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"Would You Lie To A Dog?"

By Gary Lima

The following is my experience in the U.S. Army that I believe is important to the understanding of Jihad and its implications for the Western World.

In 1984, while on active duty in the U.S. Army I was an executive officer for a Foreign Student Detachment at Fort Knox, Kentucky. In this assignment I and another Captain (unit commander) were responsible for the education and training of foreign students of mostly Middle Eastern countries. I was fascinated with their cultures and in the spirit of the assignment, I was encouraged to befriend these officers and advance our Nation's friendship. In fact, this was a time during the Cold War when the Arab World, especially the Egyptians, was becoming disenchanted with the Soviets.

There was a very friendly and engaging relationship between me and the Muslim Officers. I invited 25 Egyptian Officers to an Officers Christian Fellowship dinner. It was a great success and impressed the Post Chaplain. There was a guest speaker, and religious discussion of our Faiths that was incredibly robust and enjoyable. You would have thought this one event alone would have been enough for a permanent Middle East peace.

However, in all of my experiences with different Muslim Officers in 1984, 1988 and 1990, one common theme, jihad, always emerged. A Saudi Captain explained to me that the only possible reason why a rain of terror exists increasingly today was their strong belief and solidarity against Israel.

He told me in 1984 that Jihad is necessary according to Islamic Law and the teachings of the Prophet Mohammed. It must happen every 100 years and has occurred for the length of the history of Islam since Mohammed 1400 years ago. He told me that Islam has never gone through a jihad with a Jewish State on Islamic soil before and that jihad must be waged on Israel.

What is Jihad? According to the Saudi Captain, Jihad is when Muslims rededicate their lives to their Faith. It's a time of conversion to Islam and driving the Infidel out of Islamic lands. According to Mohammed, jihad is required for cleansing, and it is an act of God to purify a place on earth. In fact, while engaged in combat, the actions of a warrior are holy.

There are no geopolitical boundaries during the high point of jihad. He said that the borders of Muslim countries are suspended from reality as jihad blooms like a flower until its completion. Muslims who are timid in the beginning will be required to fight when the flower fully blooms, even the Royal Family of Saudi Arabia. Any Muslim who refuses is not a true believer and will be put to the sword, including the Royal Family.

What are the mechanics of Jihad? There will be visions by clerics and certain leaders. A Prophet will come and move the Muslims to action, while at or about the same time, military leaders will begin to fight the Infidel. Then a military leader will emerge as extremely powerful and will show signs of Blessings from Allah by his great victories. All Muslim clerics will say that he is the leader of the Jihad and give their blessings. This leader will bring the whole of Islamic believers into the fight that cleanses the Islamic World.

The one issue for resolution if Jihad is to complete its divine course is the removal of the Jewish State of Israel from Islamic soil. He told me that if the United States continued to support Israel, then Jihad would go west and into the United States. Never in Arab history or its future would a Jewish State be allowed to exist at the completion of the cleansing of Islamic soil during any 100 years. They must throw Israel into the sea.

I gathered much information over time through my experiences working with Muslim Officers. Whether they were Egyptian, Saudi, Jordanian, Sudanese, etc., there was no difference in their thinking about the West or Israel. They were afraid of Western decadence and its influence, and believed Israel had no place in their geography because it was placed there by Westerners.

I found them to be extremely sincere and on a personal level very likeable. I appreciated most my friendships with the Egyptian Officers and have warm memories of their kindness and friendship to me. However, they all believed Israel to be their mortal enemy, and as the Saudi Captain put it, the one major road block to Jihad that could not stand for the sake of Islam's prophetic call. Nothing I said changed any minds or made a single dent in their opinions.

The current situation makes it clear that the architecture and design for a war is in fact not only at our gates, but inside the walls of Democracy. I had asked the Saudi Captain in 1984 if I was his friend or enemy. He said when Jihad is in its bloom, "you are my enemy." I told him that I was responsible for his education and training, and we were allies with a personal relationship and he asked, "Captain, have you ever lied to a dog?" I said of course not, to which I followed with, "I guess our relationship is a lie?" He said a dog knows neither the difference between the truth and a lie. He said there is only one God and he is Allah. To that end I was after all an Infidel and only a conversion to Islam would change things. Only Jihad would define our relationship.

The Saudi Captain had strong beliefs. He mentioned the Beirut bombing and said, "Except Allah is with a single believer, it is not possible to kill so many Marines?" How many are like him and what more evidence do we need that holy war has come here?

Where do Muslim countries stand with respect to Jihad, or are we the "dog" which can't know the difference between the truth and a lie, so tell us anything and we'll believe it. Where do American Muslims stand with respect to our Country? How far do the tentacles of Jihad reach and how will we stop those who truly believe duty calls them to bring Jihad to American soil?

One very good friend was an Egyptian Major named Mohammed. His wife and daughter were very special and I was welcomed to their home many times. Since 911, my mind has been flooded with repeat images of the Twin Towers and many good memories of this friend but, horrified by the contradictions of his Faith. He's probably a General by now, because many of the Muslim Officers who train in our Country are the cream of the crop. He trained in Soviet schools and was a great help to me on Russian doctrine. He said it was his duty to avenge his father's death during the Arab and Israeli War of 1967. His father has a street named after him in Cairo.

I think it's time to get our collective bearing as Americans. Something is upon us that is hidden behind the veil of Islamic teaching abroad and at home. No matter what our experiences and understandings of life are, two huge symbols of wealth and one symbol of military might were struck a mighty blow. That was years ago, and it seems we still can't figure it out. I wrote this to bring awareness that clarity should be setting in. Secular ideology made ruin out of our last century, and now it seems religious ideology will do the same in this new century.

If we learn any lesson, it should be that waiting too long to act was Japan's and Germany's greatest gift from the free world. The unintended consequence of winning was the Cold War, since we had to help another enemy of Democracy survive Germany. What consequence awaits us if we appease any longer the flowering of Jihad? Certainly there is a problem facing our way of life that threatens great harm. It has cost our homeland 3,000 lives and created many orphans.

A tragedy is unfolding and we cannot say we didn't see it coming. We can only say we did not believe in the power of rhetoric. "Mein Kamph" was such a blue print for the 20th Century. I feel like a Colonel Lindbergh who got to know the characters out of the pages of a book. The great sin is ignoring the rhetoric of Jihad.

Gary Lima
College Grove, TN

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