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Source: http://p.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/jun/24/may-talking-with-the-jihadists-is-a-strategy-for-l/
Understanding the Mind of Jihad
(Washington Times) Clifford D. May - In The Mind of Jihad, written seven years ago for the Pentagon's director of net assessment, Laurent Murawiec explained that jihad implies "warfare with spiritual significance," and thus cannot be seen as "a response to 'colonial aggression,' 'imperialist encroachments,' 'Zionist intrusion' or 'American crimes.'" Jihad was the primary means by which the great Islamic empires of antiquity expanded their borders. Within the Muslim world, "sizable groups and schools of thought" view the West as weakening, in decline, unwilling and maybe unable to defend itself. They further believe that Muslims have a religious obligation to exploit this opportunity to expand "the writ and word of Allah." "Modern jihad erupted in full force with the Islamic Revolution in Iran in 1979 in both the Shiite and the Sunni world." Thousands of jihadist attacks have followed over the years since. Jihadists of the Sunni variety are now fighting on more battlefields than ever, and the Shia rulers of the Islamic republic of Iran, with their eyes on future jihad, have spent an estimated $100 billion to develop a nuclear weapons capability. If they achieve it, our grandchildren will live in a very different world. It's amazing how many people still don't grasp that. The writer is president of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.