Management of Savagery
Management of Savagery, subtitled The Most Critical Stage Through Which the Ummah Will Pass was uploaded to the Internet in 2004 by the al-Qaeda terrorist organization. Its author Abu Bakr Naji is unidentified, and is known only for this piece plus some contributions to the al-Qaeda online magazine Sawt al-Jihad. Some believe Naji's book has influenced al-Qaeda.
Management of Savagery has been translated into English and is available online.[1] An overview is also available.[2]
Summary
Management of Savagery is an open and frank description of the need to create and manage nationalist and religious resentment and violence in order to create long-term propaganda opportunities for jihadist groups. Most notably, the author discusses the value of provoking military responses by superpowers in order to recruit and train guerilla fighters and to create martyrs. Naji suggests that a longlasting strategy of attrition will reveal fundamental weaknesses in the abilities of superpowers to defeat committed Jihadists. Naji uses the philosophy of Ibn Taymiyya, the influential 14th century theologian, and his book also displays a thoughtful understanding of western institutions and value systems, and the role and history of Islamist movements in Egypt, Afghanistan, and the Middle East, particularly the activities of Islamic Jihad in Egypt during the 1990s.[3]
See also
References
- ^ The Management of Savagery in English, Olin Institute for Strategic Studies, Harvard University
- ^ Stealing Al‐Qa'ida's Playbook, Jarret M. Brachman et al, at the Combating Terrorism Center
- ^ Lawrence Wright, The Master Plan, New Yorker, September 11, 2006