Two pieces of advice for those of you wondering what to read over the Christmas break: First, the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point has released its long-awaited report on ideological divisions in the jihadi movement. I had the great pleasure of reading it in advance as an external reviewer, and all I need to say is that it is destined to become a [...]
Archive for the ‘Western books’ Category
The Jihadis’ Path to Self-Destruction
Posted: 28th November 2010 by Thomas Hegghammer in Western booksNelly Lahoud’s much-awaited new book, the Jihadis’ Path to Self-Destruction, is out. Lahoud, who recently joined West Point’s Combating Terrorism Center as an associate professor, is one of the finest scholars of jihadi ideology around. Her book is a brilliant dissection of contemporary jihadi discourse with an original twist, namely an in-depth comparison of modern [...]
What’s the point of editing a blog if you can’t use it for shameless self promotion? My book Jihad in Saudi Arabia is finally out in the US. I am marking the occasion with a book launch at George Washington University today at 4pm, so if you are in the DC area, please come along.
A Brief History of Jihadism in Turkey
Posted: 26th June 2009 by Einar Wigen in Travel Routes, Turkey, Western booksDespite the Istanbul attacks in 2003, the Turkish fight against terrorism has remained largely synonymous with the fight against Kurdish separatists. To my knowledge, there are few if any in-depth academic studies of Turkish jihadism. Not even the 2003 Istanbul attacks have been closely examined by scholars, despite a wealth of available Turkish sources. At [...]
Jihadists Study Jihadi Studies
Posted: 29th April 2009 by Thomas Hegghammer in propaganda, Strategy, Western Analysts, Western booksAt the risk of seeming omphaloskeptic, I will add a few more observations about jihadists citing western scholars, because this phenomenon taking larger proportions than I expected. Since my last post on the subject, both the Militant Ideology Atlas and the RAND study mentioned by al-Maqdisi have been posted on al-Maqdisi’s own website, Minbar al-Tawhid [...]
Jihadi Pundit Translates, Analyzes RAND Study
Posted: 4th August 2008 by Will McCants in Jihadi Book Club, Strategy, Western Analysts, Western booksTags: RAND, Strategy, Yaman Mukhaddab
Yaman Mukhaddab, a Jihadi pundit who’s appeared on this blog several times, has translated the summary of the new RAND study, How Terrorist Groups End: Lessons for Countering al Qa’ida. It’s a fast turnaround for a translation, given that the existence of the study was first reported in Western media on July 28 and Yaman [...]
Jihadi Book Club: Omar Nasiri’s Inside the Jihad
Posted: 15th May 2008 by Will McCants in Penetration, Western booksTags: al-Qaida, Inside the Jihad, Omar Nasiri
Ekhlaas member Rahib Irhab (“Terrible Terrorism”) posted some excerpts from Omar Nasiri’s book, Inside the Jihad. (The excerpts are originally from al-Hayat, who got them from the Arabic version of the book.) Nasiri (a pseudonym) is a Moroccan-born spy who penetrated al-Qaida’s organization in the ’90s at the behest of the French. Rahib Irhab suggests [...]
Jihadi Book Club: Encylopedia of Modern U.S. Military Weapons
Posted: 14th May 2008 by Will McCants in Operational Material, Western booksTags: file sharing, illegal material, Operational Material
On May 10, 2008 Ekhlaas member mohanad57 posted a link to Encyclopedia of Modern U.S. Military Weapons in pdf format. Like most illicit material shared by Jihadis, the link takes you to an independent file sharing site (in this case, rapidshare.com). This keeps the forum managers from getting in trouble, reduces bandwidth consumption, ensures that [...]