Jihadists! Get A Good Education!

The Geek spent some years as a professor. He believes in the value of advanced education. But, there has got to be a limit.

Check this out. It's a couple of days old, but still highly relevant. http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2008/nov/02/uk-security-weapons-technology.

The UK has a problem. OK, to err on the side of accuracy, it has a lot of problems, but this one is particularly alarming. The Islamist/jihadist congeries in a never ending attempt to upgrade its capacity to kill people keeps trying to master the making and delivering of biological, chemical, radiological and nuclear weapons.

Roughly a year ago the British government and academic establishment put a new system for vetting off-shore applicants for post-graduate study in the UK. The Foreign Office confirmed reports that since then the security services had identified approximately one hundred individuals who wanted to study in critical fields who possessed the singular drawback of being affiliated with terrorist entities.

This information both reduces and enhances anxiety. Whew! (The Geek wipes his forehead.) At least some wannabee weaponeers entertaining fantasies of towering piles of dead infidel bodies have been kept out of Her Majesty's domain.

That was the easy, fear-down portion of the exercise.

Now for the fear-up part. How many WMD groupies got in before the new system was put in place. Or, to bring the fear a little closer to home. How many of the same sort of sorcerer's apprentices have come to the US?

The UK has less than a thousand laboratories where an individual might find useful pathogens and/or knowledge on how to grow, refine, weaponise, and deliver pathogens. The US has far more. How many more the Geek cannot say. Let's just put the figure at "many fold."

If locations allowing either or both access to and knowledge concerning chemical, radiological and nuclear weapons are factored in, the resulting figure is a full order of magnitude above its British equivalent. The same order-of-magnitude difference exists in the number of post-grads seeking admission to American institutions of higher education.

US universities even actively recruit students from overseas including states which are covered by the delightful British term, "countries of concern." The governments of many of these "countries of concern" are generous with money. Students coming under their sponsorship can meet any exorbitant tuition and fee schedule imposed by the "host" university. The Geek recalls talking with responsible university administrators who saw Mideastern and Northwest Asian students as bipedal revenue generators without equal.

Given the financially impaired status of many, if not most, second, third and lower tier universities offering post-graduate programs in the relevant scientific and technical disciplines, is it unrealistic to posit that future techno-jihadists are to be found on American campuses?

After failing to get any response beyond the expectable soothing mood music or brusque you-have-no-need-to-know brushoffs from the Federal agencies responsible for protecting us from future expressions of high lethality techno-jihad attacks, the Geek did what any right-thinking American would do. He got on the old-boy network.

That was before the recent election, but the Geek doubts any "change" has occurred during the past twenty-four or so hours. The lowest credible assessment he received from the "usual, well-placed and reliable" sources was "right around twelve hundred."

"Twelve hundred?" The Geek gasped his question.

"At the low end of the spectrum and not including people who have gotten off the radar," the interlocutor replied.

The Geek contemplated where he might move during the ensuing silence.

"We're sure none are at the National Labs or FFRDCs," the interlocutor put in. Apparently hit with a second thought, he added, "Well, pretty sure. The investigations are pretty thorough."

Great, the Geek thought. That's nice. No future Weaponeers For Allah at Lawerence or Los Alamos or even Oak Ridge. What about State U? All the State U's around the country?

And, the Geek added to himself, how about all the private industry labs? What about federal facilities that aren't FFRDCs or run by the Defense Department?

Being civic minded (to say nothing of being terribly interested in self-preservation since life becomes more precious the older one gets) the Geek asked his interlocutor about these concerns.

"Beats us," came the blunt, bleak reply. The interlocutor added brightly, "We're working on it. You can bet your ass on that."

Right. I sure am, the Geek thought.

The world goes on regardless of who is sitting in the Oval. Even if the US, the West generally for that matter, unilaterally declared defeat in the "clash of civilizations" on going between ourselves and the Islamists/jihadists, the threat won't evaporate.

Islamism and its armed component jihadism have powerful force behind them. It isn't the force of poverty. It isn't the force of political marginalization. It isn't the force of cultural or social alienation Heck, it isn't even the force of US support for Israel.

It is the force of True Belief. It is the force of historical experience. Of the feeling that once Muslim Arabs were so great and now they are so small on the world stage.

It is the power of a belief that greatness will come again only when Muslims follow the true path of Islam, the path of blood and hate so well marked in the Quran and Hidith. The path expressed in the life of the Prophet, the Perfect Man.

It is the path of war, unending war, until the day when Islam is purified of apostates and those others who would divide the Ummah. It is the path of war until the day when the infidels are defeated. Forced to submit to the Will of Allah.

None of this will change because of an election. Nothing will alter in the slightest because a new face graces the Oval.

We the People, each and every one of us, had better get a grip on a very unpleasant reality. The war against us, the war we neither started nor want goes on. And on. And on.