Utility Menu

Search Section

One year of Jihad in America

Center for Security Policy | Nov 30, 2009
By Christopher Holton

There is mounting evidence that the global Jihadist insurgency is fully entrenched in the United States After the Fort Hood massacre news services seem divided between those hell-bent-for-leather on denying that the Fort Hood massacre was a case of anything other than a persecuted loner "snapping" and those who proclaimed it the first "terrorist" attack on US soil since September 11th.

This focus is wrong. Fort Hood was an act of Jihad and that's really all that matters: It is essential that we find out how extensive Nidal Malik Hasan's ties to other Jihadists were. Of this there can be no doubt.

But we must refrain from entering into a debate on what amounts largely to semantics about whether or not the Fort Hood massacre was an act of "terrorism." We need to get away from focusing on the term "terrorism" anyway. Some observers still don't consider the 1983 Beirut Barracks bombing by Hezbollah, which killed 241 Marines, sailors and soldiers, an act of "terrorism" because, by some widely recognized definitions, attacks on combatants cannot be termed "terrorism."

The Fort Hood massacre and the attack on the Marine Barracks were acts of Jihad. The Jihadis themselves don't refer to themselves as "terrorists." But they most assuredly refer to themselves as "Jihadis." We should let them own that title.

This was never a war on "terrorism." Jihad is being waged against us and we have tied ourselves in knots to deny that reality. Moreover, Fort Hood was hardly the first act of Jihad on US soil since September 11th. A few examples come to mind:

  • The Anthrax Attacks (Call me a conspiracy theorist, but I do NOT buy the official line on these attacks, but that's a subject for another time and place.)
  • The DC "Sniper" Shootings (There is a great deal of evidence that John Mohammed carried out these attacks in the name of Allah.)
  • The LAX Shooting at the El Al Ticket Counter

Note that whether the perpetrators are members of a previously known terrorist organization (such as Al Qaeda) or were lone actors, these were still acts of Jihad.

It is difficult to combat a shadowy organization like Al Qaeda, but it is far more difficult to prevent "lone wolf" actors from attacking. Al Qaeda may be difficult to infiltrate and gather intelligence on, but how do we "infiltrate" a lone Jihadist?

This is symptomatic of a revolutionary Jihadist subculture metastasizing within the American Muslim community, especially within its mosques and organizations. This revolutionary subculture has produced an atmosphere in which Muslims are inspired to act violently. This is a very dangerous and volatile situation.

Over the last 12 months alone, we have been provided with a stack of evidence of the Jihadist insurgency inside America. Americans have largely ignored this evidence, or at least failed to "connect the dots." Seemingly completely unrelated cases do in fact have common threads: they are acts of Jihad.

I decided to go back and research examples of Jihad in America over the last 12 months, roughly 1 December 2008 to 1 December 2009. Here is a list of incidents, cases, actions, statements and plots which point to a Jihadist insurgency in our midst (Keep in mind that insurgencies are both civilizational/political and violent/militant.).

The list is compiled in reverse chronological order, meaning that the most recent items are listed first. We no doubt left out some cases. I believe that all of these cases and incidents brought together on a single listing will prompt most readers to conclude that the magnitude of the threat we face inside the United States is greater than they previously believed.


Click for larger image

 Click the image for a larger view

 

 

NOVEMBER 2009

 

OCTOBER 2009


SEPTEMBER 2009


AUGUST 2009


JULY 2009


JUNE 2009


MAY 2009


APRIL 2009


MARCH 2009


FEBRUARY 2009


JANUARY 2009


DECEMBER 2008


 

Sources:

Militant Islam Monitor
Jihad Watch
Counterterrorism Blog
NEFA Foundation
The Investigative Project on Terrorism
Shariah Finance Watch
Free Republic

 

The Center's Publications

Frank Gaffney's Policy Decision Briefs are released weekly and sent directly to policy makers, coallitions, and the media for immediate action. Mr. Gaffney's weekly column is printed in The Washington Times on Tuesdays, and is also available at Townhall.com, Jewish World Review, and other websites.

Several times per week, the Center issues National Security Forum papers to inform and enliven the debate on issues vital to our national security.

The Americas Report is the featured product of the Center's Menges Hemispheric Security Project. Published weekly, it features in-depth, original articles on subjects not regularly covered by the American press.

The Center's Occasional Paper Series is an instrument for quick publication and dissemination of original research by CSP research staff and associates and the national security research and policy community beyond that.

While most of the Center's work is done behind the scenes, it does from time to time issue Press Releases on significant accomplishments, noteworthy events, or to set the record straight as a matter of public record.

Featured Expert

Luis Fleischman

Dr. Fleischman is a Senior advisor to the Menges Hemispheric Security Project at the Center for Security Policy in Washington DC. He is also an adjunct professor of Political Science and Sociology at Wilkes Honor College at Florida Atlantic University.