Analyst's note:  Absolutely must read.  Yet another piece in our on-going series to help you to know our Islamist enemy.  This article makes it extremely clear that after 10 years (1) our government does not recognize our enemy, and (2) political correctness is alive and well among those who arrogantly dare to call themselves Americans.  Such "politically correct" rules are killing our troops ... that would be your sons and daughters.  Had enough yet?

There is no excuse for our political leaders having placed us in this vulnerable position.  As a nation, we have what it takes to maintain our freedom and independence.  What we have lacked is the will.  We wish we could say that the political irresponsibility ends with the defense situation.  Unfortunately, the same lack of guts, the same wishful thinking, the same love of expediency, power and gain, has almost destroyed our national economy.  As mentioned in other comments, this is a matter of national security.

I want the American people to understand that the individual members of the Congress, the Senate, the White House, and Defense Department are directly responsible for the murders of those asked to give their life for this country under the strategy of Counterinsurgency (COIN) Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) Operations being used against this Islamist jihadist enemy.  Here is insight into the metrics pointed out in this new government Defense Science Board Task Force on Defense Intelligence Report sponsored by the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence which shows clearly the thinking followed followed by our enemy. 

We have been trying to point out that this enemy does NOT think like we do.  How many more studies is it going to take before our national "leaders" finally act on what many knew at the start of this war?

Metric 1: Victory can be understood as the Perpetuity of Fighting.

The influential Saudi militant, the late Yusuf al-’Uyayree, elucidates this long-term perspective in his works Meanings of Victory and Loss in Jihaad and The Future of Iraq and the Arabian Peninsula. This understanding is a cultural pillar of the global jihadi trend, which, based on its interpretation of the sacred sources, sees itself as the true, victorious sect that will fight until the end of days. This idea of victory is also apparent in the Creed of the
Global Islamic Media Front, a primary outlet of the global jihadi movement: We believe that the victorious sect will be the sect of learning and jihad. We believe that jihad will continue until the Day of Judgment, with every pious man or wrongdoer, in every time and place, with an imam or without an imam. It will continue with a single individual or more. No tyrant’s injustice or naysayer’s discouragement will halt it. We believe that jihad in God’s way is the legitimate and sound way that will enable the Ummah to resume an Islamic life and establish a well-guided caliphate according to the program of the Prophet.

Metric 2: Victory is Found in Obeying the Obligation to Fight Islam’s Enemies, Not in the Outcome of Battle.

Anwar al-Awlaki—formerly associated with an Islamic center in Falls Church, Virginia, and a past chaplain at George Washington University—delivered a lecture on al-’Uyayree’s works in which he explained this understanding in poignant terms. In the transcription of his lecture, titled “Constants on the Path of Jihad,” al-Awlaki stated: Victory is not what we are accountable for; we are accountable for whether or not we are doing what Allah
commands. We fight Jihad because it is hard [obligatory] on us; we are not fighting to win or loose [sic]. If we broaden our perspective, we will come to realize that whoever rides the peak of Islam (Jihad) [parentheses and emphasis in original] can never loose [sic] and will always win but not always win in physical victory. This definition has implications for jihadis at the collective and individual levels. At the collective level, adhering to this duty results in overt obedience to and therefore guidance by Allah. When mujahideen (those who believe they are fighting in God’s path) embrace this obligation and absorb this guidance, tangible strategic success for the ummah—the global Muslim community—is believed to follow. The establishment of the state of Israel and regional regimes is generally viewed by jihadis as a byproduct of neglecting this obligation. At the individual level, a rational decision to exchange love for worldly comforts for the love of battle and to overcome Satan and those who hinder one from fighting represents more than simple obedience: it is a purifying, ennobling act. One hour of jihad in Allah’s path,
according to a famous hadith beloved by Abdullah Azzam, architect of the Afghan jihad, is better than 60 years of praying. As case studies of jihadis in the United Kingdom and elsewhere attest, some young Islamists also see jihad as a social rite of passage.

Metric 3: The Institutionalization of a Culture of Martyrdom Is a Victory.

According to exponents of global jihad such as Abu Ayman al-Hilali, martyrdom is the greatest victory a mujahid can have. Al-Hilali and others argue that martyrdom operations offer a direct route to Paradise, the most effective means to strike adversaries, and the loftiest form of witness. And as illustrated by West Point’s Sinjar Records, a collection of nearly 700 foreign fighter biographies from Iraq, the idea that martyrdom is synonymous with victory for many jihadis goes well beyond theory. When al Qaeda in Iraq “bureaucrats” queried foreign fighters as to why they came to Iraq, or what duty they hoped to perform, 217 of the 389 who responded (56.3 percent) indicated a desire for martyrdom, whereas 166 projected their roles as “fighter” (or something similar).

Metric 4: Victory Comes by Pinpointing Islam’s Enemies through the Refining Process of Jihad, and Thus Maintaining Its Identity.

