Europe. This was a highly seductive precursor of the current practice of so-called "Jihadi Martyrdom" -- a form of "Irhabi Murderdom" or terroristic genocide which has nothing more to do with "holiness" than Communist "liberation" had to do with liberty.

But, returning to the "Black Book," what made this compendium of essays so persuasive was the fact that the illegitimate origins and evil practices of Leninism, Stalinism, Brezhnevism and their subsequent iterations of fascist-Left socialism were described and condemned not by alleged “right-wingers" but by several former left-wingers and fellow-travelers, instead.

These were people who had received the plenary indulgence once granted by the late French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre for any and all crimes ever committed by the Lenin-Left. Challenged during one of his anti-American, anti-capitalist diatribes to comment upon the brutalities of Soviet Communism, Sartre huffily responded; “Il n’y a pas d’enemies a Gauche!” (Translation: There are no enemies – no evil – on the Left. All evil is on the Right.)

Of course, it is only in Orwellian “Newspeak” that such a good-versus-evil distinction can be made between Lenin’s International Socialism (Communism) and Hitler’s National Socialism (Nazism). However, despite their moral -- no, their immoral -- equivalence by any objective standard, an unholy combination of Soviet propaganda and Western gullibility succeeded in depicting these twins of tyranny as geo-political opposites and moral alternatives.

Semantic Slight-of-Hand -- Both Leninist and bin Ladenist

Absolutely essential to this semantic slight-of-hand was Soviet Communism’s enormously self-serving depiction of Nazism and Fascism – both socialist and, therefore, both clearly leftist -- as belonging to the far-right end of the socio-political spectrum, instead. All the easier then to demonize “right-wing Fascism” and to glorify “left-wing Communism” if both the words and the straight-line continuum could be manipulated to portray them as ideological opposites. Left is opposite right, n’est-ce pas?

And by very similar tactics today, the IslamoFascists are painting a self-serving picture in which all of the good, holy and Paradise-bound elements are hovering like a giant halo over their own heads, while all the evils of the "unbelievers" and of the Great Satan are represented entirely by America, the West, Christianity and Judaism -- and, of course, by any and all “apostate” Muslims who disagree. Holiness is the opposite of "unbelief," n'est-ce pas?

The difficulty of escaping the clutches of such a linguistic deceit -- particularly after years of repetition -- is perhaps best described by the Austrian philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein’s observation on the power of habit of language. With respect to a mistaken mind-set which had once afflicted the community in which he had grown up, he explained: “ A picture held us captive, and we could not get outside it. For it lay in our language and language seemed to repeat it to us inexorably.”

And so it is with our erroneous left-right rhetoric and the mental picture of a straight-line continuum which combine to perpetuate the semantic scam. Even if we know better, the picture holds us captive and the words repeat the deceit -- just as we are today "repeating inexorably" the self-canonizing Salafi-Wahhabi-Muslim Brotherhood-UBL language of "Jihadi Martyrdom." Say it a thousand times and make it your own.

Unfortunately, the only correct model by which to categorize such isms suffers from a serious deficiency. It has no descriptive words – no existing lexicon – by which to convey its revised messages. This is a model which relies not on the disinformational straight-line continuum but on a circle, where Left and Right not only meet but largely overlap in the barbaric and "playing God" ways they mistreat human beings.

Coincidentally, there is the similar lack of an adequate lexicon of truthful Arabic and Islamic words and labels for use in combating the patently false but highly seductive pseudo-religious language of the Terrorists -- whose brutal ideology will have to be positioned somewhere on that circle, so that we might better "Know the Enemy" in relation to other world-class enemies of Civilization.

But in the absence of such a proper (and correctly labeled) frame of reference, the false left-right depiction has for decades seduced all too many “experts’ in the media, in academia and among the foreign policy elite. These are people of letters who should have realized, despite the false labeling, that both of these socialist “isms” were, and remain, de facto clones of each other -- as well as the original "Axis of Evil" forebears of today's neo-Leninist Sayyid Qutbism and Osama bin Ladenism.

A Communo-Fascist Caliphate?

Two years after President Bush uttered the "Islamofascist" and "Islamic Fascists" invectives for al Qaeda-style Terrorism that were already in the language, a heated controversy continues as to whether such harsh condemnations are appropriate. Not surprisingly, left-wing and hate-Bush critics who even during a time of war have repeatedly vilified the President as a "fascist" and a "Nazi" and a "Hitlerite" are resisting these same labels for the genocidal likes of UBL, Ayman al Zawahiri and their Jihadi jackals.

To interpret the complex and highly significant implications of the "fascist" label -- which is the modern-day codeword for unpardonable EVIL -- we must look carefully at not only its origins in Mussolini's Italy, but also at (a) its subsequent distortions by Soviet propagandists and (b) its current meanings, both true and false, as it now applies to Terrorism.

First, although "Fascism" is associated almost entirely with the alleged "right-wing," the word and the ism were actually coined and instituted in the 1920s and 30s not by a "right-wing capitalist" but by a radical Italian Marxist-cum-Socialist egomaniac, Benito Mussolini. Drawn from the ancient Roman symbol of a bundle of sticks fastened by vines at each end -- the so-called "Fasces" -- its socio-political message was that one can break a stick but not a bundle of sticks: i.e., in unity (or in this case in collectivism) there is strength.

Second, simultaneously in nearby Germany, another egomaniacal socialist madman, Adolf Hitler, was imposing a similar single-party, police-state ideology called "NAZIism" -- the German acronym for National Socialist German Workers Party. Both of these command economies were socialist to the core but not yet focused on nationalizing (i.e., on communizing) everything in sight. For the time being, tyrannical control over the means of production and distribution to a degree that was tantamount to ownership would be sufficient -- as would surely be the case in a tyrannical Caliphate.

Third, also during the 1920s and 30s, yet another variety of tyrannical socialism -- Leninism/Stalinism -- was taking hold in Russia and its former Czarist Empire. The result was that by the mid-1930s there were three socialist juggernauts in place in Europe, competing for lands to conquer and peoples to subjugate. This was the original Gestapo/Gulag chopping block -- with virtually all traditional Western institutions and pluralist values under attack and slated for eventual control, if not for total elimination.

Once the troublesome Jews and their transcendental loyalty to God and to Jerusalem had been disposed of, the loyal-to-Rome Catholics and the loyal-to-the-Bible Protestants would be next -- with no loyalties permitted other than to Stalin's "Peoples Paradise" and to Hitler's "Thousand Year Reich." The latter was, of course, cynically patterned after the Bible's prophesy of a thousand year rule of peace and prosperity by a risen Jesus Christ following Armageddon and the Rapture.

