Good Jihadists and Bad Jihadists?

In his latest audio released by As-sahab (media arm of al Qaeda), the organization's Zaeem (supreme chief) elaborates on the difference between the pure Jihadists and those Islamists who lost their way and determination to continue the fight in the path of the founding fathers, which he calls the "Salaf of Islam." This complex speech (by Jihadist standards) can be only understood - and thus explained to decision-makers and the public - if the listener-analyst is able to grasp the multi-layered world of Jihadism.

But this task has been made unnecessarily difficult for most citizens and certainly impossible to those who in the U.S. bureaucracy are supposed to do the job. By disseminating the so-called "Lexicon", the Bush administration, bureaucrats are prohibited from using the words Jihad, Jihadism, Caliphate, Salafism, Islamism and the like when writing about and analyzing matters related to terrorism. This ridiculous proposition is now put to test when al Qaeda leaders - and other Jihadist high profile figures - broadcast their statements.

Just imagine the poor analysts at the various counterterrorism centers who chose to apply the new directives to the bin Laden letter. How can these counterterrorism bureaucrats process bin Laden's words which they can't use or touch "when dealing with Terrorism"? One can imagine them staring at these "forbidden words" attempting to replace them with "Lexiconic" terms. So how will they handle such texts? Some are suggesting that the end product of these "Lexiconic" analysis will not only be absurd, but will further confuse the consumers of the intelligence assessment, from the defense and national security sectors up to the highest congressional leaders and of course, the President.

We are not constrained by the "Lexicon." Let's dismiss it for the tragicomedy it is. So in real terms, how shall we analyze the latest bin Laden audio?

The number one of al Qaeda addressed what he perceives as the Umma that is - in Arabic - the global community of Muslims. Bin Laden's audio message was specifically aimed at those in the Umma who follow his ideology of Salafi Jihadism, that is, the return to the ways of the founders of the Caliphate. Bin Laden wishes the entire Umma to follow the struggle of those Jihadists who haven't diverted from the historical line of the successive Khilafa from the first four Wise Caliphs, the Rashidun, to the Umeyads, Abbassids and the Ottoman.

This attitude has been consistent with all bin Laden's speeches since 1996. He hasn't shaken his belief in the final reconstitution of the Islamic Empire since he rose to the leadership of al Qaeda, and even years before. So the bottom line of this speech is to lecture Muslims on who is in line with Jihad and who isn't. He dissects the various post Ottoman struggles, including the rise of the "Zionist entity," the Arab modern states and elevates the "best Jihadists" to the zenith and curses the apostate Muslim regimes. In between, he mildly criticizes those Islamists who believe in the final caliphate but who have, in his mind "sold out" to the rulers and the infidels.

The opening of his statement cannot avoid the vision of a U.S. president and other leaders attending the 60th birthday of Israel. Jihadism, as an ideology, cannot accept the principle that a Jewish entity can be established in Palestine, on any part of the Holy Land. Their ideology cannot accept the existence of any Kafir state (infidel country) within the confines of the Caliphate. Thus, to al Qaeda's Jihadists, it is not about land but about Kufr ("infidelism"). In his world view, so-called humanitarian values are empty; international law - whenever it conflicts with their ideology - is rejected.

Bin Laden's historical reading is that Nassara (Christians