Sayf-ad-Din al-Ansari, another online jihadi strategist, argued this point explicitly in a 2002 essay on the 9/11 attacks: Our Islamic community has been subjected to a dangerous process of narcosis. As a result, it has lost the vigilance that comes from faith and fallen into a deep slumber. The most dangerous consequence of this is that most Muslims can no longer distinguish between their enemies and their friends. The fallout from choosing peace and normalization has caused a great confusion of ideas. The resultant situation poses a genuine threat to our very identity. [The 9/11 attacks] came to move this war from the shadows out into the open, to make the community aware of the enemy. It revealed the perils that surround us in a way that everyone can understand. The attacks succeeded in laying bare the enemy’s soul and talk of a new crusade with all the historical baggage the phrase entails. It became clear to everyone that this is a campaign against Muslims more than a war against the mujahidin. Islam itself is the target. The raid showed just how fragile is the supposed coexistence of Muslims and Crusaders. Fighting, al-Ansari argues, is equivalent to maintaining the ummah’s identity against internal and external threats; it is the ultimate means to enjoin the good and forbid the evil. As the ever-popular jihadi author Muhammad al-Maqdisi contends in The Religion of Abraham, it is simply not enough to
renounce tyrants verbally.

Metric 5: Establishing Pride, Brotherhood, and Unity in the Face of Threats to the Ummah Is a Form of Victory.

Abu Ubayd al-Qirshi, another popular militant “strategist” who wrote a pseudo-scholarly essay complete with notes, “The Impossible Becomes Possible,” advances this point forcefully: With the New York and Washington raids, al- Qa’ida established a model of a proud Islamic mentality. This outlook does not view anything as impossible. Al-Qa’ida embodies Islamic unity. Blood from all the countries of the Islamic community has mixed together in the jihad that al-Qa’ida leads with no distinction between Arab and non-Arab. In and of itself, this is a step on the road to Islamic unity and the destruction of the colonialist treaties that have torn the body of the Islamic community apart. [W]ith absolute trust in God, a willingness to die in God’s path, patience, and generosity of spirit these qualities undoubtedly lead to victory. While generally a pragmatic author concerned more with “jihadi strategic studies” than theology, al-Qirshi’s view of brotherhood and unity echoes the perspectives of many salafis, militant or otherwise: preserving the integrity and purity of Islam in the face of  contemporary intra-Islamic strife (fitnah), syncretistic practices, and external threats is of paramount importance. None of these can be confronted apart from a unified and self sacrificial methodology (the latter of which al-Qirshi and al Qaeda believe to be associated with violence and martyrdom).

Metric 6: Creating a Parity of Suffering with Islam’s Enemies—Especially the Jews and Crusaders—Is a Victory.

According to Saudi cleric Nasr al-Fahd and al Qaeda spokesman Suleiman Abu Geith (among others), upholding the shari’a principle of “repayment in kind” (al-mu’amala bilmithl) not only justifies but also demands the murder of millions of al Qaeda’s enemies to avenge the millions of Muslims killed at their hands. Al-Fahd— whose well-known fatawa (religious opinions) concerning the “legitimacy” of the Taliban regime and the destruction of the Buddha statues in Afghanistan were widely circulated online—published on May 21, 2003, a fatwa justifying the use of nuclear weapons (as well as other weapons of mass destruction) against the “enemies of Islam.” Al-Fahd wrote: The attack against it by WMD [which al-Fahd explicitly defined as “nuclear, chemical, or biological”] is accepted, since Allah said: “If you are attacked you should attack your aggressor by identical force.” Whoever looks at the American aggression against the Muslims and their lands in recent decades concludes that it is permissible. They have killed about ten million Muslims, and destroyed countless lands. If they would be bombed in a way that would kill ten millions of them and destroy their lands—it is obviously permitted, with no need for evidence. Terrorism—including that involving WMD—is seen by authors such as Abu Geith and al-Fahd as being among the most expedient methods for achieving the reciprocal suffering (and thus, victory) for which their reading of Islamic law calls.

Metric 7: Victory Is Seen in the Maladies Afflicting God’s Enemies,Especially Economic Recession and Natural Disasters.

Al-’Uyayree writes that economic hardships among Allah’s enemies are sure signs of His favor upon the mujahideen and harbingers of their impending victory. Furthermore, we see in the writings of other extremists that natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina are believed to foreshadow the imminent collapse of the West and victory for the Islamic vanguard over the unbelievers.

Metric 8: The Presence of Miracles in Jihad Foretells of Victory for the Mujahideen.

Abdullah Azzam’s book on miracles in the Afghan jihad, The Signs of Rahmaan in the Jihaad of the Afghan—a “most viewed” publication on the extremist-leaning Makhtabah.net online bookseller—illustrates this point, as does a mountain of online jihadi writings covering the “miraculous events” of the battle of Fallujah, and the supernatural in
contemporary Afghanistan.

Metric 9: The Promotion of the Heroic Template Is Itself Victory.

The jihadi literature reminds us ad nauseam that victory does not depend on individual leaders; those who trust in men rather than Allah will eventually suffer moral, if not material, defeat.  Instead, victory comes by emulating the “heroes” of fighting—those who leave everything behind to make their blood cheap for the ummah— and by enduring the temporary and refining trial of their absence.  We are reminded that jihadi leaders themselves aspire to martyrdom when Allah wills it.  As a testament to this notion, we see the wills, elegies, and eulogies of jihadis published and distributed on an almost industrial scale.  Their message is consistent:  Obey Allah as I did, avenge the ummah, and enter Paradise.

 The bottom-line here is that our friend and associate John Bernard, First Sergeant, USMC (Retired) is correct.  Semper Fidelis

John Bernard