Fourth, it was in June of 1941 that an over-confident Hitler double-crossed his Soviet allies (of Molotov-Ribbentrop Treaty infamy) and invaded Russia with the same ferocity with which he had already subjugated much of Western and Central Europe. And it was at this point that "fascist" was to take on a terrible new meaning, and to become the universal moniker for brutish and unpardonable evil -- which argues that it fits bin Ladenism like a glove, or like the black face mask which has become the trademark of its assassins.

A Left-Right Soviet Scam

En parlant du Diable, as the French would say, it can be expected that UBL's proposed worldwide Caliphate would feature virtually all of the repressions and cruelties of both Leninism and Naziism/Fascism, which are designed for repressing the individual and deifying the all-powerful God-State. That is quite clearly bin Laden's arrogant and self-serving goal as well. More particularly, all three of these isms are pseudo-religious scams of the Heaven-on-Earth variety -- organized and sustained in keeping with Lenin's cynical tactic of presenting Marxism "in a kind of religious terminology."

It is in this spirit of spin, scam and deceit that the fascist-Left Communists created the so-called "Liberation Theology" heresy, condemned as such by the late great Pope John Paul ll in the 1970s and 80s. And it is in a similar neo-Leninist spirit of apostasy (Irtidad or Ridda) and of "playing God" (Istihlal) that Osama bin Laden is today promoting his pseudo-Islamic war of "Jihadi Martyrdom" -- falsely promising a sex-orgy Paradise as a reward for dreadful acts of sinful criminality which, according to the Qur'an itself, will send both him and his kind to Eternal Hellfire (Jahannam), instead.

But while al Qaeda leaders and activists are clearly "fascist" and jackboot illiberal to the core, this does not necessarily apply to their professed religion of Islam -- no more than the Catholic leaders of the Spanish Inquisition, or the Protestant leaders of the Salem Witch Trials, or the Rev. Jim Jones in Guyana, or the "Branch Davidian" David Koresh in Texas, or the Grand Wizards of the Ku Klux Klan embodied the essence of Christianity.

In the long run, this enormous religion of 1.4 billion souls should be viewed and labeled as "fascist" and inherently EVIL only to the extent that it embraces or acquiesces in the sinful criminalities of what quite clearly constitutes the The al Qaeda Apostasy -- a satanic deviancy which, in Quranic Islam, should render the fomenters of terroristic genocide outside the religion (khawarij) in this life and headed for perdition in the next.

The question now is whether "Authentic Islam" (Qur'anic as opposed to parochial and often unreliable Shari'a) will rise to the challenge, draw an eternally bright line between itself and its in-house deviants and avoid being perverted into nothing but a perpetual AQ-style killing machine.

Fascist Fidel and Cubazuela's Chavez -- IslamoFascism's "Cold War II" Allies

Unfortunately, certain elements of the original Cold War still remain -- and in many ways suggest that this "War on Terrorism" and this "Long War" should actually be called Cold War II, for that is the largely ideological conflict with which it is most analagous by far.

With the collaboration of many American and West European “progressives,” the same left-right mislabeling continues to this day with respect to the planet’s longest-reigning and most interventionist communist dictator ever, Fascist Fidel Castro of Cuba -- who is in many ways the "Liberation Theology" proto-type of UBL and his murderous so-called "Jihadi Martyrdom."

Indeed, at a time when reactionary-Left illiberals continue to whitewash the horrendous human rights record of Fidel Castro's Cuban Gulag, it is prudent that we take a close look at just who this aging "Socialism or Death" tyrant actually is and why, even as a militant atheist, he is so much a comrade in arms of the radical Islamists -- who are supposed to despise "unbelievers," unless their REAL religion is "Death to America."

This is particularly worrisome when just to his south an oil-rich Venezuela, led by another Comandante-for-life, Hugo Chavez, is flirting even more actively than a quasi-comotose Castro is with the murderous Caliphate-seeking (i.e., imperialist and colonialist) likes of al Qaeda, Hamas, Hizballah, the Syrians, the Iranians, the North Koreans, and every other anti-Western fanatic on the planet -- often with encouragement from Russia and China.

Returning to Fascist Fidel himself, and to the shame of many Castroite "progressives" in his American fan club, here is a man who, in his "young intellectual" days, idolized both the racist Adolf Hitler and the ego-maniacal Italian socialist dictator Benito Mussolini -- and who is now entering into an equally unholy alliance with bin Laden's and al-Zawahiri's Islamo-fascist crusade for world domination ("Allah willing," as they say).

This should make any true liberal retch in revulsion: Castro’s life-long embrace of policies reminiscent of both Hitler and Lenin -- and also very indicative of what a future Osaman Caliphate would be like, as well. It would be a ruthless regime of racism, anti-Semitism, anti-Christianity, homophobia, sexism, imperialism and wholesale repression of human rights and civil liberties.

Those naïve souls who excuse this brutal record by citing Cuba's [or Hizballah's or Hamas'] grassroots literacy programs and broad-based but rudimentary health services should recall that two of Nazi Germany's favorite bragging points involved the education of "Hitler Youth" and the physical fitness of the German people -- all the better to serve Hitler's anticipated "Thousand Year Reich," of course.

As Dr. Enrique Canton and Dr. Sergio de Paz of the Florida-based Commission of Studies for the Freedom of Cuba have observed: "... education and health are used in the island-prison as implacable instruments of ideological, mental and psychological control of the unfortunate citizens." Hizballah and Hamas have learned their lessons well.

Proofs of “The al Qaeda Apostasy “

Just as the Communists' fraudulent "Theology of Liberation" narrative must be brought down by a truthful counter-narrative -- identified below as a "Rights of Liberty" alternative -- so must neo-Leninist Osama bin Laden's equally fraudulent and apostate narrative of "Jihadi Martyrdom" be defeated and relegated, as Ronald Reagan once put it, "to the trash heap of History."

This must be done not only by force of arms but also by truthful Arabic and Islamic words and by the necessary fatwas (the religious edicts) and socio-religious resolutions which condemn UBL and his suicide killers as the apostates and the infidels to Quranic Islam they most certainly are -- and subject them to the eternal damnation prescribed by the Qur'an.

