Defeating Jihad: How the war on terror may yet be won, in spite of ourselves (Paperback)

~ Serge Trifkovic (Author), Srdja Trifkovic (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Four years after 9-11 the backbone of Islamic terrorist network is far from broken. Experts warn that for every Jihadist in custody or dead there are a few more at large, and that there will be many more New Yorks, Balis, and Madrids in the years to come. Future targets may also include vital infrastructure and energy installations. The reach and operational capability of Islamist terror cells is growing. They are present in areas previously closed to the recruiters of future "martyrs," notably in Iraq, and in countries where a mere decade ago they did not have a significant presence, most notably Indonesia. The network is now global and capable of simultaneous attacks in different countries, e.g. in Turkey and Morocco. Al-Quaeda and its loosely linked offshoots are fielding a second generation of terrorists, many of them Muslim immigrants and their offspring in the Western world. The decentralized pattern of new threats makes counter-terrorist measures difficult. There is no command and control system to disrupt: just self-motivated groups of young people, some deeply embedded in Western host-societies. Conclusion: a comprehensive new strategy is needed, the one that may give us victory in this war; and it is the purpose of this book to provide the blueprint for victory. The conclusion is inescapable; there is a correlation between the presence of a Muslim population in a country and the danger that it will be subjected to a terrorist attack is a demonstrable fact. Muslims are the only group, in Western Europe or North America, that harbors a substantial segment of individuals who share the key objectives with the terrorists. They are, somewhat unsurprisingly, the immigrant group least likely to identify with America: in response to an independent survey of newly naturalized citizens, 90 percent of Muslim immigrants said that if there were a conflict between the United States and their country of origin, they would be inclined to support their country of origin. In Detroit, 81 percent of Muslims "strongly agree" or "somewhat agree" that Shari'a should be the law of the land. All over the Western world Islamic centers have provided platforms for exhortations to the faithful to support causes and to engage in acts that are morally reprehensible, legally punishable, and detrimental to the host country's national security. The model for the proposed measure exists in the McCarran Internal Security Act of 1950. Include Islamist activism as the grounds for the exclusion or deportation of any alien regardless of status or ties, as prejudicial to the public interest and injurious to national security. Mandate registration of Islamic centers and their individual members with the Attorney General; subject them to legal limitations and security supervision that applies to cults prone to violence and "hate groups."

About the Author

Serge Trifkovic is a former BBC commentator and US News and World Report reporter. He is currently the foreign desk editor Chronicles Of Culture. His last book The Sword Of The Prophet (also from ROP), has sold more than 50,000 copies and has been a main selection of the Conservative Book Club. Defeating Jihad is the sequel.

Product Details

• Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Regina Orthodox Press (March 25, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 192865326X
• ISBN-13: 978-1928653264
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #722,050 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

62 of 63 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A winnable war, June 25, 2006

By	William Muehlenberg (Melbourne Australia) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Serge Trifkovic is fast becoming a leading authority on Islamic militancy and how to respond to it. His The Sword of the Prophet (2002) was an important look at militant Islam. In this sequel volume to that incisive work, Trifkovic continues his hard-hitting analysis coupled with a sober realism about the struggle we are in.

This volume is broken into five parts: a brief review of Islam, its founder, its beliefs and practices, with special reference to Jihad; a lengthy examination of the crisis in Europe; an assessment of conditions in America; the global situation; and a series of proposed solutions.

Taken together these five sections offer a comprehensive and informed overview of the nature of Islamic Jihad and the response of the West. The book offers, in short, a workable understanding of, and plan for, an effective response to the war on terrorism.

And the author is quite right to begin by assessing the threat. A good deal of the problem lies in the fact that many Western intellectualoids refuse to even admit that there is a problem, or are much more inclined to blame the West for the current crisis.

For example, the "9-11 Commission", the US Government report on terrorism, does note that Islamist terrorism is the main worry, but then goes on to argue that the reformist wing within Islam needs to be encouraged while the fundamentalist wing needs to be resisted.

But Trifkovic argues that this distinction between a real, peaceful Islam and an a violent Islamic aberration is false. Jihad and terrorism, argues the author, are intrinsically imbedded in the Koran, hadith, and Sharia. The jihadists are fully acting in accord with their faith. Thus the real question is not, Are there moderate Muslims? Yes there are. But the question to really ask is, Is Islam itself moderate and peaceful? Trifkovic thinks not. Thus talk of reforming Islam becomes a questionable, if unobtainable, goal.

It is this understanding of the real nature of Islam that explains so much about the current crisis in Europe and the incredibly weak and short-sighted Western response. Europa is quickly becoming Eurabia because most Westerners do not understand the real nature of Islam. Peace in Islam can ultimately come when all of the Dar-al-Harb (world of unbelievers) is converted - one way or another - into the Dar-al-Islam (the world of Islam). Thus Islam is in a permanent state of war with the Western infidels until it finally reigns throughout the globe.

