In Their Own Words: Voices of Jihad--Compilation and Commentary
Compiled by RAND's director of [the Center for] Middle East Public Policy, David Aaron, [this] book provides a wide variety of views, stories, and justifications by individuals who promote terrorism in the name of Islam. While terrorism may have always been a tactic of warfare, seldom have its authors been so well documented. Libraries and bookstores can't go wrong with [this] volume. [It is] indispensable for historians, journalists, academics, and policy makers.Foreword Magazine, Editor's Notes, August 2008This generous and varied compendium of citations goes far beyond relatively standard [terrorist] messages to give a remarkably in-depth view of what jihadis are saying not only to the world, but to each other. Author David Aaron focuses primarily on al-Qaeda and related groups... His sources are quotations from the books, manuals, fatwas web postings and other written and oral discourse from jihadi leaders, as well as some direct quotations from Muslim holy texts, especially where they are used in justification or explanation of acts of jihad... It should be noted that the author makes clear in his preface, introduction and elsewhere in the text that the reader must separate between Muslim jihadists and terrorists, and Muslims in general, an important distinction for all readers to keep in mind.'In Their Own Words: Voices of Jihad';, is a unique compilation of materials that are difficult for even the professional reader to access. The book will be an excellent addition to the library of any student of Jihadism, Terrorism, the history of Islam, and Middle Eastern studies, as well as anyone with an interest in the current global political picture. A picture seen by jihadists which indicates that the current imbalance of superpowers caused by the fall of the Soviet Union indicates that we are in a time of transition, and that a change will be wrought by them in the name of their god.Journal of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, Volume 5, issue 1, 2008