Continuing… Why did al-Qaeda attack the U.S.? Was it to drive the U.S. out of the Middle East? Or was it to strike the far enemy for the sake of destroying the near enemy (i.e. regimes in the Arab and Islamic world)? Regardless of the intent of al-Qaeda’s leaders, the sequence of events gives weight [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Strategy’
The Strategic Effects of 9/11, Part 5: The Jihadi Domino Theory
Posted: 23rd September 2008 by Will McCants in AQ Leadership, Kuwait, Nuclear, Oil, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, StrategyTags: al-Qaeda, nuclear weapons, Oil, Strategy
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Issue 2 of Qadaya Jihadiyya Released
Posted: 22nd September 2008 by Will McCants in Hamas, Jihadi journals, Jihadi media, Palestinian Territories, StrategyTags: Gaza, Jihadi journals, media, Palestine, Strategy, terminology
Like last month’s debut, the second issue of Qadaya Jihadiyya is slick. It also has a lot of interesting material: “Crisis of Terminology” discusses the contentious meanings of “Salafi” and “Jihadi.” The strategic studies section has three articles: “Seven Years After September, Has al-Qaeda Achieved Its Goals?”, “Bin Laden and the Globalization of Jihad,” and [...]
The Strategic Effects of 9/11, Part 4: The Strategy of Laudable Terrorism
Posted: 16th September 2008 by Will McCants in Strategy, terrorismTags: Strategy, terrorism
Continuing… The meaning of “terrorism” is extremely contentious. Terrorism is a type of political violence. Western researchers say that political violence is of four types: violence between states, state violence against its citizens, violence between individuals, and the violence of citizens against the state. State violence against citizens is of two kinds: violence to compel [...]
The Strategic Effects of 9/11, Part 3: Striking the Enemy at the Center of Gravity
Posted: 14th September 2008 by Will McCants in AQ Leadership, Strategy, UncategorizedTags: 9/11, al-Qaeda, Strategy
Continuing… It is no accident that the World Trade Center was the main object of the 9/11 attacks since it was the symbol of U.S. economic hegemony. Bear in mind that the attacks had been planned in the ’90s during the height of U.S. economic power. The strikes were meant to polarize Muslims as well [...]
The Strategic Effects of 9/11, Part 2: Provoking the Tyrant of the Sea & Air
Posted: 10th September 2008 by Will McCants in StrategyTags: 9/11, Strategy
Continuing: The main strategic question of the ’80s was how to mobilize Muslim youth to fight the Soviet incursion into the Islamic world while local conflicts were distracting the youths’ attention. After the fall of the USSR the question became, why provoke the sole remaining superpower? Is the US comparable to the USSR? After all, [...]
The Strategic Effects of 9/11, Part 1: America & the World Before the Strike
Posted: 8th September 2008 by Will McCants in Strategy, UncategorizedTags: 9/11, Strategy
To continue the series, here’s my summary of part 1 of Abu al-Fadl’s study: American strategy experts overlook the Soviet defeat in Afghanistan as the decisive event that ended the Cold War. Instead, they focus on the USSR’s and Eastern Europe’s attraction to Western culture. The myth promulgated by these experts is that soft power [...]
Cold vs. Hot Terrorism
Posted: 4th September 2008 by Will McCants in Strategy, tactics, terrorism, UncategorizedTags: decision making, Strategy, terrorism
Hesbah pundit `Abd al-Rahman al-Faqir has been writing a series of essays he collectively calls “Real War vs. Symbolic War.” The point of the essays is to explain the difference between terrorist attacks (symbolic war) and other types of military violence (real war). One of his essays, “Cold Terrorism,” examines the decision-making of groups choosing [...]
Training for the Lone Jihadi
Posted: 19th August 2008 by Will McCants in Indoctrination, trainingTags: Indoctrination, Strategy, training
Ekhlaas member Dir` li-Man Wahada (Armor for One Who Was Alone) has written a brief guide for the Jihadi initiate to consult in preparation for the coming al-Qaeda strikes. His purpose, he says, is to enumerate the general strategic framework of al-Qaeda so the initiate will be able to implement the organization’s vision locally, either [...]
New Issues of Two Jihadi Journals
Posted: 14th August 2008 by Will McCants in Afghanistan, Hamas, Iraq, Islamic State of Iraq, Jihadi journals, Strategy, training campsTags: Hamas, Iraq, Islamic State of Iraq, Jihadi journals, Strategy, training, Zawahiri
Issue 28 of Sada al-Jihad is out. Articles include, “Hamas Responds Negatively to the Invitation of Shaykh Ayman al-Zawahiri” and “The Intellectual Pollution of the Followers of the Salafi-Jihadi Method.” A new journal, Qadaya Jihadiyya (Jihadi Issues), has also be released. The production quality is better than most of the Jihadi journals and the articles [...]
Prophetic Precedents for Various Types of Warfare
Posted: 5th August 2008 by Will McCants in Islamic War Doctrine, Strategy, tacticsTags: Islamic Doctrines of Warfare, Strategy, tactics
This one is for all those who believe that Jihadis act strictly according to the Qur’an and the Sunna. It’s a detailed study by Abu al-Harith al-Ansari of the various types of warfare and the prophetic precedents for each. There are 41 kinds in all, including “media warfare,” “economic warfare,” “secret warfare,” “war of attrition,” [...]