I was concerned about the story of Hesham Islam. I have had several posts on this story.
It got stranger and stranger, especially his life story.
He is (was) the Muslim assistant to an Undersecretary of Defense who was conducting controversial “outreach” to some odd Muslim groups. Now he is out. Apparently his life story was just too odd to remain believable once the spotlight went on.
Tags: Islam, moles, Pentagon, war on terror
From the last link:
—-[FBI reports indicate this group] is involved in a Muslim Brotherhood conspiracy to wage a cultural and political jihad to eventually take over America—-
Something I find telling is that Americans sometimes comment on conspiracies, but Middle Eastern people live and breath conspiracies. I think that leaves us less able to figure out when we’re on the hook. I would suggest our paranoia level is too low with regards to jihadists.
The other thing is England getting that post following Rumsfeld’s push to get business experience in the Pentagon. This kind of short circuited the usual vetting process for mid to upper level bureaucracy jobs, but since the usual process has given us such useless, infighting courtiers, I don’t blame Rumsfeld for trying something different. We need a better bureaucracy.
Did you ever read the Clancy book, “Executive Orders”? There was a Muslim mole in the Secret Service. The story sounds like this guy. His biography is unraveling and sounds like a legend.
I haven’t read that Clancy book, but I might pick it up next chance I get.
(BTW, your book came in the mail today. Awesome! Excellent layout, dust cover art, and binding quality.)
I’m thinking the shortage of natural resources in the Middle East throughout most of history has made them sensitive to scarcity, including scarcity of information: why tell Ahmad where the good grass is, when I can keep it a secret and use it for myself. An outgrowth of secrets and withholding information is conspiracy.
The West has had its scarcity, but we’ve usually had a frontier, either land or ocean, that lends itself to more information flow: tell the ambitious neighbor boy there is land in North America — maybe he will go there and leave us alone.
I think Americans in particular are not good at spotting conspiracies. Didn’t the Soviets pretty well kick our butts in the spy craft game?
“Something I find telling is that Americans sometimes comment on conspiracies, but Middle Eastern people live and breath conspiracies. I think that leaves us less able to figure out when we’re on the hook. I would suggest our paranoia level is too low with regards to jihadists.”
doombuggy, you make an excellent point. Interestingly in America, conspiracies abound but mostly almost always from corny right-wing fringe dwellers living in a bunker somewhere in the middle of Idaho. (you know, that ‘vast rightwing conspiracy’).
Not only is our paranoia level is too low but we are too unwilling to believe in the pure evil of jidhadists. Perhaps our good natured optimism clouds our ability to have the crucial discernment needed.
Here is a longish article that covers some of this and more. Here’s a quote:
–What a great idea, come to think of it. In one front, the Islamist terrorists are working to cast terror in the minds of the unbelievers, at the same time the so called moderate Islamist are joining the ‘dialogue’ sessions with the infidels, and submitting their demands. The message is so loud and clear—‘if you do not accept our demand peacefully, we will invite the terrorists to get what we do not acquire through negotiation.’ This is such a simple but a powerful strategy of blackmail,…–