Islamist Crazies Alive and Well on the Internet

I found this video via Views From The Occident. The video is a type of eulogy for Abu Mus'ab al-Zarqawi, a militant Salafi terrorist who was killed by a US airstrike in 2006 and demonstrates the fact that Salafi terrorists are still around and have added tacky video editing as a part of their training. Iraq's recent resurgence of violence has been alarming as well as disheartening to see that Iraq's sovereignty looks lengths away from the foreseeable future.

The militant Salafist movements of Iraq are still strong despite a reduction in violence from 2006 and 2007. Reasons for this include the vast numbers of Sunni Iraqi's disenfranchised by the US invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan as well as the unlimited supply of radical Sunni extremists living everywhere from Kashhmir to London. This not so efficient network of radical Salifis provides moral and/or financial support to similar groups in conflict zones (Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, etc).

The US military's current strategy is building alliances with Sunni tribes to combat Salafi terrorist groups from the community level and cutting off their recruitment base. However effective these efforts may be in the short run, a long term solution can only be provided by the global Muslim community itself. Salafi strategies of financing Islamic mosques and dawa with the condition that it be headed with Salafi ideology creates an incredible base of Muslims who are complacent to Salafi violence around the world. Not until the dangers of militant Salafism/Wahabism becomes a major discourse in the global Muslim community will there be a significant reduction in the global networks of Islamist terrorists.

Related Reading
Is Iraq Sliding Back Into Chaos?
Frontline Analaysis of Wahabism
The Decline of Knowledge and the Rise of Ideology in the Modern Islamic World

Shias In The Gulf React To Discrimination

Shias (Shiites) in Eastern Saudi Arabia have always suffered repression and discrimination in their country in addition to the millions of Shias who are discriminated against as visiting pilgrims to holy sites. Sheikh Nimr, a Shia leader in Saudi, public declared for the secession of the Shia majority eastern portion of the country. Sheikh Nimr made the declaration in February shortly after serious violence between Saudi religious police and Shia pilgrims in the holy city of Medina.



New statements from Shia leaders denouncing the calls to secede have been labeled by some as an act of complacency to the discrimination of Shias in Saudi. Even though I disagree on the notion that the eastern province should secede, I agree that these types of statements are a detriment to any serious progressive dialogue on the issue of discrimination.



Additionally, I resent the fact that NPR falls for the rhetoric that accuses Iran of using Shia-Sunni tensions as a way to increase their influence in the region. Iranian nationalists who dream of having Bahrain as Iranian territory again are out of touch with reality and do not represent the nation. It is possible for Shias to be upset about something without Iran's influence. Just ask Shias in Iraq who have a variety of political viewpoints, many of which have no desire to form a super-Shia state with Iran.