Peter Bergen is the go to guy when it comes to
understanding the mindset of Jihadist terrorists. Bergen has authored or
co-authored a shelf full of must read books on the subject; his latest, United States of Jihad: Investigating
America’s Homegrown Terrorists, tries to delve into the minds and actions
of terrorist actors who have signed on to the Islamic Jihad either on our
shores our exported themselves to take part in terror overseas.
Bergen tries to help us understand what makes these
people tick, what motivates them act out as lone wolves or to travel to far flung
places to plan and or participate in mass murder or suicide attacks. Along the
Bergen is careful to examine what actions law enforcement and homeland security
have taken to try to identify these budding Jihadis and prevent them from
taking action.
Bergen makes the case that the multi-billion dollar
National Security Agency program undertaken by the Obama administration, of
spying on our phone calls and e-mail in an effort to sweep up Jihadist planning
has been an abject failure and despite the administrations claims that the
program derailed many terrorist attacks before they started, that simply doesn’t
match the reality.
Bergen lays out the threads of commonality that many of
these angry, losers who sign on to the Jihad share. His chapter on the Boston
Marathon bombing Tsarnaev brothers had me concluding that they were the participation
trophy winners of the terrorist world; two losers who had everything handed to
them when they relocated to the U.S. and yet always managed to come up short—then
blame everybody but themselves for their failures.
As with Bergen’s prior books, United States of Jihad: Investigating America’s Homegrown Terrorists, is
a thoroughly research and well crafted examination of not only the history of these
homegrown Jihadis, but also the current and future state of what will be an
important focus for the war on terror.
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