This is very much the language of the remarkable but largely ignored March 11, 2005 fatwa (religious edict) by some 40 Spanish Muslim clerics who sharply condemned bin Laden as an “apostate” and an “infidel” – and as guilty of the mortal sin of “istihlal” (the supremely arrogant offense of concocting one’s own self-serving perversion of Qur'anic Law).

And it was also the similar but, again, largely ignored language of a May 17, 2005 fatwa by 58 Muslim clerics, scholars and jurists in Pakistan, whose edict condemned to "Hellfire" those "brainwashed" individuals who think they will achieve Paradise by the wanton killing of fellow Muslims.

Of course, these were true fatwas. But there are also widely circulated and highly regarded edicts which are unauthorized, false and intentionally fraudulent -- such as those in 1996 and 1998 by which Osama bin Laden arrogantly and without any clerical authority whatever declared his infamous "Jihad Against America and the West." In authentic religious terms, this was nothing but a pseudo-Islamic scam -- no more "holy" than the genocidal killers who concocted and are fomenting it.

Its more appropriate name is the Al Qaeda Apostasy -- al-Irtidad (or al-Ridda) al Qaeda -- a perversion of authentic Islam which (in the name of Allah, of course) threatens to turn that religion into nothing but a 'round-the-clock killing field of Pol Pot proportions. Beneath its many false labels, it is cultic and satanic violation of many of the fundamental precepts of Qur'anic Islam -- including such sinful transgressions and such multiple proofs of the Apostasy as:

• Wanton killing of innocents and noncombatants, including many peaceful Muslims
• Decapitating the live and desecrating the dead bodies of perceived enemies
• Committing and enticing others to commit suicide for reasons of intimidation
• Fomenting hatred among communities, nations, religions and civilizations
• Ruthless warring against nations in which Islam is freely practiced
• Issuing and inspiring unauthorized and un-Islamic fatwas (religious edicts)
• Using some mosques as weapons depots and battle stations, while destroying others
• Forcing extremist and absolutist versions (and perversions) of Islam on Muslims, when the Quran clearly says that there shall be "no compulsion in religion"
• Distorting the word "infidels" to include all Christians, all Jews and many Muslims, as well -- when the Qur'an calls them all "Children of the Book" (the Old Testament) and "Sons of Abraham," and calls Jesus one of Islam's five main Prophets
• Deliberate misreading, ignoring and perverting of the Qur'an and the Islamic Jurisprudence (the Fiqh)

All of this constitutes a monumental blasphemy (or apostasy, choose your word) against the "peaceful, compassionate, beneficent, merciful and just" Allah who is repeatedly so described by the Quran.

But, wonder of wonders, Osama's multiple perversions of Islam and de facto desecrations of the Qur'an -- which are a thousand times worse than Salman Rushdie's alleged offenses in "The Satanic Verses" -- are shielded from death sentences and eternal damnation by the halo of so-called "Jihad." While that halo is a patently false one, it is made to seem true by the fact that so many of us (its intended victims) mindlessly parrot bin Laden in calling it holy and Paradise-bound.

Now, almost six years after the suicide mass murders of September 11, 2001, it is high time that we discover the correct Islamic words for such sinful atrocities and proactively begin using them to advantage -- rather than continuing to lip-sync with Osama bin Laden, at the risk of our lives and those of our children and grandchildren.

The Word Is "Hirabah" -- Forbidden “War Against Society”

Of course, there is a word for the slaughterhouse kind of warfare which violates all of the Qur'anic prohibitions listed above, despite our sophomoric inability to have found it by now. It is the ancient word Hirabah (pronounced hee-RAH-bah), which the Islamic Jurisprudence (the Fiqh) defines as a forbidden "war against society" -- or what we now call "genocidal terrorism" or "crimes against humanity."

In his seminal article on Hirabah in the Fall 2001 issue of Muslim World, the renowned University of Michigan scholar of Islam, Prof. Abdul Hakim (a.k.a., Sherman Jackson), confirms this interpretation as follows:

"In the end, however, Hirabah assumes its place as an effective super-category hovering above the entire criminal law as a possible remedy to be pressed into service for the more sensational, heinous or terrifying manifestations of these and other crimes. In this capacity, Hirabah appears, again, to parallel the function of terrorism as an American legal category. Its function is not so much to define specific crimes but to provide a mechanism for heightening the scrutiny and/or level of pursuit and prosecution in certain cases of actual or potential public violence.

"In sum, we may conclude that it is terror, or the spreading of fear and helplessness, that lies at the heart of Hirabah. From this perspective, Hirabah speaks to the same basic issue as does terrorism in American law. As mentioned earlier, however, Hirabah actually goes beyond the FBI definition of terrorism, inasmuch as Hirabah covers both directed and coincidental spreading of fear…. Hirabah, as it turns out, [once was and should be seen again as] the most severely punished crime in Islam, carrying mandatory criminal sanctions."

Of a more recent vintage is the highly acclaimed 2006 book by UCLA Legal Scholar Khaled Abou El Fadl, "The Great Theft: Wrestling Islam From the Extremists." In it, Professor El Fadl points out that the al Qaeda-style radicals "entirely ignore the Qur'anic teaching that the act of destroying or spreading ruin on this earth is one of the gravest sins possible -- fasad fi al-ard, which means to corrupt the earth by destroying the beauty of creation. This is considered an ultimate act of blasphemy against God. Those who corrupt the earth by destroying lives, property and nature are designated as mufsiduun (corruptors and evildoers) who, in effect, wage war against God by dismantling the very fabric of existence... the crime is called Hirabah (waging war against society)."

But, looking back in history, we find that the widespread pillaging, enslaving and wanton killing of entire communities and tribes by Crusaders and by ruthless barbarians and brigands gradually subsided, and the powerful Islamic word which had been used since the 10th and 11th centuries to condemn such atrocities gradually faded from use. Obviously, it must now be rediscovered and resuscitated.

Indeed, it is only by the assertive and insistent use of this truthful term, along with half a dozen others which follow from it, that the false and blasphemous language -- the narrative -- of "Jihadi martyrdom" (a bunch of holy guys destined for Paradise as a glorious reward for murdering "infidels" like us) can eventually be defeated. Some of these other essential words are as follows:

irhab (eer-HAB) -- Arabic for terrorism, thus enabling us to call the al Qaeda-style killers irhabis, irhabists and irhabiyoun rather than the so-called "jihadis" and "jihadists" and "mujahideen" and "shaheeds" (martyrs) they badly want to be called. (Author's lament: Here we are, almost six years into a life-and-death War on Terrorism, and most of us do not even know this basic Arabic word for terrorism. Once we do, we can finally begin re-labeling "Jihadi Martyrdom" as the "Irhabi Murderdom" it really is.)

