Jihad: What America Created

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According to the Quran and supporting Islamic texts, jihad means striving. However, there are several words and phrases, that when coupled with jihad, display a variety of sentiments. The phrase fi sabil Allah, "in God's path," can be interpreted as fighting for the sake of God. When paired with the word ribat, jihad is related to warfare or pious doings/activism (Bonner 2006). Jihad represents a fight that has provided Muslims with a solid base of military efficiency demonstrated historically in early Islam.
During the Cold War, America saw an advantage to promote the Afghan insurgents and channel aid to rebels. It was later revealed that the United States started aiding tribal and Islamic revolts half a year before the USSR invaded Afghanistan. The Afghan invasion not only led to the collapse of the Soviet Union, but also led to the creation of young Middle Eastern men who sought actions of violence to satisfy their own personal jihad. America trained these men like their own, supplied them with advanced weapon intelligence, and finally the addition of money and drugs. The war escalated in Afghanistan and ultimately gave birth to a growing worldwide jihad. The U.S. supplied the mujahedeen with anti-aircraft missiles. And the CIA supported Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence Agency's (ISI) ongoing recruiting agenda of mercenaries and volunteers of religious motivation around the world. New York, San Francisco and Detroit, all had recruiting centers (Parenti 2001).
Along with America's help, the ISI had assistance from a striking and very wealthy, young man named Osama bin Laden. He joined the ISI, as a favor to the head of Saudi intelligence and his good friend, Prince Turki. Bin Laden quickly assumed the important role includ...

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