Here's how you know
 **Official websites use .mil** .mil
 **Secure .mil websites use HTTPS** lock () https://


Skip to main content (Press Enter).
 Toggle navigation
            
            
            
            
            National Guard
                        Always Ready Always There
                    National Guard
            
            Search National Guard:
                        Search
                    Search
                        Search National Guard:
                            Search
    Home

    News
    
        Guard News

    Overseas Operations

    State Partnership Program

    News Features

    RSS Feeds

    Press Releases

    Transcripts

    Features
    
        Features by Year

    Posture Statement

    State Partnership Program

    Special Features

    About the Guard
    
        How We Began

    Air National Guard

    Army National Guard    
    
        DEERS Soldier Journey

    Leader Development Program

    History and Heritage

    I am the Guard

    NGB Official March

    Leadership
    
        CNGB

    VCNGB

    SEA

    DANG

    DARNG

    Joint Staff    
    
        J-1

    J-2

    J-3

    J-4

    J-5

    J-6

    J-7

    J-8

    Personal Staff    
    
        Inspector General

    General Counsel

    Public Affairs

    Executive Support Services

    Legislative Liaison

    Special Staff    
    
        National Guard Office of Special Victims' Counsel

    Office of the Provost Marshal

    Office of the Joint Surgeon

    Director of Acquisitions

    Small Business Programs

    Chaplain

    Senior Leader Management Office

    Diversity Equity Inclusion

    Comptroller

    Resources    
        National Defense Strategy Implementation Guidance

    Community Engagement

    FOIA

    Fact Sheets

    Helpful Links

    Image Gallery
    
        News Images

    Graphics

    Historical Paintings

    Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

    Legislative Liaison

    Small Business Programs

    Social Media

    State Websites

    Videos    
    
        Featured Videos

    On Every Front

    2019 Videos

    2020 Videos

    2021 Videos

    Suicide Prevention

    Family Programs

    Environmental

    Trial Defense Service

    Holistic Wellness Challenge

    Contact Us  Home
  News
  Article View
 
 NEWS
 Study Jihadists, take advantage of DOD foreign culture, language programs, Guardmembers urged By Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhill
                National Guard Bureau
 ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Understanding the Jihadist challenge to the West is crucial for National Guard members who defend the homeland and wage the warfight abroad. So says Dr. John Finney, the international security affairs advisor to LTG H Steven Blum, the chief of the National Guard Bureau. Finney encouraged Citizen-Soldiers and Airmen to study Islamic history, cultures, societies and languages. Guardmembers must clearly distinguish between radical, violent Jihadists and the vast majority of Muslims, Finney said, citing an observation by Bernard Lewis, eminent Princeton University historian of the Islamic world: "Most Muslims are not fundamentalists," Lewis wrote in his 2004 book "The Crisis of Islam: Holy War and Unholy Terror," and "most fundamentalists are not terrorists but most present-day terrorists are Muslims and proudly identify themselves as such." George Tenet, former CIA director, wrote in his 2007 book "Life at the Center of the Storm: My Life at the CIA" that the terrorist threat will confront Americans for the foreseeable future. "The campaign against terrorism will consume the next generation "¦ the way the Cold War dominated the lives of their parents and grandparents," Tenet wrote. According to Finney: Jihadists are a very small, fanatical Muslim minority who seek to violently overthrow the international system and replace it with an Islamic state. In their view, the word "jihad" means fighting as in warfare; other Muslims define the term as an internal struggle to please God. Jihadists believe they must fight not only non-Muslims but also the Muslim majority, which they view as apostate, to impose their extremist vision on the world. Among Jihadist beliefs: Islam is the one, true faith and will dominate the world; Muslims are in conflict with unbelievers.
	Only God can make laws, not man. Government must be by strict interpretation of Islamic law called Shari'a.