Hirabah (hee-RAH-bah) -- Unholy War and forbidden "war against society" or what we today call crimes against humanity. Among the many crimes and sins which constitute this most "unholy war" are such willful, and unrepented transgressions as those enumerated above in the Proofs of Apostasy section.

Jihad al Akbar (gee-HAHD ahl AHK-bar) -- this "Greater Jihad" is a personal and spiritual struggle or striving to become closer and more faithful to Allah and his teachings as set forth in the Qur'an.

Jihad al Saghir (gee-HAHD ahl Sahg-HEER) -- "Lesser Jihad" can be a physical -- and even a military -- struggle to protect or to free Muslims and non-Muslims from oppression, but only in strict accordance with reasonable and non-terroristic standards set forth in the Qur'an, which provides that only the Caliph (or head-of-state?) can legally declare such a Jihad. Osama bin Laden is neither.

Jihad al Kabir (gee-HAHD ahl kha-BEER) -- the spiritual and intellectual quest to promote common knowledge of Divine Revelation through all of Allah's Prophets and to carry out ijtihad (consultative efforts throughout the Umma) in applying both Revelation and Natural Law -- and Reason -- to human affairs.

"Jihad" (gee-HAHD, so called) -- al Qaeda's false label for both Irhab and Hirabah, which is at heart an anti-Islamic, apostate and forbidden "war against society" and a satanic assortment of "crimes against humanity," such as the many ruthless and willful violations of Qur'anic standards listed above.

mufsiduun (moof-see-DOON) -- Islam's word for evildoers, sinners and corrupters whose criminality and sinfulness, unless ended and sincerely repented, will incur Allah’s ultimate condemnation on Judgment Day; Islam's optimum antonym for "mujahiddin."

munafiquun (moon-ah-fee-KOON) -- hypocrites to Islam who pretend to be faithful to the Qur'an but who willfully violate many of its basic rules, mandates and prohibitions. Once again, please refer to the ten AQ-style transgressions listed above.

hizb (hizb) - a political party, as in Hizballah (Party of God), or as the senior Saudi cleric Sheik Jafar Hawali recently called this radical and warmongering Shi’a organization Hizb al-Shaitan (Party of Satan, Party of the Devil).

Jahannam (jyah-HAH-nahm) – Islam’s antonym for Paradise and meaning the Eternal Hellfire to which Allah on Judgment Day condemns unrepentant, unforgiven evildoers and hypocrites of the unholy war variety.

khawarij (kha-WAH-reej) -- outside-the-religion and outside-the-community individuals and activities; derived from the ancient al Qaeda-like militant Khawar or Kharajite sect, whose AQ-like deviants and "Takfiri" (see below) were eventually suppressed as apostates and enemies of authentic Islam.

istihlal (eesh-tee-LAHL) -- Islam's cardinal sin of "playing God," as Osama bin Laden is doing when he attempts to pervert Islam into his own murderous image, and turning it into nothing but a meat grinder -- or at least an enslaver of all Christians, all Jews and all Muslims who happen to disagree.

irtidad (eer-tee-DAHD) and ridda (REE-dah) -- apostasy, a certifiably correct conviction for which is punishable by death in this life and by Allah's eternal damnation in the next, with al Qaeda's murderous extremism eventually to be labeled "The al Qaeda Apostasy."

takfir (takh-FEER) -- the Wahhabi and al Qaeda-style practice of making wholesale (and largely false and baseless) accusations of apostasy and disbelief toward Allah and the Qur'an. Those radicals, absolutists and judgmental fanatics who engage in this divisive practice of false witness and of unwarranted excommunication are called "takfiri."

Shaitan and shaitani (shy-TAHN and shy-TAHN-ee) – Islam’s Arabic words for Satan and satanic [example: Osama Abd'al-Shaitan, Osama, Slave or Servant of Satan]

While there are at least as many more Arabic and Islamic words which could and will be added to any such Glossary of anti-Terrorism, this is at least a decent start. It consists mainly of words and meanings that the al Qaeda, al-Sadr and al-Shaitan killers do not want us to know or ever to use in making them, rather than us, the real enemies of authentic, Qur'anic Islam.

And incidentally, it comes at a time when (even after almost six years of the Global War on Terrorism) there is no work-a-day US Government-approved lexicon or glossary of terms at all. Not in the Pentagon. Not in the State Department. Not in the White House. Not even in the Intelligence Community. In both the ongoing "war of words" and the overlapping "war of ideas" this is definitely NOT a good idea.

Logically, once our scholarly experts, our Public Diplomacy spokespersons and our national leaders know the words Irhab and Hirabah and the labels mufsiduun and munafiquun for those who are waging this forbidden "war against society," we should be using these terms prudently but also assertively to demonize those who are so relentlessly and so falsely trying to demonize us

Petraeus Aide Calls For a "New Lexicon"

In his June 2007 State Department E-Journal article, "New Paradigms For 21st Century Conflicts," (posted in SmallWarsJournal.com on June 23), Dr. Dave Kilcullen of General David Petraeus' senior staff in Baghdad called for, among other things, a "New Lexicon" for better defining and more effectively defeating enemies who subscribe to the faith-based mantra of "Death to America, the Great Satan." A good "baker's dozen" start on that new lexicon appears above.

In other public statements and in several SWJ.com postings, Dr. Kilcullen has entered very slowly, very prudently into the virtually verboten realm of attacking AQ-style Terrorism in Islamic religious context, rather than in Western secular terms only -- referring to the assorted terrorists as "munafiquun" (hypocrites to authentic, Qur'anic Islam) and pointing out that "they call themselves mujahideen" but are doing barbaric things which are anything but holy.

To which this word warrior says: Spot on !! Two small steps for a good man, two giant steps for truth-in-language and truth-in-Islam in this "Cold War II" against AQ-style Terrorism -- namely, Irhabi Murderdom and the al Qaeda Apostasy, as this essay recommends as its most appropriate new names.

But even these two measured Kilcullen attacks on the terrorists' religious legitimacy were in conflict with the State Department's (and thus the entire Government's) basic rule in such matters. As stated on page 25 of the December 2006 "US National Strategy For Public Diplomacy and Strategic Communication," the official advisory is, in part, as follows:

"Use caution when dealing with faith issues. Government officials should be extremely cautious and, if possible, avoid using religious language,.. [Emphasis added] ...because it can mean different things and can be easily misunderstood..."

