The Enemy of My Enemy (Michael book)

Last updated
The Enemy of My Enemy
EnemyofMyEnemy.jpg
The Enemy of My Enemy cover
Author George Michael
Publisher University Press of Kansas
Publication date
April 2006
Media typeHardcover
Pages397
ISBN 0-7006-1444-3
Preceded byConfronting Right-Wing Extremism and Terrorism in the USA (2003) 
Followed byWillis Carto and the American Far Right (2008) 

The Enemy of My Enemy: The Alarming Convergence of Militant Islam and the Extreme Right is a 2006 book by political science professor George Michael of the University of Virginia Wise. It examines the alliances between neo-Nazis, Holocaust deniers, and white separatists with Islamists such as Al Qaeda, Hezbollah, Hamas, and Egyptian Islamic Jihad.[ citation needed ]

Contents

It was published in April 2006 by University Press of Kansas as a 397-page hardcover ( ISBN   0-7006-1444-3).

Synopsis

In the book George Michael of the University of Virginia Wise examines the positions of neo-Nazi and Islamist groups on American foreign policy, the media, modernity, and the so-called New World Order. Both camps share a "fervent anti-Semitism, accompanied by strong pro-Palestinian views, anger over Israel's influence on American policymakers, and opposition to the Iraq War and the U.S. presence in the Middle East." [1]

Reception

Political Science Quarterly reviewed the book, writing:

George Michael's The Enemy of My Enemy explores the connections and possibilities for cooperation between a threat of substantial contemporary interest to policymakers, intelligence analysts, and political scientists—militant Islamic movements like the al Qaeda organization (AQO)--and one that is, in many respects, an incipient one, Western right-wing extremism. The book provides a good overview of the historical and intellectual wellsprings of these two movements, but ultimately does not provide a case that would justify alarm. [2]

Daveed Gartenstein-Ross of The Weekly Standard and Foundation for Defense of Democracies noted that the book contains extensive quotations with little analysis, but that its value "can be found in its in-depth study of the on-again, off-again love affair between radical Islam and the extreme right. How the latest chapter in this romance will play out remains to be seen." [3]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Al-Qaeda</span> Pan-Islamic Sunni Jihadist organization (established 1988)

Al-Qaeda is a pan-Islamist militant organization led by Sunni Jihadists who self-identify as a vanguard spearheading a global Islamist revolution to unite the Muslim world under a supra-national Islamic caliphate. Its membership is mostly composed of Arabs, but also includes people from other ethnic groups. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian, economic and military targets of the US and its allies; such as the 1998 US embassy bombings, the USS Cole bombing and the September 11 attacks. The organization is designated as a terrorist group by NATO, the UN Security Council, the European Union, and various countries around the world.

The National Socialist Movement (NSM) was a British neo-Nazi group active during the late 1990s. The group is not connected to the earlier National Socialist Movement of Colin Jordan.

Islamic terrorism refers to terrorist acts carried out by fundamentalist militant Islamists and Islamic extremists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Myatt</span> British author, religious leader, Islamist and Neo-Nazi militant (born 1950)

David Wulstan Myatt, also known by the pseudonym Abdulaziz ibn Myatt al-Qari, is a British author, religious leader, far-right and former Islamist militant, most notable for allegedly being the political and religious leader of the White nationalist theistic Satanist organization Order of Nine Angles (ONA) from 1974 onwards. He is also the founder of Numinous Way and a former Muslim.

Michael F. Scheuer, is an American former intelligence officer for the Central Intelligence Agency, blogger, author, commentator and former adjunct professor at Georgetown University's Center for Peace and Security Studies. One assignment during his 22-year career was serving as Chief of the Bin Laden Issue Station from 1996 to 1999. He also served as Special Advisor to the Chief of Alec Station from September 2001 to November 2004.

George Joseph Michael is an American historian, political scientist, and writer. He is a professor at the criminal justice faculty of Westfield State University in Massachusetts, and previously served as associate professor of nuclear counterproliferation and deterrence theory at the Air War College and as associate professor of political science and administration of justice at The University of Virginia's College at Wise. He studies right-wing extremism, including the relationship between militant Islam and the far right, and is the author of Confronting Right-Wing Extremism and Terrorism in the USA (2003), The Enemy of My Enemy: The Alarming Convergence of Militant Islam and the Extreme Right (2006), Willis Carto and the American Far Right (2008), Theology of Hate: A History of the World Church of the Creator (2009), Lone Wolf Terror and the Rise of Leaderless Resistance (2012), and Extremism in America (editor) (2014). Professor Michael has also published research on SETI and is the author of Preparing for Contact: When Humans and Extraterrestrials Finally Meet (2014).

The term red–green–brown alliance, originating in France in the 2000s, refers to the alliance of leftists (red), Islamists (green), and the far right (brown). The term has also been used to describe alleged alliances of industrial union-focused leftists (red), ecologically-minded agrarians (green), and the far right (brown).

Ahmed Rami is a Moroccan-Swedish writer, political activist, coup d'etat participant, military officer and Holocaust denier. He gained attention as the founder of the radio station Radio Islam, which now functions as a website.

