Daily Times

The Wall Street Journal had this headline for the April 24 online edition: “Suspects Roused by Jihadist Thought.” The article went on to state that YouTube and anti-US Islamic extremist material that is available on the web had an influence on the Muslim bombers’ ideological orientation. The US continues to pay a high economic price for not having a firm policy of impenetrable blockade against a la carte resistance media. This is not an issue of freedom of expression. It is an issue of removing ideological threats that morph into real time operations against American citizens.

Our operational tempo is extremely sluggish on this issue. Our military can account for her ranks on a moment’s notice. I remember the officer who was on a ferry and on vacation when word was received from the captain of the vessel. Return to home base within 24 hours. Vacation over. But it seems we cannot give account for the ranks of jihad on American soil. Policy wonks have taken an extended vacation when it comes to crafting policies that deny curious viewers access to virulent jihad portals and media propaganda. These ranks exist and are nourished by online viewing.

The linguistics present with both common and cognate language aspects. The ancestry is that of an Arabic mother tongue with three-letter roots of multiple meanings and an ideology of global community. The visual semiotics tend toward consistent themes: black flags, a sword atop a Qur’an, and high-definition air-brushed images of Mujahedeen. Perhaps the most recent (compelling) image was that of an ammunition belt that sported ‘bullets’ with the ends fashioned to look like the quill of a pen and a flash drive. This is very much a war for possession of the human mind.

My own mentorship and immersion into resistance media has required analytical courage. Whilst holding firmly to the ethics of ‘indoctrination without compromise’ I have noted that the subliminal aspects of jihad can rapidly prey upon the human psyche. Individuals scampering across the digital fields of jihad can be unaware of two primary sequels to consistent exposure to psychological trauma. The jihadists have developed an incredibly simple and bifurcated indoctrination plan.

First the legend is established. Perhaps one of the best in the business from the al Qaeda crowd is Dr Ayman al-Zawahiri. He set the standard for others who have formed a queue behind him. The recruit must receive a steady diet of grievances against the west. There is such a vast buffet available. I can pull up rants about Muslims in Palestine, Pakistan, or Muslims in China (they should have never latched onto that fake Hadith….). Hours a day can be spent viewing scorched earth monologues against the west.

The other fork into the brain establishes an alter ego. This ego is quickly hatched and begins to assimilate and believe the hate-based newsfeed. The alter ego develops a sub-legend of a need to be actively involved in rectifying wrongs. Unfortunately, resistance media is geared to promote performances which do not build bridges. Bridges are to be blown up. Thus, the need for analysts to debrief the intellect and wash out the filthiness of propagandists who exploit images of human misery.

Regardless, US security services must be clueless on the heels of the latest Islamic terror attack. An individual being profiled may only display the dominant public personality during an attempt to ascertain physical threat. The alter ego may not show any active presence during an interrogation process. It can be hidden from view. It may not emerge in the presence of close relatives and friends. The pathology of the human brain is most difficult to diagnose. “He was such a nice person until he dismembered, maimed and killed.”

Resistance media can be reduced to what may sound a bit off-colour, but let me just spit it out. The video produces the ‘b****’, or the litany of complaints against a target. The goal is for the individual who has developed an alter ego to take a ‘b**** slap’ against the west. How many times did the Tsarnaev brothers listen to a b**** before they set off on their little shopping trip to purchase pressure cookers and backpacks? It must be remembered that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev deposited his backpack in near proximity to an eight-year-old boy who lost his life in the terror attack. Let that sink in a bit. A 19-year-old US university student with a scholarship from the city of Boston deliberately chose an innocent child as a target. B**** slap.

Perhaps the most distressing aspect of following the news from the Boston Marathon bombings has been critical reading of the opinions of those who ascribe to the moral equivalency club. Certain journalists whitewash the horror of what happened in Boston. But those of us who are sane and in our right minds must also bring these wretches to account. So let me conclude my own thoughts with the coinage of a new term in honour of the half-wit Richard Falk. Falkanisation: A pseudo-intellectual attempt to assert moral principles, which provide masquerade for immoral acts.

Terror operations targeting civilian populations can be written up and presented as a masquerade party. Behind the mask of terror is US culpability. Behind a second mask, a love for Israel. Pull off the third mask and a desire for global domination is at fault. Those of us who are in our right minds will read such write-ups, assess the validity of claims, and reject intellectual tripe. It is the edible offal diet of individuals controlled by their limbic systems.

There can be no Falkanisation of the Boston Marathon bombings. Moral license can never be extended for heinous crimes. The terrorist Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has been read his rights, given medical care and offered expert legal counsel. This is the US. This is how we administer our justice system. As for Tamerlan Tsarnaev? Take a wild guess.

The writer is a freelance journalist and author of the novel Arsenal. She can be reached at tammyswof@msn.com