Intelligence community informed that “Jihadist” is problematic

| March 28, 2024

The chief editor for “The Dive”, a newsletter for the intelligence community, seeks to change the words used to describe individuals. The chief editor was motivated to address using “the correct words” because of high attrition rate of minority officers in the intelligence community. Specifically, this individual had issues with the way certain groups of people in foreign countries are described. For example, this editor felt that “Jihadist” and “Extremism” to describe radical Muslim groups was “problematic.”

From The Dive:

(U) Q: What are some examples of commonly used terms or phrases you are seeking to change in your language guide?

(U) A: Some of the problematic phrases include, but are not limited to: “Salafi-Jihadist,” “Jihadist,” “Islamic-Extremist,” “Sunni/Shia-Extremism,” and “Radical Islamists.” These terms incorrectly suggest that Islamic beliefs somehow condone the actions and rhetoric espoused by these foreign terrorist organizations. We recommend identifying individuals and groups based on the foreign terrorist organization they are a part of and the region where they operate. If the individuals are based within the US, it is acceptable to identify them as Homegrown Violent Extremists (HVEs) while ensuring there is no reference to the problematic terms. Overall, it is encouraged to identify them for who the are-international terrorism extremists, or violent extremists-and explicitly state that they manipulate and distort Islam to wrongly justify violence. In cases where none of these substitute phrases are amenable, we recommend a word that many Islamic scholars, public leaders, and academics use to accurately identify extremists: Khawarij.

(U) The term Khawarij means “outsiders” and references a group of individuals in Islamic history who rebelled against Ali ibn Abi Talib-one of the rightly guided caliphs after the Prophet Muhammad’s passing-during the Battle of Siffin in 657. The Khawarij assassinated Ali; they branded Muslims as disbelievers if they did not adhere to the Khawarij’s extremists views; and committed heinous atrocities against men, women, and children through torture, beheadings, and sheer carnage. In the Hadith-the documented sayings and actions of the Prophet Muhammad-the Prophet foreshadowed the emergence of the Khawarij, calling them the worst in mankind. Sounds familiar, right? The rhetoric and actions of the Khawarij are identical to the narrative and violence we see with today’s international terrorism threat landscape.

The Daily Wire provides an article on this topic, and the newsletter can be read here.

Category: DEI, Get woke, Society

31 Comments
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Anonymous

Islamofascist?

I’m sure Hamas would prefer:
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Hack Stone

We have seen the redefining of long accepted definitions of words over the last two decades. The Biden-Harris Administration redefined recession; in Washington DC people who have been released from prison are no longer ex-convicts but the more benign “returning citizen”; illegal alien was replaced with undocumented immigrant, which has just been replaced by “newcomer”; and of course anyone who believes that the Federal Government should adhere to the constitution is labeled an Ultra MAGA White Supremacist.

Green Thumb

And Phil Monkress is no longer a poser: He is now a “military (or non in some cases) service actor”.

As to the Native American thing: He was “practicing” cultural appropriation to gain perspective.

As to the LEO thing: He was “exploring” the world of Law Enforcement in an effort to better familiarize himself with the requirements of the position.

All in the way it is presented!

Hack Stone

And Phil Monkress does not work balls, he released the sexual tension of the heterosexual challenged.

Herbert J Messkit

Meanwhile, it’s perfectly ok to call fellow citizens nazis, racists, white supremacists, cis and other crap.

Green Thumb

Yep.

Check out academia.

QMC

When you spend years hiring Intel Analysts and Branch Chiefs that refer to themselves as They/Them, these problems will inevitably occur.

MIRanger

Well, at least he provides a solution instead of just whining about it and leaving.
I’m all for calling them something that pisses the radicals off to their face, and gets the rest of Islam to hate them for who they are instead of defending their actions.
When the lunatics from the eastern Syrian desert overran Iraq and started calling themselves ISIS and wanted to form the new Caliphate the press went along with their proclamation. CENTCOM liked to call them Da’ish (Daesh). Which is what the rest of Islam called them. For once Saudi Arabia and Iran agreed on something. The nut job terrorists did not like it… so the press stopped using it!

Last edited 8 months ago by MIRanger
Old tanker

As Dadbodveteran says, idiocracy is here. If we don’t get rid of these stupid woke liberals in positions related to defense, security and intel, we won’t last long. As he says, we aren’t going to make it.

Odie

We need to be rid of stupid woke liberals period. Let them work at Starbucks and complain they can’t make it on the wages being paid to coffee servers.

KoB

Why not just be honest and call them what they are…Murderous scum. I personally think that these Mid-Eastern folks would have another whole outlook on life in general, and be much more happy if they would just have themselves a nice pulled pork BBQ Sammich and a frosty cold Yuengling. No wonder they are always in such a bad mood.

Hack Stone

You would be pissed off to if the goat that you were dating all through high school went to Senior Prom with another martyr.

Odie

All that time and effort wasted. Maybe the other martyr showered and smelled less repulsive.

timactual

I know I would be happier.

SFC D

Fuck off. I’ll call them what they are. They’re offended? I don’t care. Their very existence offends me.

Blaster

So, changing the name to a more “palatable” sound, will make them safer somehow?

At some point, common sense has got to take over!

Odie

Not with the current regime.

Anonymous

goat-f*ckers

Prior Service

“Islamic” of a practitioner of Islam. “Extremist” someone who is doing crazy far-out stuff. “Islamic Extremist” a Muslim who is doing murder and mayhem in the name of his interpretation of his religion. Seems crystal clear to me. I guess I’m not sensitive enough. Yet they are comfortable with “home grown?” Pretty sure that most domestic terrorism isn’t home grown.

timactual

Except that, looking at 1500 years of Islamic history, murder and mayhem in the name of Islam is not extreme.

Anonymous

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RCAF-CHAIRBORNE

What about…..’ Goat fucking, cave dwelling sand monkeys’ for the win?

SFC D

You have my vote.

Army-Air Force Guy

Got mine as well.

Anonymous

Thumbs-up! 🙂

Sparks

Call ’em what they are, dead fuckers if we find them.

Hate_me

It’s simple. If a terrorist is terrorizing in the name of Salafism, then terms like Salafist, Jihadist, Salafi-Jihadist, Muslim Fundamentalist, Radical Islamist, and Sunni Terrorist all apply. These are accurate descriptors, not problematic terms.

It does become problematic when the report writer always (sometimes it’s apropos) generalizes them into the same collective as Shi’a terrorists – for whom several of those same terms may also apply. That’s not problematic, however, because it might make Muslim Americans feel isolated; it’s problematic because it is inaccurate/imprecise intel.

Anonymous

Hitler’s big book, entitled Jihadi (in German it would literally mean My Jihad) in Arabic, is still a best-seller with the supposedly offended crowd.

Ideological blindness toward the other guys is all this is. (Somebody might be offended– oh no!)

Forest Bondurant

I don’t see the problem. The sort of people typically associated with “jihadism” are a protected class.

It would be easier to refer to dangerous people as “White Christians,” “Conservative Parents,” “White or Caucasian people or personnel,” and so on.

Anonymous

Census even came out with new ethic categories so they can pick “Middle Eastern or North African” instead of “White” now.

Officially, embarassment at Arabs being White (you know, Causasian, as in from the Caucasus) is now over.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/the-biden-administration-revises-race-and-ethnicity-categories-for-the-census-heres-what-that-means-221213347.html

Last edited 8 months ago by Anonymous
Forest Bondurant

Yeah, but telling someone to check their “Caucasian privilege” doesn’t have the same DEI ring to it and doesn’t really align with the whole SJW lexicon.