In respectful contradiction to this "avoid using religious words" directive, this writer (thanks to SWJ.com editors) has been able to post four recent essays supportive of Dr. Kilcullen's specific acts of re-labeling and his general call for expanding this line of counterinsurgency to its full potential. The dozen Arabic and mostly Islamic words listed and defined above offer the beginnings of that now almost empty "war of words" arsenal.

General Jim Mattis -- Attacking AQ Terrorism as "tyranny in false religious garb"

By fortunate circumstance, LT General. James Mattis -- CG of USMC Central Command and of the 1 MEF at Camp Pendleton, and the Marine Corp's premier counterinsurgency (COIN) expert -- has also inserted himself into the religious and/or the pseudo-religious aspects of the current war on al Qaeda's metastasizing cancer of al Qaeda-style "Jihadi Martyrdom."

As the General has charged in a recent National Review Online interview, the al Qaeda narrative in this respect is nothing but "tyranny in false religious garb." Although he does not list the specific Islamic terms which constitute that pseudo-religious mantra, the most likely ingredients of this patently false but highly seductive, self-sanctifying narrative would be bin Ladenism's six-word mantra of so-called

(1) Jihad (holy war) by supposed
(2) mujahideen (holy warriors) and UBL-anointed
(3) shuhada or shahideen (martyrs) destined for a promised 72-virgins
(4) Jennah (Paradise) as reward for killing us alleged
(5) kuffr (infidels) and, in time, the alleged
(6) Shaitan al-Kabir (the Great Satan, America), as well

Notice, please, that the widespread parroting of this AQ-supportive narrative is much akin to the "useful idiocy" of those in the Cold War who parroted (and who berated those few who would not join them in parroting) the Soviets', Fidel Castro's, Ho Chi Minh's and the Sandinistas' deceitful narrative of so-called

(1) Wars of National Liberation by alleged
(2) Progressive Movements and supposed
(3) Patriotic Fronts on their way to heaven-on-earth
(4) People's Democracy as a reward for killing all of us
(5) Fascists and for defeating the evils of
(6) American Imperialism

The two situations and the patently false labeling sustaining each are virtually identical. They are both highly representative of the problem which the late, great Senator Pat Moynihan and Dr.Fred Charles Ikle -- Ronald Reagan's Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, and now with the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) -- described in the early 1980s as "semantic infiltration." As Moynihan defined the term,

"Simply put, semantic infiltration is the process whereby we come to adopt the language of our adversaries in describing political reality. The most totalitarian regimes in the world would call themselves ‘liberation movements.’... [substitute 'Jihadi Martyrs'] ... It is perfectly predictable that they should misuse words to conceal their real nature. But must we aid them in that effort by repeating those words? Worse, do we begin to influence our own perceptions by using them?”

Back then, it was a case of Leninist and Castroite "tyranny in false Liberationist garb." Today, it is the neo-Leninist and fascist-Left equivalent which General Mattis so correctly condemns as being wrapped in "false [Islamic] religious garb." Indeed, both of these monumental scams are deceitful echoes of the militant atheist Vladimir Lenin's cynical tactic of promoting atheistic Marxism (and now neo-Leninist bin Ladenism) in holier-than-thou religious lingo.

The question now is what should be done about it -- namely, what is the optimum counter narrative that will begin applying the necessary antidote to the AQ cancer which has spread across the planet? Like any cancer, it is deadly. But like any cancer, it can and must be defeated -- both by destroying individual cells and by a death-at-the-source chemotherapy of worldwide "delegitimization."

As a means of delegitimizing and even demonizing the AQ-style enemy and its cultic Salafi-Wahhabi and Muslim Brotherhood sponsors, this longtime admirer of General Mattis suggests to him that this ultimate counter-narrative will be one which paints a certifiably apostate and satanic picture of the Terrorists and their impending trip to Eternal Hellfire in Islamic religious words -- both Arabic and English -- along the following lines:

(1) Hirabah (unholy war, "war against society'") and/or Irhab (Terrorism) by ruthless
(2) mufsiduun (evildoers, mortal sinners, corrupters) destined for
(3) Jahannam (Eternal Hellfire) as a proper punishment for their
(4) khawarij (outside the religion) violations of the Qur'an which are so serious, so
(5) shaitani (satanic) and so willfully unrepented as to constitute
(6) al-Irtidad (or al-Ridda) al Qaeda (the AQ Apostasy) against Qur'anic Islam

At this point, these terms are known by hardly any of us. But just as we have learned not only the deceitful "Jihadi" words of the AQ narrative but several other Arabic and Islamic terms, as well -- words such as fatwa (religious edict), intifada (insurrection), Allahu Akbar (Allah is Great), fitna (discord), Shari'a (Islamic Law) and Umma (the Muslim World), surely we can learn a few more -- especially those which will at long last allow us to begin demonizing rather than continuing to canonize these deadly enemies.

One prudent way to begin such truth-in-labeling in Iraq and elsewhere is to condemn AQ-style atrocities -- i.e., the slaughter of innocents coming from a prayer meeting, or while shopping in the markets or while celebrating a soccer team victory -- not only in such secular terms as "criminal" and "horrendous" and "barbaric" but as clearly satanic (shaitani ), as well.

After all, who delights in these bloody and often genocidal attacks by Muslims on fellow Muslims? Is it the peaceful, compassionate, merciful and just Allah of the Qur'an? Of course not. But if we never bother to call it satanic, this makes it all the easier for the terrorist masterminds to mislabel such sinful criminality forever as "in the will of Allah" -- which it is obviously not, but which many versions of perverted local "Shari'a" say that it is. So, who to believe?

Often Perverted "Shari'a" versus the Qur'an Itself

For several months in 2006, a worldwide controversy raged over whether an Afghan believer in the God of Abraham, Abdul Rahman, should be put to death for having converted many years earlier to Christianity. Not surprisingly, many radical Muslim clerics insist that his conversion automatically makes him an "apostate" who should be put to death -- if not "legally," then by vengeful mobs in the street.

Although Afghan President Hamid Karzai permitted the targeted man to take asylum in Italy -- in part on the basis that he is somehow insane -- the problem will not go away. In fact, there are still rumors that the compulsionists might eventually charge Mr. Karzai himself with apostasy for having excused the "apostate" Rahman from a death sentence. (The very similar case of a recent Egyptian convert to Christianity, one Mohammad Hegazy, is gathering momentum in Cairo, as well.)

