In short, humanity is under attack

So conclude Behrooz Bahbudi and Walid Phares in today's Washington Post. But why read the paper when you can read a blog? :) Let me link you to the same piece posted at The Counterterrorism Blog:

Because for 11 years years, the American public wasn’t informed about the threat that lead to September 11 and because the classrooms and newsrooms of the United States were not educated enough about the global threat of “Jihadism,” we feel it is incumbent on individual citizens to educate themselves about this danger and mobilize to prevent a Future Jihad looming around the world and at home.

It is important that American citizens understand who the “Jihadists” are, what they want to achieve, and how they are proceeding. Without this knowledge, the American public will be unable to be part of the political debate about national security and the War on Terror. And if deprived from the support of an informed public, the US Government, now and in the future, cannot sustain difficult decisions pertaining to the defeat of the Terrorist enemy.

The authors go on to delineate (a) the ideology of the terrorists, (b) the two major "trees" of Jihadism -basically, the Wahabis and Muslim Brotherhood on the one hand, and Ayatollah Khumeini on the other- and (c) the "Axis" of Jihadism:

In many places and on different occasions the two blocs of Jihadism have established interim alliances: the regimes in Iran, Syria and Sudan and the organizations of al Qaeda, Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, Jemaa Islamiya, and many others have cooperated: against democracies and civil societies, they have formed an axis of Jihadism. This is what the American public and civil societies around the world are up against since the 1990s.

Read it all, even at the WaPo if you must. It's the clearest explanation you'll ever find under 800 words, and I think it will be very effective in convincing people that they need to learn more.

I was looking for the link to the Post for you just now, when I came across something else by Walid Phares. I did a double-take at the date and the title:
10 April 2006 - Are you ready for Hezbollah's Preemptive Terror?

Just listen to this, from April, before the Hezbollah-Israel war:

... to zoom [in] on Hezbollah's preparedness one can only observe the readying of its bases in Lebanon: Trucks are crossing the 62 (or so) open passages on the Lebanese-Syrian borders almost on a daily basis. Hezbollah has solidified its connections to Ahmad Jibril's group, to the Jihadi Salafists inside the Palestinian camps and in various neighborhoods. Nasrallah is warning Lebanese politicians including the current Prime Minister not to "collaborate with the Americans." Just last week, he stated that he would "chop off the hands, legs and extract the soul [sic]" of anyone who would dare attempt to disarm his militia....

... while some among us are still pondering about Ahmedinijad's future counter-strikes against the international alliance Hezbollah has already deployed its resources around the globe, including its media and psychological operations structures. However, one cannot but note that a series of small steps has been implemented by Washington in prevention for what is to come: Last week, the Treasury Department designated al Manar TV, Hezbollah satellite channel, as a terrorist tool.... "Al Manar was bringing the psychological training on suicide bombing and hatred deep into America and Europe's communities."

That tool is pinned down for now: But what about the rest?

According to Barbara Newman, a former producer for ABC's "20/20" and a senior fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, cells are omnipresent within the U.S. In her book, Lightning Out of Lebanon: Hezbollah Terrorists on American Soil, Newman warns [of] the "other army" ready to engage us.

In my book, Future Jihad: Terrorist Strategies Against America, I not only project a Hezbollah upcoming wave, but I argue that it has already acquired its strategic targets....

Lots of homework tonight, boys and girls. I'd better let you get started. Tomorrow I'll tell you how Lt. Gen. Moshe Yaalon woke me up to something I was ignoring. on purpose. with good intentions. It's a long story, and I can't do it justice tonight.