While the European response has been woefully inadequate, the American response has not been much better. Basically a policy of appeasement at home and saber-rattling abroad is in place. Fear of offending American Muslims has resulted in a superficial response at home. Foolish notions of tolerance, diversity and multiculturalism have failed to deal with the Islamic threat. Moreover, the West fails to understand that Muslims are unable or unwilling to properly assimilate and integrate into the West. Instead, Muslim conclaves are springing up all over the West, with the inevitable tensions which follow.

And US foreign policy has been confusing at best. Washington seeks to placate and cozy up to various Muslim states, often with counterproductive outcomes. Trifkovic doubts that the democratization of the Middle East is possible. Just as it was delusional to believe in détente with the former Soviet threat, so the idea of exporting democracy to the Islamic world is fraught with danger.

Like the Marxist world before it, the Islamic world is totalistic and implacably hostile to co-existence with the West. And for democracy to be exportable presupposes a framework of ideas that are amenable to it. Islam is fundamentally anti-democratic. The rule of Sharia law alone is the Islamic ideal - democracy is simply heretical.

Trifkovic offers a number of proposals to at least contain the Islamic threat in the West. He favours racial and ethnic profiling as a sensible and necessary feature of our security. He believes mosques should be monitored, sermons examined, and all preaching be conducted in the host-nation's language.

He believes that Islamic activists should be denied citizenship, or that it be rescinded if already given. He urges Western nations to follow the lead of Switzerland which has one of the toughest naturalization policies in the world. You cannot even apply for citizenship in Switaerland unless you have first lived there for 12 years, paid your taxes, and have no criminal record.

Other get-tough measures are proposed. But the author concludes with a more important requirement. The West needs to know itself. What does it believe? What are its values? What does it stand for? And it needs to realize that the historic, core Western values are ultimately not compatible with the Islamic worldview. Say Trifkovic, "Islamic beliefs, ideas and intentions as such pose a threat to our civilization and our way of life".

Thus the author reminds us that the first step in dealing with the war of terrorism is to recognize the fundamental differences between Western ideals and Islamic ideals. And then we need to ask ourselves, which are worth preserving and defending? Which are worth fighting and resisting? Unless the West can accurately and carefully answer those questions, it will not be well prepared to cope with the terrorist threat - nor with any other major threat for that matter.

38 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Impressive Previews & Blurb, January 17, 2006

By	John Randolph (Chicago, USA) - See all my reviews

Trifkovic cuts through the foolishness that has blinded Westerners for so many years, to show us what we're really up against - and what it will take not to just win but to survive.

Brian Mitchell
Washington Bureau Chief, Investor's Business Daily.

* * * * *
Transcending predominant canards, Serge Trifkovic identifies with precision the existential threat to both Western and other modern democracies--global Islamic terrorism, as perpetrated by Muslims following the uniquely Islamic dogmas and historical practices of jihad. Trifkovic pursues the logic of this conclusion with a plan to neutralize jihadism by acknowledging its organic connection to so-called Islamic "activism", strictly regulating Muslim immigration to Western societies, and rediscovering Western cultural and moral values. His book is an indispensable work of erudition and uncompromising intellectual honesty which should be read attentively by elites in policymaking, the media, and the academy.

Andrew G. Bostom, MD, author of "The Legacy of Jihad"

* * *
This is an important and timely book that addresses the key issue of where Islam REALLY stands vis-a-vis terrorism. The author asks us to set aside our politically correct inhibitions and look at the evidence. The book outlines a strategy for meeting the threat that might well serve as a model for Western governments to follow in their war on "global terrorism."

Ambassador James Bissett
Former Head of Canada's Immigration Service

* * * * *
Dr. Trifkovic offers important advice in our post-9-11 struggle. Success requires focusing on the strategic problem, not on the tactics used by our antagonists. The threat to our security comes not from the perpetrators of terrorist acts but from the philosophy that sets them in motion. Until we deal with this reality, success will elude us.

Professor Col. Ronald L. Hatchett
Schreiner University, Kerrville, TX
Arms negotiator under Reagan

31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If You Can Take The Truth, Read This Book. If Not, Forget It., April 2, 2006

By	Robert Locke (New York, USA) - See all my reviews

This book is not for liberals who think that more toleration will stop a holy waged in the name of a fanatically-intolerant ideology. Neither is it for conservatives who think a bigger Homeland Security budget and invading a few more countries will solve the problem.

It is, quite simply, for people who want the truth: both left and right are clueless against jihad, because they haven't seriously faced its causes, methods, or objectives. Dr. Trifkovic has, and the War on Terror will never look the same to you again, after you read this book.

It is both readable and erudite, practical and profound. Ignore the reviewers who say Dr. Trifkovic is biased: you won't think this when you've read it.

Robert Locke
www.robertlockearchive.com