Future Jihad: Terrorist Strategies Against the West

Detailed Analysis

Walid Phares carefully distinguishes between radical and moderate Muslims. He gives historical context as well as summarizing recent events. This book is a great help in understanding why 9/11 happened.

Superb analysis

This is one of the best of many books that are currently out on the subject of Jihad. What I particularly appreciated was the lack of hyper-partisanship, and the no-nonsense tracing of Jihad from it's beginning, to today and into the future. Along with David Cook, and Bruce Hoffman, this book should be on your shelf if you want to understand where those who hate us are coming from.

Future Jihad: Terrorist Strategies Against America

Walid Phares'book Future Jihad is the leading work on the strategies of the Jihadists worldwide and in America. Phares, a professor of Middle East Studies was the first scholar to break the 'Taboo' about Wahabism, Salafism, Khomeinism and showed the reader the real big picture about the Jihadist campaigns against the US, the West and Muslim moderates. Against hundreds of scholars, funded by the Oil producing regimes, on dozens of campuses around the US and Europe, Phares embarrassed the apologists for Jihadism and the frustrated 'reviewers.' For years the Middle East studies scholarship was trying to blur the vision of Americans and cover up for the so-called 'Jihad of the soul.' This book, not only pulverised their theories, but finally gave the readers what they needed to understand the War on Terror and the War of Ideas around them. It is read in Congress, at the European Parliament and by students seeking real knowlege. But better, it is indeed leading the field. It is number one on Barnes and Nobles..

Advantage and great disadvantage...

The author of the book does seem to understand Middle Eastern culture, no doubt (afterall, he is from the Middle East). However, he unfortunately twists and turns that understanding into a naive, unreliable and frightening comprehension of what's been going on. He does not do justice whatsoever when it comes to understanding the motivation and goals of extremist groups, and what it takes to solve the issue. If you want a excellent book on the politics of the Muslim world, see 'The Future of Political Islam' by Graham Fuller. Otherwise, this is just another book that legitimizes the far right-wing view of Islam and the Muslim world.

Gives the in depth facts on terrorist thought

Phares really knows his stuff. He displays a great deal of information on Islamic Jihad and describes how modern day terroists use it as a weapon against America and Europe. If you're having a hard time understanding current events, or just want to know more about what motivates terroists, read this book. It explains a lot.

A Must Read - Outstanding

This is an outstanding book. The introduction sets the stage for a riveting read and in the first chapter Phares succeeds in explaining complicated Islamic history and Islamic teachings that have created and continue to support violent jihad in a way that anyone can understand. I could hardly put the book down. Walid Phares clearly understands the jihadists' minds. I have watched him on MSNBC. I suspect his incredible understanding is related to being born, raised, educated and having practiced law in Lebanon where terrorism against the U.S. was initiated through the 1983 suicide bombing of the U.S. marine barracks in Beirut that killed 241 U.S. Marines. Phares monitors and analyzes the jihadists' websites (Arabic), has contacts in the Arab world, and is invited to debate jihadist supporting clerics and scholars on al-jazeera and other Arabic TV and radio. This book should be required reading for anyone who truly wants to understand jihad in America and abroad, the deadly threat it presents to the U.S. and the free world, and what we need to do to stop it.

Future Jihad: Terrorist Strategies Against America

Future Jihad addresses the issue of how the nation was paralyzed in understanding the coming of 'a' 9/11 and what should be done to prevent a future that the Jihadists wanted to see unfolding years ago. 'Americans and other societies were led to believe that Jihadism wasn't a threat,' argues Phares in his introduction. 'It was a systematic and dramatic penetration of American and Western intellectual defenses that led to Terror thrusts for a whole decade.' In his introduction, ten overwhelming questions challenges us: The gist of the questionnaire is revolutionary: Did we engage in a war which was launched against us, declared against us, and which signals were blurred by many among us? Richard Clarke told the American people that the Government failed the public. Phares responds: and who failed the Government and the public? Was there a Trojan Horse inside our own political culture? This book is badly needed on campuses.

Future Jihad: Terrorist Strategies Against America

I have never read a book as powerful as this one on Terrorism and the war we're in. This author explains it all: from the historical roots of Jihadism, its various schools, its strategies, how it penetrated the West, the US all the way to 9/11. The most frightening one is chapter 13. A must read. Phares read their minds, projects how they can attack and crumble US security, had they waited more time. In short, if you wish to understand the big picture, the bigger picture than our daily debates, read this book: Academic, some chapters are hard, but a must. But from chapter 4 on, you are transported to a world you haven't understood before.

Superb

A must read for anyone who is interested in the unapologetic truth about the Jihadists and their agenda. Phares explores Jihad in all of it's mutations, from the beginning to the present, and offers sober advice for our future. Make no mistake, Jihad is not some amorphous 'spiritual' development. One can only hope that the politicians and policy makers are 'getting it' by reading and learning from insightful books like this, instead of shriveling from the constant threat of political correctness. I am not holding my breath, though.

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