by Sebastian Gorka
Washington, D.C.: Regnery Publishing, 2016.
Reviewed by Raymond Ibrahim
Middle East Quarterly
Summer 2017
Those looking for a comprehensive and detailed explanation for defeating jihad might be disappointed in Gorka’s study as his recommendations are confined to the last five pages of the book. The bulk of the work is a rehash of related topics that may be enlightening for those new to the field but are banal for those more acquainted. Thus, the reader is offered a recap of 9/11, the U.S. responses, and their aftereffects; a standard summary of the life of the Prophet Muhammad, the meaning of the “greater” and “lesser” jihads; and a survey of the modern theoreticians regularly associated with the present-day articulation of jihad such as Sayyid Qutb, Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini, and al-Qaeda’s Ayman al-Zawahiri.
Gorka’s recommendations for defeating jihad are good (if unoriginal). First: “Deploy the truth: You cannot win a war if you cannot talk honestly about the enemy. … [W]e must use the term ‘jihadist’ to describe groups like the Islamic State.” Second: “Take a step back: Help others fight their own wars.” And finally: “Winning the war at home: [calls for] education and human intelligence. … [W]e need to establish a nationwide program of education and training in the enemy threat doctrine of global jihadism across the armed services as well as federal, state, and local police forces and the intelligence community.” All three recommendations are certainly a good start—to which can be added banning immigration of Islamists and monitoring Islamic centers in America.
The difficulty concerns the first, and arguably most important, point: speaking accurately. Gorka regularly points to U.S. ideological war with the Soviet Union as a precedent and model for U.S. leadership to follow. But the analogy is not very helpful. The U.S. ideological war with the U.S.S.R did not distinguish between a “moderate” and “radical” form of communism—at least not in the way Gorka and others distinguish between a “moderate” and “radical” Islam—but rather was an unabashed denunciation of the heart of communist ideology itself. A more nuanced analogy is required.
The sooner Western leaders and pundits remove their blinders regarding the ideological fount of jihadism—the texts and traditions of classical Islam—the sooner a real prescription for combating can be delineated and acted upon. With an advisory position in the new Trump government, Gorka is well placed to make this happen.[1]
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[1] This book review was written and first published by the Middle East Quarterly some months before Gorka left the Trump administration.
Muslims will win this war unless the case is made that Islamic doctrine is supremacist, totalitarian, violent and irrational. As such it is an unacceptable ideology. The case should begin by asking “who was the second radical Muslim”? Once it is understood that the role model was the first radical, we will be on our way to defeating this evil ideology.
Indeed. Islam is not a bush in need of pruning– it is a pernicious weed that needs to be yanked out by the roots.
IMO, to put it simply, it is too late for educating most people, because generations have been brainwashed by marxist teaching in the schools and colleges, therefore lack the intelligence and ability to think critically.
Secondly, the West has for the most part rejected GOD, the consequences of which are explained in 2 Corinthians 4v3&4 (amongst others).
In spite of my cynicism, we never know how God will use ‘for good’ what we do, so I thank you for keep up the good “fight”.
There is only one rational plan for winning the war against jihad, by ending Islam as a viable political entity forever. Too bad, the so-called intellectuals stubbornly play ostrich and fiddle with dolls, like Neville Chamberlain did with Hitler before Churchill took over. Check out my Winslow Plan for Exterminating Islam Forever, and decide for yourself now where you stand to save your descendants unimaginable horror. tinyurl.com / winslowplan
The SOLUTION is for Muslims and non-Muslims to learn what is in the Qur’an in order to EXPOSE its abominable verses. They must COMMUNICATE that such verses must be DELETED. To NOT do so, Islamic terrorism will always exist until Islam dominates the world. To accomplished such a challenge, an Islamic Reformation is NEEDED with an objective to DELETE ABOMINABLE VERSES in the QUR’AN.
By educating all people, Muslim religious leaders will be pressured by Muslim followers to revise the Qur’an.
To DEFEAT ISLAM, people, and Americans in the United States, with the avid support of their government, news media, social media, and government agencies such as the CIA and FBI, must use the Internet extensively to EXPOSE the abominable verses in the Qur’an. Recommend the following link for people to share with others. http://www.nicholasginex.com/2017/09/16/all-people-expose-abominable-verses-in-the-quran/
Islam is a destructive religion. The source of discontent and terrorism is the Qur’an.
The SOLUTION is for Muslims and non-Muslims to learn what is in the Qur’an in order to EXPOSE its abominable verses. They must COMMUNICATE that such verses must be DELETED. To NOT do so, Islamic terrorism will always exist until Islam dominates the world. To accomplished such a challenge, an Islamic Reformation is NEEDED with an objective to DELETE ABOMINABLE VERSES in the QUR’AN.
By educating all people, Muslim religious leaders will be pressured by Muslim followers to revise the Qur’an,
All people, and Americans in the United States, with the avid support of their government, news media, and government agencies such as the CIA and FBI, must use the Internet extensively to EXPOSE the abominable verses in the Qur’an.
The source of discontent and terrorism is the Qur’an. Read the following link that provides how people around the world can effectively reveal that the Qur’an is a manual that infects the minds of Muslims to become bigots, hate, and kill nonbelievers of Islam.
http://www.nicholasginex.com/2017/09/16/all-people-expose-abominable-verses-in-the-quran/
The above link can be a successful way to counter prolific Islamic propaganda.