Fortunately, there is a plausible and true-to-Islam fashion in which peaceful Muslims might quell such outrageous "death to the apostate" frenzies. This is for them to rise in rigorous defense of Qur'anic Islam, as contrasted to the un-Islamic perversions thereof that are often embedded in local-option "Shari'a," which can differ enormously from country to country and even tribe to tribe.

On this issue, there are over 20 Qur'anic verses which contradict Afghan Shari'a regarding conversion to Christianity. One vital element here is that Christianity's founder, Jesus, is clearly identified by the Qur'an as one of Islam's five main Prophets and even as its "Messiah" (Quran 4:171) -- though this high standing is limited by this verse's assertion that this is not the Divine status of Christianity's "Trinitarian" Godship of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Imagine how much better for President Karzai to have settled -- and for today's clear-minded Egyptians to settle -- the crisis via several Qur'anic verses, rather than by appearing to bow to "imperialist Western pressures." Here are just five of these many compelling citations which would have made this not only possible but highly instructive to the Umma and the entire world.

[QUR'AN 2:256] "There shall be no compulsion in religion: the right way is now distinct from the wrong way. Anyone who denounces the devil and believes in GOD has grasped the strongest bond; one that never breaks. GOD is Hearer, Omniscient."

[QUR'AN 2:136] " We believe in GOD, and in what was sent down to us, and in what was sent down to Abraham, Ismail, Isaac, Jacob, and the Patriarchs; and in what was given to Moses and Jesus, and all the prophets from their Lord. We make no distinction among any of them. To Him alone we are submitters."

[QUR'AN 5:46] "And in their footsteps we sent Jesus the son of Mary, confirming the Law that had come before him: We sent him the Gospel: therein was guidance and light. And confirmation of the Law that had come before him: A guidance and an admonition to those who fear Allah."

[QUR'AN 5:69] "Surely, those who believe, those who are Jewish, the converts, and the Christians; any of them who (1) believe in GOD and (2) believe in the Last Day, and (3) lead a righteous life, have nothing to fear, nor will they grieve."

The list of relevant Qur'anic citations goes endlessly on -- 109:1-6; 88:21-26; 6:57; 2:62; 57:27; 5:92; 4:90; 49:31 and at least as many more -- including yet another overarching verse which is much revered in the interfaith quest for Abrahamic brotherhood, as follows:

[QUR'AN 5:48, in part] ".....To each among you we have prescribed a Law and an Open Way. If Allah had so willed, He would have made you a single people, but (His plan is) to test you in what He hath given you; so strive as in a race in all virtues. The goal of you all is to Allah; it is He who will show you the truth of the matters in which ye dispute."

In this same vein, even many hard-liners might be softened by the words of onetime Muslim Brotherhood counselor to Ayman al-Zawahiri of al Qaeda infamy -- Hassan al-Tubari. It was he who in the early 1990s founded the annual Popular Arab and Islamic Conference, traditionally attended by such radical pre-al Qaeda groups as the PLO, Hamas, Egyptian Jihad and Hizballah.

According to al-Tubari: "How can it be imagined by a rational person that Allah, who has compelled none to believe, allows us the right to compel others and force them to believe? If Almighty Allah has granted us the merit of freedom, he who wants to believe is allowed that right and so too the one who wants to disbelieve." [He then goes on to sharply distinguish between a routine peaceful conversion to Christianity and a forbidden act of wartime treason against Islam.]

Yet, despite these many Qur'anic evidences and proofs of Mr. Rahman's innocence (or that of Mr. Hegazy in Egypt), the finger-pointing "takfiri" charges of apostasy are likely to remain alive in the form of Shari'a perversions -- particularly if Quran-faithful Muslims fail to cite and to make a fight for these multiple disproofs of the charge.

The REAL Islam? -- Allah's Own Self-description (and the AQ Antonyms)

In the vital task of differentiating truly peaceful and abd'al-Allah (Servants of God) Muslims from the radicals and the abd'al-Shaitan (Servants of Satan) varieties, there is a rational standard for interpreting what Islam is all about and how to determine who is who. This is the highly revered "99 Names of Allah" by which the Qur'an defines exactly who God is and what his religion is, therefore, supposed to be.

Remember, please, that according to Islam the Qur'an came to be by Allah, through the Angel Gabriel, dictating the holy text word-for-word to a semi-literate Mohammed -- thereby making these 99 highly specific and complimentary names Allah's own self description. It does not get any more specific than that. Also, it appears to be one of the few things that all of the half dozen feuding Schools of Islamic Thought seem to agree upon.

To prevent murderous bin Ladenism from re defining Islam in its own apostate image, it is high time for various Ulema (groups of truly faithful scholars, jurists and clerics) to begin assreting the clearly un-Islamic nature of al Qaeda's hate-filled and violent "Jihad Against America and the West."

In this regard, Islamic scholars and jurists the world over might turn to the enormously detailed "99 Names of Allah" and to find for each of these holy and beloved names the Islamic antonym which best describes the hateful, sinful and even satanic character of the mufsiduun al Qaeda and like-minded terrorists who are busy bringing such discredit on the Prophet and on Allah Himself.

Some of these more obvious comparisons -- which would quite clearly identify the al Qaeda Terrorists not as the defenders and saviors of Islam they clain to be but as the servants of Satan they realy are -- might be the following dozen examples:

Allah, The Compassionate versus	al Qaeda, The Heartless
Allah, The Peace versus	al Qaeda, The Warmongers
Allah, The Merciful versus	al Qaeda, The Merciless
Allah, The Munificent versus	al Qaeda, The Selfish
Allah, The Just versus	al Qaeda, The Unjust
Allah, The Restrainer versus	al Qaeda, The Transgressors
Allah, The Forgiver versus	al Qaeda, The Unforgiving
Allah, The Loving versus	al Qaeda, The Haters
Allah, The Giver of Life versus	al Qaeda, The Assassins
Allah, The Acceptor of Repentance vs	al Qaeda, The Unrepentant
Allah, The Exalted versus	al Qaeda, The Arrogant
Allah, The Light versus	al Qaeda, The Darkness

In addition to whatever a major Ulema might do in this regard, imagine the entire community of individual Muslims putting their intellects and their Reason to work in rediscovering word-by-word what their God and their religion truly are -- rather than what all variety of man-made and sharply differing versions of schizophrenic Shari'a say they are.

