The FBI's 'Controversial' Training Presentation on Jihad

Last month, Wired's Spencer Ackerman revealed a few slides of four presentations describing the nature of jihad. The presentations seem to have been used for a time by the FBI for training purposes. Ackerman's headline ("FBI Teaches Agents: ‘Mainstream’ Muslims Are ‘Violent, Radical’") was designed to generate controversy and indignation.

But the real story was far more tame: an FBI intelligence analyst had simply prepared the presentations to describe the theological basis for jihad using a multitude of Islamic sources. In other words, there was almost no opinion offered in the presentations; instead, the analyst simply quoted from Islamic texts to describe the roots of the multi-century war between Islam and the West.

Judge for yourself. Here are the "highlights":









Really?

This is supposed to be controversial?

Suffice it to say that the breathless release of these documents and the fact that Eric Holder is Attorney General shouldn't come as much of a surprise.

The entire presentations (all in PDF format) may be viewed here:

• Militancy Considerations
• Strategic Themes and Drivers in Islamic Law
• Doctrinal Basis for Jihad
• Chart: Violence and Adherence to the Torah, Bible and Koran