Abu Muhammad al-MaqdisiCredentials Challenged, Radical Quotes West Point -- New York Times
BEIRUT, Lebanon — He has been mentor to some of the most brutal terrorists on earth. But Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi, a prominent cleric and theorist of jihad living in Jordan, has grown tired of hearing younger extremists accuse him of going soft.
So in a recent Internet post to his followers, Mr. Maqdisi defended his hard-line credentials by invoking a higher authority: the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point.
“Credit is due to the testimony of enemies,” Mr. Maqdisi wrote, as he directed his readers to a recent journal article by Joas Wagemakers, a Dutch scholar of jihadism, and the “Militant Ideology Atlas,” both published by the center. Both identified Mr. Maqdisi as a dangerous and influential jihadi theorist, he noted.
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My Comment: When a leading Jihadist uses West Point and the Rand Corporation to justify his credentials .... that is when you know that Policy Centers and Think Tanks in the West are beginning to understand the mindset of the leaders and thinkers behind the more violent factions of militant Islam.