With maximum Quranic precision this unique exercise in ijtihad will "draw a picture" -- not on paper but in the minds, hearts and souls of all Muslims -- which reminds the world in ultimate Quranic detail exactly who Allah is and who, in stark contrast, the AQ-style sinners, usurpers and abd'al-Shaitan transgressors really are.

Q&A Evaluation of anti-Terrorism Bona Fides

While all of this re-evaluation and re-discovery is underway over the next few years, there is an interim method of separating the peace and compassion elements of Islam from the Irhabi Murderdom cults which call themselves "holy" and "pure" and "Lions of Islam" but who act like hyenas and jackals.

This is the posing of the following several questions to individual Muslims, to clerics and to socio-religious organizations alike -- the answers will either begin (at long last) to condemn the Terrorists in Islamic religious terms, or will identify the respondents as not yet willing to declare a truly Holy War against the Al Qaeda Apostasy which is as much an enemy of Qur'anic Islam as it is of America and the West:

Question: According to your organization, is AQ-style Terrorism the so-called "Jihad" (Holy War) Osama bin Laden so fervently claims, or is it Irhab (Terrorism) and Hirabah (forbidden "war against society" and crimes against humanity), instead?

Question: Are its perpetrators and willing practitioners the so-called "Mujahideen" (Holy Warriors) they claim to be, or are they what the Qur'an condemns as Mufsiduun (evildoers, mortal sinners, corrupters), instead?

Question: Are these ruthless killers most likely the "shuhada" or "shahideen" (martyrs) and "abd'al-Allah" (Servants of Allah) destined for Paradise they claim to be, or are they most likely abd'al-Shaitan (Servants of Satan) destined for Jahannam (Eternal Hellfire), instead?

Question: Are they acting in behalf of the "peaceful, compassionate, merciful, beneficent and just" Allah of the Qur'an, or are they embracing and excusing the khawarij (outside the religion) deviancy and the Istihlal (playing God) arrogance of Osama bin Laden, Muqtada al-Sadr and their genocidal kind?

Question: When the Allah-given words of the Qur'an conflict with the man-made words of "Shari'a" (so-called Islamic Law which varies widely from country to country), which option does your organization embrace?

Question: Are the Terrorists' claims of so-called "Jihadi Martyrdom" as a reward for killing of innocents and noncombatants -- including many peaceful fellow Muslims -- true to the Qur'an, or does their suicide murder constitute the satanic offense of Irhabi (terroristic) Murderdom, instead?

A final word of advice to those in the White House, the State and Defense Departments and elsewhere who would pose such questions: Pose them as soon as you like -- to place the issues on the table sooner rather than later. But allow some time for the answers to be given.

It will take a while for many of the socio-political and socio-religious organizations in question to "fight it out" internally and for their officers and Boards to decide how to answer such tough and religiously sensitive questions -- and to give the answers which are true to Qur'anic Islam but which are dangerous in face of the Irhabi Murderdom extremists whose semantic masks and self-installed haloes are about to be stripped away.

Prospects For a Cross-Cultural Bridge on Human Rights

Thus far, we have done a number of things to better "Know the Enemy" in ideological and religious terms -- and to identify the vital semantic tools by which to begin demonizing them as effectively as they are now demonizing us.

But turning now to the more mundane political and sociological aspects of daily life, we must somehow design and build a cross-cultural bridge that truly faithful and peaceful Muslims of good will can use in rediscovering those Quran-compatible human rights and civil liberties they desire for normal lives of al-salaam (peace), al-istiqrar (stability), al-Khayer (societal wellbeing) and al-'adl (Justice) in society at large.

Clearly, in helping these Muslims to defeat the in-house enemies of all these "democratic" aspirations, it would be better if America and the West did not have to worry about the resurgence of a pseudo-Christian scam -- Liberation Theology -- at a time when we are so heavily occupied with the even more dangerous pseudo-Islamic threats posed by bin Ladenism, particularly now that the two are becoming allied.

The most hopeful antidote to both might be to promote the anti-Leninist and pro-Liberty legacy of the late Pope John Paul II. In addition to the purely spiritual and moral qualities of this great man of God, the element most often cited is that of his unfailing devotion to the everlasting dignity (both spiritual and earthly) of each and every human being -- whether Christian, Jewish, Muslim or otherwise.

In this context, the Pope quietly but unequivocally rejected the Marxist-inspired and plainly pseudo-religious movement called "Liberation Theology." This was a perverse 1970's and 80's collaboration (still alive but waning) between far-left Christian intellectuals -- and some clergy -- and militant Castroite revolutionaries. Most of its adherents seemed, and still do, far more intent on promoting socio-economic class warfare in the name of a group-think "preferential option for the poor" than about an expansion of civil liberties and economic opportunity for individuals.

When the aging but supremely confident Pontiff opted strongly for the latter -- as he did in Havana, with an aging and increasingly isolated Fidel Castro sitting front row -- he most forcefully proclaimed: "There can be no true liberation if, from the beginning, the Rights of Liberty are not respected."

Properly labeled and objectively understood, this "Rights of Liberty" narrative will need to be conveyed not only in the familiar Judeo-Christian language of "Liberty" and "Freedom" and "Democracy" (words which are neither Arabic nor Islamic) but also in the Muslim World's roughly equivalent language of "Justice" -- al-'Adl in Arabic -- and in terms of the basic human dignity that most Muslims correctly desire.

Here are the 22 carefully considered elements of that cross-cultural and interfaith bridge that should be compatable with all three Abrahamic religions and other major religions, as well -- beginning perhaps in major Muslim populations who already live successfully and happily in Western Democracies.

The Pope's New "Rights of LIBERTY"... and the Muslims' new "Rights of JUSTICE" ?)

"There can be no true liberation if, from the beginning, the
rights of liberty are not respected." Pope John Paul II

Freedom of religion
Freedom of religious dissemination
Freedom of religious education
Freedom of speech (personal, press, artistic, academic)
Freedom of voluntary unionism and right to strike
Freedom of peaceable assembly
Freedom of peaceable petition and protest
Freedom of access to an independent judiciary
Freedom to a speedy and public trial
Freedom of habeas corpus (i.e., from unjust imprisonment)
Freedom of association, personal and cooperative
Freedom of travel, both domestic and external
Freedom from cruel or unusual punishment
Freedom of free, fair and regular multi-party elections
Freedom from discrimination (class, race, origin, age, sex)
Freedom from slavery and involuntary servitude
Freedom of information from government about the government
Freedom of privacy and from unreasonable searches and seizures
Freedom of reasonable access to food, shelter, education, healthcare
Freedom of reasonable access to credit, contract rights, capital ownership
Freedom from abuse by "blind" or unregulated market forces
Freedom to be secure in one's own life and possessions

A vital aspect of this new and free-standing list of human rights and civil liberties is the fact that it is not the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and should never be confused with or subsumed by the perverse United Nations -- whose supervisory Commissions have in recent years expelled the United States from membership and embraced the tyrannical likes of Fidel Castro of Cuba and Muammar Gaddaffi of Libya, instead.

