Psy-War.

This is coolbert:

In my previous post I mentioned the mental state of the jihadists waging the current war against the U.S.

How they seem to be so implacably set against the U.S. that no negotiation is possible. And that these people have no finite goals or any goals whatsoever, other than just causing mayhem out of what seems to Americans to be blind irrational hatred.

Now we know that military action has been taken and is being taken against the jihadists. And that this has been both successful and unsuccessful.

We must also consider what other means can be used besides military action to combat the jihadists. Such as cutting off funding of terrorist groups, close monitoring of possible sources of recruits, etc. And this also has been done to some extent. But probably has not even been as successful as had been hoped.

Perhaps a better avenue to pursue would be increased psychological warfare [psy ops] against the jihadists.

And this is also being done to some extent already, but also without a lot of success. A perfect example is the radio and TV station that beams broadcasts to Islamic countries to counter bad news as seen on Al Jazeera for instance.

Our goal would be to greatly influence the Arab "street" and Muslims throughout the world and convince them as to the evil that the jihadists pose. A threat not only to the U.S., but to the whole world and even to the Muslim world. Even to those that are perhaps sympathetic to the "cause" of the jihadists. I do not expect that a psy op campaign would change the mind of the jihadists, although I would not preclude the possibility of that happening to some of them.

One area that might work well very with regard to psy ops would be to show how the jihadists break the tenets of their own faith. Especially when waging war against innocents. And the Koran is most explicit in this matter:

"The Koran specifically warns against unleashing violence on innocent civilians.

"And fight in the way of Allah with those who fight with you, and do not exceed the limits, surely Allah does not love those who exceed the limits," reads Chapter 2 (The Cow), verse 193."

Even a jihadist must adhere to limits in warfare. A 9/11 is not within limits.

In pursuing psy ops warfare, American Muslims should, would, and can play a great part in this aspect of the anti-jihad campaign.

It seems to be that the reaction of the American Muslim community has been very muted to this point. Almost complicit [muteness could be interpreted as complicity] I would say.

They do not seem to take a position one way or another.

And this is to their detriment.

We need to make it clear to them that they need to make their voices known to the WHOLE WORLD. Most American Muslims I have had experience with are either pretty well educated, or even highly so. And they seem to prosper financially also. Unlike Muslim immigrants to other countries throughout the world, many of whom live in poverty and near ghetto status. Many of these Muslims here in the U.S. are from the upper class of their respective countries. These are not dumb, uneducated, unsophisticated immigrants working at menial jobs. Their voices would carry weight.

I know that the Muslim community here says that they do not have a hierarchy that speaks for them. Well, let them then speak as individuals. Tell the people in the countries from whence they emigrated that the U.S. is a good place full of good people and they are not treated as dogs but rather the opposite. Tell the world that what the jihadists are trying to do is evil. Tell the world this and do it over and over. And with conviction. And they can do it with conviction.

As strange as it may seem to some, the U.S. is perhaps the only place in the world where Muslims can practice their religion as it is intended to be practiced, without government interference. And on several occasions I have heard Muslims say this, and mean it, although at the time they might not have realized what they said.

This includes a representative of Hezbollah, the Shia terrorist group operating out of Lebanon. This bad guy said that their organization in the U.S. [and they do have one too], does not perpetrate terrorist acts as they are allowed to freely practice their religion. In contrast to other "Islamic" countries around the world where they are not allowed to. This villain, when he said this, did not even seem to realize what he had said [probably did not].

Isn't that such an irony? That the one place they hate so much and want to destroy so badly is the one place where they can practice their religion as it is intended to be practiced!!

Will these psy ops work? Well, they should at least be tried to the maximum extent possible. Otherwise, we in the U.S. face a century of this type of terrorist warfare. And before that century is up, expect more mass deaths of an even more horrific nature that 9/11, perhaps even many more such attacks. All approaches must be tried!!

coolbert.