American Jihad: The Terrorists Living Among Us

by Steven Emerson
The Free Press, A Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
New York, London, Toronto Sydney, Singapore 261 pages including index

Before this book even begins the disinformation began. Abdullah Azzam, Oklahoma City, 1988 states, "The Jihad, the fighting is obligatory on you wherever you can perform it. And just as when you are in America you must fast-unless you are ill or on a voyage-so, too, must you wage Jihad. The word Jihad means fighting with the sword."

There is little doubt in my mind that this man is a CIA operative because no Muslim would ever utter these words. Jihad is not fighting with the sword so immediately this book is flawed and designed to deceive and inflame people to hatred of Muslims.

"The dream of a world under Islam has engendered Muslim dissidents everywhere in the world over the last two decades." Islam is the religion that gives of itself. It is the fastest growing religion on earth because it does. So, to state that it is engendered is misleading to say the least because it is a misconception to say these people are dissidents because they're not at all.

The intelligence agencies manipulate certain factions to turn them into violent people. If the intelligence agencies didn't do this, there would be no Hamas or any other violent faction amongst Islamic peoples.

Emerson names these groups. They are Hamas of Palestine, Hizballah of Iran, the Islamic Salvation Front and Armed Islamic Group of Algeria, An-Nahda of Tunisia, the Muslim Brotherhood and al-Gama'at al-Islamiyya of Egypt, the Jama'at Muslimeen of Pakistan, and the Holy Warriors of the Philippines and Chechnya stating that "they all share the same goal of an Islamic world, or, as they refer to it, a Khilafah.

I have proof that Hamas was created by the CIA, so it follows that the others could also easily have been created by the CIA or other intelligence agencies such as Israel's Mossad. These organizations do not seek an Islamic world; they only seek justice.

Emerson indicates that when these groups came to the United States "with freedom of speech and assembly and with only casual oversight from the FBI, the CIA, and the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the worldwide network of militant Islamic organizations has finally been able to coordinate."

Freedom of speech is an activity which people who speak nonsense are allowed to have. For those of us who speak the truth, our freedom of speech is stripped so how Emerson can state we have freedom of speech is an indication that he is ignorant.

Emerson states he consults with the FBI, a documented agency that murders so his consultation is flawed too. The FBI was conceived in 1919 and is an instrument to maintain the status quo or maintain the elite's control over human beings. It is not an agency that seeks justice; it seeks control. Whatever interferes with that goal, is viciously attacked and destroyed by the FBI. (Read The Cointelpro Papers: Documents from the FBI's Secret Wars Against Dissent in the United States by Ward Churchill & Jim Vander Wall ©1990 South End Press, Boston for proof). Emerson states that he "asked FBI officials if they knew that their Detroit colleague had spoken at this radical gathering." Washington officials indicated that it was "possible." Not only possible; probable because of the infiltration that the agency performs on a consistent basis or organizations.

Emerson worked for CNN, itself a bastion of propaganda reportage. In 1993 while a reporter for that media outlet the original World Trade Center bombing occurred. The FBI knew it would be attacked and allowed it to happen but Emerson never mentions that, an indication that he doesn't know very much about terrorism at all.

Emerson consults with PBS and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, two organizations that are controlled by the corporate media. This type of organization doesn't want the truth to be revealed so it strives to support disinformation. Indeed, Emerson states that he received "some research and development money" from Dugin which is probably a misspelling of Ervin Duggan who "took matters into his own hands and provided" him with money enabling Emerson to leave "CNN to work full-time as an investigator of terrorist networks in the United States."

Emerson learned from the State Department and the FBI that "a militant Muslim group had taken offense" adding that "they had dispatched a team to assassinate me." Congressional action forbade the FBI to investigate groups beginning in the 1970s, how is it that they now know that a group is planning to assassinate Emerson? Answer: the FBI does investigate before an action would take place so Cointelpro continues. This is the proof. Emerson fell right into a trap of his own making.

Emerson either accepts the deceits about the September 11, 2001 tragedy or he wants to make sure that you do because he states that "nineteen men hijacked four cross-country jetliners, flying two into the twin towers of the World Trade Center which succeeded in collapsing both buildings...." We know that this is false so the entire scenario could be false because if one premise is false the entire equation is false. (See True Democracy , Fall, 2001 edition at www.truedemocracy.net published December, 2001.)

Emerson gives credit to the Muslim Arab Youth Association for displaying compassion for the victims of the 9/11 tragedy but does not give credit to any adult Muslim organization which did precisely the same action because they were extremely shocked and saddened as well.

The main point of this book is that the terrorists are Islamic people; the reality, however, is that it's the Israelis and the American government which are the terrorists. Therefore, the Muslim community cannot be the terrorist because they are the victims of terrorism. They retaliate against terrorism; they do not initiate it. That's their culture as they are simply seeking justice in the only way in which they know. Powerlessness and culture bring forth violence. In the political atmosphere this is misconstrued as terrorism and deliberately so. Emerson states "that Hamas's agenda includes the destruction of the State of Israel through terrorist acts. This is laughable because the Israeli Defense Force kills far more Palestinians then do the Hamas forces.

Emerson trips himself up in the following quoted statement: "the FBI had been gathering evidence of HLF's ties to Hamas since 1993, and 'a majority of the funds collected by the HLFRD are used to support Hamas activities in the Middle East.'" If it was the HLF which supported HAMAS Emerson should so state. Because he states HLFRD it would indicate that there could be two organizations, one to help widows and orphans philanthropically and the other to fund Hamas. George W. Bush froze the assets of HLF in December, 2001 preventing desperately needed assistance to these victims.

The incendiary way that Emerson writes the term Holy war is also indicative of manipulation of the innocence of the reader because no such term exists in Islam. This term was actually used against Muslims during the Crusades. Therefore, anyone with an understanding of history would know that these beleaguered people are victims not perpetrators of terrorism.

As a reviewer of this book, I would suggest that the reader find another source to understand terrorism. This book does not provide the reasons for terrorist activity because it does not address who the real terrorists are. Moreover, it ignores the root cause of terrorism. It does not separate violence from terrorism and accepts too easily the plausible denial of governments which disseminate disinformation.



Arlene Johnson is the publisher of True Democracy (La verdad sobre la democracia) the internationally acclaimed historically accurate periodical upon its release in 2001. Her credentials include researching and publishing Top Secret history of the Middle East.