THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume X, Issue # 303, November 14, 2008
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
JIHAD ON TRIAL -- BRIEFING BY ANDREW C. MCCARTHY:
Summary Account by Eric Bergel
RELIGION, IDEOLOGY, U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY, & THE WORLDWIDE ISLAMIST JIHAD: ISLAM AS THE ANIMATING FORCE
BEHIND ISLAMIST TERRORISM -- INABILITY TO UNCOVER ANY INSTANCE WHERE ISLAMIST IDEOLOGY DEVIATES FROM
ISLAMIC SCRIPTURE -- THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN POLITICAL CORRECTNESS & THE U.S. GOVERNMENT'S WILLFULLY
BLIND ATTITUDE TOWARD ISLAMIC TERRORISM -- TERRORISM AS FUNDAMENTALLY A POLITICAL ISSUE OF NATIONAL
SELF-DEFENSE, RATHER THAN A LEGAL ISSUE OF ENFORCING CRIMINAL LAW -- THE ONLY SENSIBLE COUNTERTERRORISM
STRATEGY: A HOLISTIC, COMPREHENSIVE STRATEGY THAT BRINGS TO BEAR ALL OF THE TOOLS OF AMERICAN
GOVERNMENT, INCLUDING THE COURTS, THE MILITARY, THE INTELLIGENCE SERVICES, & THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE
TREASURY -- ALL FUTURE U.S. FOREIGN & NATIONAL SECURITY POLICY BASED ON RECOGNITION OF THE CENTRAL ROLE
THAT ISLAMIST IDEOLOGY PLAYS IN TERRORISM
FULL STORY:
Andrew C. McCarthy is the Director of the Center for Law and Counterterrorism at the Foundation for Defense of
Democracies. A former federal prosecutor, he has served as a special assistant to the Deputy Secretary of Defense. After
the 9-11 Islamist attacks on the U.S.A., he supervised the U.S. Attorney's Anti-Terrorism Command Post in New York
City. He is a contributor to National Review and Commentary, as well as various other publications.
Among his numerous awards is the Justice Department's highest honor, the Attorney General's Exceptional Service
Award. He has taught at Fordham University Law School and New York Law School. On October 6, 2008, McCarthy
addressed the Middle East Forum in New York City about his new book, Willful Blindness: A Memoir of the Jihad
(Encounter, 2008). It builds on his article, "Prosecuting the New York Sheikh," which appeared in the March, 1997, issue of the
Middle East Quarterly, and on his acceptance speech on receiving the Middle East Forum's Albert J. Wood Public
Affairs Award in 1996.
In Willful Blindness, McCarthy reflects upon his role as the lead prosecutor in the historic case against the "Blind
Sheikh," Omar Abdel-Rahman, who was brought to trial for his role in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
McCarthy recounted his involvement in the case, as well as the lessons he learned through his experience. His
overarching point was that the U.S. government did, and to an extent still does, consciously avoid the fact that Islam is
the animating force behind Islamist terrorism. He said:
"1993 was a declaration of war against the U.S.A.
The excruciating thing is that, at the time the
attack happened, they warned us that the World
Trade Center would continue to be one of their
targets. The writing was on the wall … in 1993,
and, for whatever reason, we didn't see it or, at
least, didn't want to see it."
One reason for the U.S. government's willfully blind attitude toward terrorism, McCarthy observed, was its insistence on
pursuing the trial with the utmost deference to political correctness. McCarthy explained how, during press conferences,
the Justice Department repeated the politically correct lines about Islam, but inside the courtroom, the legal process did
not permit such discretion. "What jurors learned and saw," McCarthy revealed, "was that the wave of terrorism that we're
already dealing with was generated by a solid ideology and that the Blind Sheikh was a very important person and not a
fringe…. And that's a lesson that was learned in that courtroom twelve years ago, but has not, for whatever reason,
managed to carry itself outside the courtroom to the point where it grabs the majority of people like I think it has to."
McCarthy said, "You can't take Islam out of Islamic Terror." McCarthy himself learned the truth of this adage in the course
of his preparation for the trial. Although Abdel-Rahman never took the stand, McCarthy had to prepare for the
contingency that he would. To plan for the cross-examination of the Blind Sheikh, McCarthy trained under the premise
that, since Islamists represent a fringe group of Muslims; he would be able to trap the Blind Sheikh into admitting that his
ideology differed from the Qur'an. In his research, however, McCarthy was unable to uncover any instance where
Abdel-Rahman's Islamist ideology deviated from Islamic scripture.
McCarthy summarized what he learned about Islam, saying:
"I don't want to pretend that Islam is a monolith … but
the ideology that he [the Blind Sheikh] is an adherent
of … is one that has a very rich pedigree. It is fourteen
centuries old … and people have been willing to die
for it…. We do ourselves no good by underestimating
what it is that we deal with."
McCarthy concluded that, while not all who practice radical Islam practice terrorism, there exists a "healthy portion [who
do] … too healthy for our security."
McCarthy also assessed the most effective methods of counterterrorism, arguing that terrorism is fundamentally a
political issue of national self-defense, rather than a legal issue of enforcing criminal law. Trying to pursue national
security challenges only through legal methods, which is what the U.S. practiced in the 1990's, is a "prescription for a
suicidal result."
Between 1993 and the 9-11 terrorist attacks, the Justice Department made a massive effort to prosecute terrorism cases, but,
over this entire period, only twenty-nine terrorists were convicted and none, besides the Blind Sheikh, were top-level
personnel. "Osama bin Laden," McCarthy reasoned, "was indicted by the United States in June, 1998, and adding new
counts to his indictment hasn't deterred him much."
Instead of processing terrorist suspects exclusively through the court system, McCarthy asserted that the "only sensible
counterterrorism strategy is a holistic, comprehensive one that brings to bear all of the tools of government." McCarthy's
approach would not only include the courts, but also the resources of the U.S. military, various intelligence services, and
the Department of the Treasury. Above all else, however, McCarthy felt that it is imperative that the U.S.A. recognize the
central role that Islamist ideology plays in terrorism, and to make this the basis of all future policy.
-----------------------------------------
Originally Published in Middle East Forum Wires, October 6, 2008
Reprinted from Middle East Forum News, November 13, 2008
Reprinted with Permission of the Middle East Forum
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
Islamism & Jihadism -- The Threat of Radical Islam
Page Three
Page Two
Page One
Middle East -- Arabs, Arab States,
& Their Middle Eastern Neighbors
American Foreign Policy -- The Middle East
International Politics & World Disorder:
War, Peace, & Geopolitics in the Real World:
Foreign Affairs & U.S. National Security
Page Two
Page One
Islamist Terrorist Attacks on the U.S.A.
Osama bin Laden & the Islamist Declaration of War
Against the U.S.A. & Western Civilization
Islamist International Terrorism &
U.S. Intelligence Agencies
Counterterrorism & U.S. National Security
U.S. National Security Strategy
The foregoing summary account by Eric Bergel can be found on the Internet website maintained by the Middle East
Forum, a foreign policy think tank which seeks to define and promote American interests in the Middle East, defining U.S.
interests to include fighting radical Islam, working for Palestinian Arab acceptance of the State of Israel, improving the
management of U.S. efforts to promote constitutional democracy in the Middle East, reducing America's energy
dependence on the Middle East, more robustly asserting U.S. interests vis-ŕ-vis Saudi Arabia, and countering the Iranian
threat. (Article URL: http://www.meforum.org/article/2009)
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THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
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Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
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