	The Quran and traditions about Mohammed's life called the hadith contain the whole truth for determining a proper life for individuals and society at large. Jihadist ideologues from Sayyid Qutb to Osama Bin Laden have framed the West as Islam's mortal enemy, call democracy a false religion and advocate expelling U.S. influence from the Arabian Peninsula and Mid East, removing secular governments, eliminating Israel, purging Jewish and Christian influence and establishing a new Caliphate or Muslim empire. The key to countering the Jihadists lies is directly confronting and defeating their ideology, Finney said. This means understanding the basis of the Jihadist worldview and developing an effective response that demonstrates the falseness of the Jihadist message of exclusivity, hatred and violence. A democratic form of government, culturally Islamic and built from within Islamic societies, is the most effective antidote to the Jihadist argument, he stated. Thus, Guardmembers should have at least a basic familiarity with Jihadism and a good grasp of how democratic institutions and values, adjusted to incorporate Islamic practices and beliefs, are the most effective counterpoint to Jihadist ideology, Finney indicated. While militant Islamism isn't new  clashes with the modernizing West date back at least to the 18th century. Jihadism is a particularly serious challenge because of its cult of suicide bombers, extensive financing, skilled manipulation of the media and the Internet and potential access to weapons of mass destruction. In the long term, the war of ideas  the ideological and information battlefields  is the real center of gravity, Finney stressed. It is more important than the military aspect of the conflict, as essential as that is, he said. "We will never get ahead of the problem unless we penetrate the terrorist breeding grounds and do something about honest government, free trade, economic development, educational reform, political freedom and religious moderation," Tenet wrote. Among essential short-term and long-term Western strategies in confronting the Jihadist challenge that Finney outlined: Using the military and law enforcement to prevent a repeat of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
	Challenge extremist preaching and recruitment. Address Jihadist claims with specific counterpoints.
	Seek resolution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
	Reduce the corruption, economic backwardness and tyranny that Jihadists exploit.
	Encourage democratic governance while understanding that a Muslim form of democracy might not look exactly like Western models; Islamic practices and beliefs can coexist with democracy. Finney quoted Zbigniew Brzezinski, former national security advisor, writing in his 2007 book "Second Chance:" "America needs to identify with the quest for universal human dignity, a dignity that embodies both freedom and democracy but also implies respect for cultural diversity," Brzezinski wrote. The National Guard is on the frontlines in confronting the Jihadist challenge in Afghanistan and Iraq and protecting the American homeland from attack, Finney said. The Department of Defense is allocating substantially increased resources now to preparing the American military to operate more effectively in the cultural and linguistic environments of the Muslim world, especially in combating a deadly and determined foe that embeds itself in the civilian population. National Guard members and commanders should take advantage of these new programs, which include cultural and language training and assignment of anthropologists, social scientists and linguists to Brigade Combat Teams, Finney said. "In order to be truly successful, Guardmembers need to analyze the threat that we are facing in all its dimensions, including the ideological, cultural and historical aspects of what promises to be a decades-long struggle," he said.
 SHARE
 PRINT
 
 NY Army Guard Band Performs for Netherlands King and Queen
 By Eric Durr,
  Air National Guard Conducts Sentry Savannah Exercise
 By Master Sgt. Caila Arahood and Senior Airman Victoria Coursey,
  Hawaii Air National Guard Hosts Sentry Aloha Joint Exercise
 By Tech. Sgt. John Linzmeier,
  More
 Air National Guard Conducts Sentry Savannah Exercise Guard News • 10 hours ago
 Hawaii Air National Guard Hosts Sentry Aloha Joint Exercise Guard News • 11 hours ago
 National Guard, US Army North, FEMA Train for Hurricane Response Guard News • 12 hours ago
 Cal Air Guard F-15 Pilots Train with Marine Corps F-35 Pilots Guard News • 13 hours ago
 Tennessee Guard Rescues Hiker in Great Smoky Mountains Park Guard News • 3 days ago
 2024 (193)  2023 (427)  2022 (526)  2021 (697)  2020 (936)  2019 (387)  2018 (323)  2017 (346)  2016 (245)  2015 (356)  2014 (399)  2013 (469)  2012 (556)  2011 (533)  2010 (1071)  2009 (357)  2008 (638)  2007 (295)  2006 (188)
 Home
 Site Map
 Privacy & Security Policy
 Link Disclaimer
 Web Policy
 DOD Information Quality
 DOD Open GovernmentFOIA
 No FEAR Act
 Accessibility/Section 508
 Contact Us
 Army Guard Careers
 Air Guard Careers
 USA.gov
                    
Staying Connected
    XYouTubeFlickrFacebookInstagram
                 
                
                

Hosted by Defense Media Activity - WEB.mil