SINCE September 11 in New York, March 11 in Madrid and July 7 in London, questions have been forming among a stunned public – why do these people hate us, who are they and what do they want?
As someone who studied the jihadist movement for a quarter of a century on three continents, I find the questions indicate a greater drama — how can societies targeted for a systematic and global warfare by terrorist forces operating in the open for at least two decades be asking questions about their identification?
Instead, the Americans, British and Spanish should ask how the jihadists were able to strike successfully, how long they have been able to infiltrate democratic societies and who is helping them do it. The real question is this — why are most British citizens, let alone Europeans and Westerners, lost about who the enemy is? How come they are not able to see clearly, and who is blurring their vision and how?