Unconquerable Nation: Knowing Our Enemy, Strengthening Ourselves (ISBN 0-8330-3893-1) is a book written by Brian Michael Jenkins, one of the world's foremost authorities on terrorism. In it the author asserts that some of America's recent approaches to counterterrorism have been counterproductive.

The Waziristan Accord was an agreement between the government of Pakistan and tribals resident in the Waziristan area to mutually cease hostilities in North Waziristan. The agreement was signed on 5 September 2006 in the North Waziristan town of Miranshah. The agreement effectively ended the Waziristan War, fought between the Pakistani military and rebels in the border region with ties to the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. However, recent attacks by the pro-Taliban militants suggest that the truce has been broken by the militants who attacked and killed 50 Pakistanis including soldiers and police. The attacks are also believed to have been as a retaliation for the Lal Masjid attacks by Pakistan Army.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jihadism</span> Islamist movements for jihad

Jihadism is a neologism for militant Islamic movements that are perceived as existentially threatening to the West. In a narrower sense, it refers to the belief held by some Muslims that armed confrontation with political rivals is a theologically legitimate and efficient method of socio-political change. It is a form of religious violence and has been applied to various insurgent Islamic extremist, militant Islamist, and terrorist individuals and organizations whose ideologies are based on the Islamic notion of lesser jihad from the classical interpretation of Islam. It has also been applied to various Islamic empires in history, such as the Rashidun and Umayyad caliphates of the early Muslim conquests, and the Ottoman Empire.

Daveed Gartenstein-Ross is an author and the founder and chief executive officer of Valens Global. In addition to his role at Valens Global, Dr. Gartenstein-Ross is a Senior Advisor on Asymmetric Warfare at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. An internationally-recognized expert on political violence, his work primarily focuses on the development of strategic plans, execution of analytic projects, and instruction at the professional and academic levels. In 2011, Gartenstein-Ross wrote Bin Laden's Legacy: Why We're Still Losing the War on Terror.

Hassan Butt is a British Pakistani former spokesman of the radical Islamic group al-Muhajiroun who now calls on Muslims to "renounce terror".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Political views of Osama bin Laden</span>

Osama bin Laden took ideological guidance from prominent militant Islamist scholars and ideologues from the classical to contemporary eras, such as Ibn Taymiyya, Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyyah, Sayyid Qutb, Nizamuddin Shamzai and Abdullah Azzam. During his middle and high school years, bin Laden was educated in Al-Thager Model School, a public school in Jeddah run by Islamist exiles of the Muslim Brotherhood; during which he was immensely influenced by pan-Islamist ideals and displayed strict religious commitment. As a teenager, bin Laden attended and led Muslim Brotherhood-run "Awakening" camps held on desert outskirts that intended to raise the youth in religious values, instil martial spirit and sought spiritual seclusion from "the corruptions" of modernity and rapidly urbanising society of the 1970s in Saudi Arabia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Salafi jihadism</span> Transnational Sunni Islamist religious-political ideology

Salafi jihadism, also known as revolutionary Salafism or jihadist Salafism, is a religious-political Sunni Islamist ideology that seeks to establish a global caliphate, characterized by the advocacy of "physical" (military) jihadist attacks on non-Muslim targets. The Salafist interpretation of sacred Islamic texts is "in their most literal, traditional sense", which adherents claim will bring about the return to "true Islam".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ahmed Huber</span> Swiss-German journalist (1927–2008)

Ahmed Huber, born Albert Friedrich Armand Huber, was a Swiss-German journalist and convert to Islam, who was active in both Islamist and far-right politics, including with Neo-Nazism. He gained international notoriety in 2001, when he was accused by the United States government of funding Al Qaeda's terrorist activities through the Al Taqwa Bank of which he was one of five managers.

Abdelhakim Belhaj is a Libyan politician and military leader. He is the leader of the Islamist al-Watan Party and former head of the Tripoli Military Council. He was the emir of the defunct Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, an anti-Gaddafi guerrilla group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ansar al-Sharia (Tunisia)</span>

Ansar al-Sharia in Tunisia is a Salafi Jihadist group that operates in Tunisia. In 2013, the group was estimated to have roughly 10,000 members. It has been listed as a terrorist group by the Tunisian government, Iraq, the United Nations, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Some of its members may be linked to the 2015 Sousse attacks. In 2013, the group declared allegiance to Al-Qaeda.

Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi is an Iraqi living in Britain who specialises in the Syrian Civil War, Iraqi Civil War and the Islamic State. He has been consulted as an expert by major media outlets including Al Jazeera,The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Foreign Affairs, The Washington Post, and others. He authored a major report published by the New York Times in partnership with George Washington University in their 2020 series, "The ISIS report". He has faced criticism over his alleged sympathies towards ISIL in his work, as well as his conduct and alleged close relationships with ISIL fighters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Uqba ibn Nafi Brigade</span>

The Uqba ibn Nafi Brigade, also known as Katibat Uqba Bin Nafi, is a Tunisian Salafi jihadist organization named after Uqba ibn Nafi, it was established in 2012 in order to create a Tunisian jihadist group linked to Al-Qaeda In the Maghreb and later, the Islamic State.

References

Sources