Did You Know?

Pentagon's secret alliance with Islamic elements

Al Qa'eda is not an "outside enemy" but rather a creation of the US military-intelligence apparatus according to the Republican Party Committee of the US Congress under the Clinton Administration. This is the same pattern of collaboration between the US military (and indeed NATO) and the Islamic brigades that was replicated in Kosovo (1995-99) and Macedonia (2000-2001)

It is well documented that America played a major role in creating and sustaining the Mujahideen, which included Osama bin Laden's Office of Services set up to recruit volunteers from overseas. Between 1985 and 1992, US officials estimate that 12,500 foreign fighters were trained in bomb-making, sabotage and guerrilla warfare tactics in Afghan camps that the CIA helped to set up.

Yet America's role in backing the Mujahideen a second time in the early and mid-1990s is seldom mentioned, largely because very few people know about it, and those who do find it prudent to pretend that it never happened. Following the Russian withdrawal from Afghanistan in 1989 and the collapse of their puppet regime in 1992, the Afghan Mujahideen became less important to the United States; many Arabs, in the words of the journalist James Buchan, were left stranded in Afghanistan "with a taste for fighting but no cause." It was not long before some were provided with a new cause. From 1992 to 1995, the Pentagon assisted with the movement of thousands of Mujahideen and other Islamic elements from Central Asia into Europe, to fight alongside Bosnian Muslims against the Serbs.

Provided by Brendan O'Neill
The Spectator September 13, 2003

Editor's note: Mr. O'Neill accepts that Jihad is a violent action. To read what Jihad really is, read Myth Breakers in the 4th edition of this "magazine."