Finally, as a means of testing the acceptability of this very specific and quite comprehensive list of human rights and civil liberties among individual faithful Muslims and in the Umma (the Muslim World) as a whole, we might pose the following 22-part question:

"For the rest of your life and the lives of your children, your grandchildren and your loved ones forever, would you regard the summary denial of ...[name the specific human right or civil liberty] ... a matter of Allah's eternal Justice or of Shaitan's eternal Injustice?"

To date, every single Muslim to whom I have posed this question has responded that it would be a terrible INJUSTICE to be forever deprived of almost any, much less all, of these self-evident, God-given and Quran-compatable "Rights of Justice." The principal hesitancy came with regard to discrimination for reasons of sex, but even this appeared to most to be a manageable issue in the long term.

The question now is whether the Muslim World, the Umma, will actually rise up and fight for the Godly "Justice" which individual Muslims want and so desperately need -- or will it permit itself to be humiliated, terrified, brainwashed, perverted and subsumed by the fascist-Left and satanic likes of bin Laden, al-Sadr and Ahmadinejad.

Concluding Observation -- And An Optimistic Forecast

Finally, and in direct response to this essay contest's quest for appropriate ways to "deter adherents of extremist religious ideologies from engaging in terrorist activity," let us imagine how very much more difficult it will be for Godless Terrorism to recruit and to sustain the messianic zealotry of young suicide killers -- or the support and sympathy of any faithful Muslims whatever --

(a) once its cause is no longer perceived as "Jihad" but as forbidden Irhab and unholy Hirabah, instead;

(b) once its suicide murderers are no longer heroic "mujahideen" but despicable mufsiduun, instead;

(c) once its so-called "shaheeds" and "shuhada" are no longer "martyrs for Allah" but for Shaitan, instead;

(d) once its fomenters and purveyors are seen as destined not for Paradise but for Eternal Hellfire, instead; and

(e) once its quest for a Caliphate "in service to Allah" is revealed to be The Al Qaeda Apostasy, instead.

Action Items Embodied in or Implied by This "Know The Enemy" Thesis

1. Slightly revise existing State Department and USG "Guidance" so as not only to allow but to encourage prudent use of certain Quran-compatible religious words which will belatedly begin undermining bin Ladenism's unwarranted legitimacy in "peaceful, compassionate and just" Islam.

2. Develop DoD/State/DHS/NSC "war of words" contingency plans for timely and effective use if and when a decision is made to begin attacking bin Ladenism and its imitators in Islamic religious terms, rather than in Western secular terms only -- and require that all major Government-sponsored analyses of Public Diplomacy, Information Operations and Counterinsurgency include, rather than deliberately exclude as they do now, the subject of appropriate usage of Islamic religious terms and frames of reference.

3. Encourage anti-Terrorist Muslim organizations to join in an Ummah-wide fatwa and/or a multi-party Resolution of Condemnation which borrows elements of the ten best of earlier fatwas and resolutions -- and which will, in effect, declare a truly holy Jihad against the al Qaeda Apostasy and in defense of Authentic, Qur'anic Islam.

4. At the geopolitical level, equate the al Qaeda, al Sadr, Hizballah and similar fomenters and perpetrators of Irhabi (terroristic) Murderdom with Fascism/Nazism and with fascist-Left Leninism and Castroism, as well.

5. Encourage "peaceful and compassionate" Ulema (and individual scholars and Jurists, as well) to make comprehensive analyses of the Qur'an's blessed "99 Names of Allah" and of the equal number of antonyms which prove in enormous detail that AQ-style Terrorism is clearly satanic by contrast.

6. By the Q&A analysis recommended here, sharply differentiate between the true anti-Terrorism of most Muslim-American socio-religious and socio-political organizations and those which seem suspiciously insufficient -- and examine such distinctions via major public conferences, essay contests, Internet initiatives and various mechanisms of Public Affairs and Public Diplomacy.

7. Explore all possible avenues for fine-tuning and promoting worldwide acceptance of both the Western "Rights of Liberty" and the very similar, even if not identical, Muslim "Rights of Justice" frames of reference.

8. Promote the correct wartime analogy which compares the current War on al Qaeda-style Terrorism not to the 5 years of World War II, or even to the 12 years of Vietnam but to the 50 years of the Cold War, which is still ongoing in some respects.

9. Re-establish the "wartime" functions of the USIA, RFE-RL, Radio Liberty, Voice of America and other assertive Information Operations -- and manage them in a "Cold War II' environment as the hearts, minds and souls spear points they were in Cold War I.

10. Prepare and promote carefully designed Glossaries and Lexicons which pull down the semantic masks and the outright deceits of the Salafi-Wahhabi-UBL narrative of so-called "Jihadi Martyrdom" and the Fascist-Left narrative of "Liberation Theology" -- and which apply both the truth-in-language and truth-in-religion counter narratives recommended here.

11. Complete the list of Proofs of the Apostasy (increasing these to perhaps 20 or more) and give Qur'anic and other authentic religious citations for all of them.

12. Design and institute programs and practices to insure that our own institutions (schools at all levels from Grammar to Graduate, the media, the think tanks, the foreign policy elite, the Government agencies themselves) and, in due course, the general public are not inadvertantly and in "useful idiocy" fashion teaching, preaching and learning disinformational words and frames of reference which serve the terroristic enemy -- and which relegate us to the status of "infidels" and "the Great Satan."

Jim Guirard -- TrueSpeak Institute (TrueSpeak.org) 703-768-0957 Justcauses@aol.com

A Washington DC-area attorney, writer, lecturer and anti-Terrorism strategist, Jim Guirard was longtime Chief of Staff to former US Senators Allen Ellender and Russell Long. His TrueSpeak Institute and TrueSpeak.org website are devoted to truth-in-language and truth-in-history in public discourse.

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