7/13/2008:Part 2: Commentary: A Look Inside the Global Jihad Mind: The
Reasons-Tools-Aims:

In the final analysis, global Jihad must use open indoctrination in
order to sustain and broaden its audience in general, and its younger
generations in particular. Open indoctrination is incompatible with
disinformation. Therefore, even though we should be selective and
careful in our selection of which information on Jihadi web sites we
follow, once we have established the authenticity of a Jihadi web
site, we can be reasonably certain that the words we read from their
lips are credible. The Jihadist instigators cannot allow themselves to
mislead the “Solid Base”—Al-Qaeda al-Sulbah—the base of the future
pioneering Jihadi generations. Furthermore, we should understand the
role of Jihad played by the present ideological umbrella of global
Jihad. This role is not merely one of terrorism but, and perhaps more
importantly so, a crucial pillar in building the current solidarity
among Arabs and Muslims, as well as the nation-building process of the
future Muslim Caliphate. In April 1988, Dr. Abdallah Azzam, the
spiritual father of modern global Jihad, wrote so very clearly in the
article in which he established the idea of Al-Qaeda (Al-Qa’idah al-
Sulbah):[7]

“The Islamic society cannot be established without an Islamic
movement that undergoes the fire of tests. Its members need to mature
in the fire of trials. This movement will represent the spark that
ignites the potential of the nation. It will carry out a long Jihad in
which the Islamic movement will provide the leadership, and the
spiritual guidance. The long Jihad will bring people’s qualities to
the fore and highlight their potentials. It will define their
positions and have their leaders assume their roles, to direct the
march and channel it…

Holding of arms by the group of believers before having undergone
this long educating training and indoctrination—Tarbiyyah—is
forbidden, because those carrying arms could turn into bandits that
might threaten people’s security and do not let them live in peace.”

In the eyes of some Jihadi leaders and senior scholars of the first
generation of Al-Qaeda and Tawhid, the Iraqi insurgency might become
an “arena of bandits,” as predicted by Azzam. Terrorism in Muslim
lands and against Muslims is one of the “Achilles heels” of Al-Qaeda
and global Jihad and a good reason for public criticism and debates.
Therefore, the indoctrination through the Internet is more important.
Beside the fact that the Internet is a sole alternative for the
Jihadis, it also has its own advantages in spreading the messages to a
wide range of public. Hence, as much as the use of the Internet was a
compromise with reality, the Jihadis learned how to effectively use it
despite its public nature.

However, it should be noted that for those who try to understand the
mindset of the Jihadi scholars through their indoctrination over the
Internet, the latter make it an easier task than the ambivalent and
double-language writings of their counter-part scholars from Islamic
establishments, especially the Saudis. The role of the “Internet
scholars,” either the well-known among them who appear by their real
names, or those who hide in Jihadi forums behind nicknames, is to back
and legitimize the extreme positions, which their audience want to
hear. Such writings are integral part of what has recently become a
legitimate branch of the militant Jihad—the Jihadi propaganda (Al-
Jihad bil-Lisan or bil-Kalimah). It provides lot of satisfaction and a
sense of identity and belonging to a growing number of “students” in
the Open University for Jihad Studies. Zealot scholars or numerous
videotapes from Iraq or elsewhere, are part of a system that hotwires
the imagination of radicalized youth, who can join Jihad starting from
home. They are no longer regarded as dodgers from Jihad or
Mutaqa`idin, the term first coined by Sayyid Qutb for those who do not
join the military Jihad. The “total Jihad,” including in Muslim
countries and against Muslim “apostates,” enables them to channel many
emotions of frustration, personal or social stress, hatred, and fears,
into a legitimate Jihad, religiously approved by real or false
scholars.

The long Jihad, which the West—and indeed much of the world—is
currently facing uses the Internet to provide both Jihadists and us, a
wide spectrum of diversified information. Western analysts can learn
more about modern Jihad by reading the lips of Jihadi clerics,
scholars, operatives, commanders, leaders, as well as the response of
their growing audience. Improving their ability to do so, and above
all in the original language, must be a priority. The war against
global Jihadi terrorism is becoming also a war of “soft powers,” in
which the Jihadis are doing quite well.