Inside the Revolution

by Joel C. Rosenberg

  In Dead Heat, America is in the midst of a heated presidential election when the Secret Service learns of a catastrophic terrorist plot to assassinate one of the candidates. U.S. forces attempt to stop the terrorists before millions lose their lives, but events threaten to spin out of control. Dead Heat debuted at #4 on the New York Times hardcover best-seller list. It also became a USA Today, Wall Street Journal, Publishers Weekly, and CBA hardcover best seller.

  Epicenter, Joel’s best-selling nonfiction title, gives readers the headlines before they happen. It explains what is happening in the Middle East and how it will impact our world. It contains exclusive interviews with top political, military, intelligence, business, and religious leaders in Israel, Iran, Iraq, and Russia. It also contains previously classified documents from the CIA, Pentagon, and White House. Epicenter is available in hardcover and a 2.0 updated and expanded softcover edition. Epicenter has appeared on the New York Times political list, as well as the CBA and Publishers Weekly Religion lists. It also appeared on the Top 100 list in Christian Retailing.

  www.joelrosenberg.com

  www.joshuafund.net

  Recommended Reading

  Islam

  Bernard Lewis. What Went Wrong? The Clash Between Islam and Modernity in the Middle East

  Bernard Lewis. The Crisis of Islam: Holy War and Unholy Terror

  John L. Esposito and Dalia Mogahed. Who Speaks for Islam?: What a Billion Muslims Really Think

  Sayyid Qutb. Milestones

  Vali Nasr. The Shia Revival: How Conflicts within Islam Will Shape the Future

  V. S. Naipaul. Among the Believers: An Islamic Journey

  Melanie Phillips. Londonistan

  Ambassador Marwan Muasher. The Arab Center: The Promise of Moderation

  Queen Noor of Jordan. Leap of Faith: Memoirs of an Unexpected Life

  Benazir Bhutto. Reconciliation: Islam, Democracy, and the West

  Ayaan Hirsi Ali. Infidel

  Jim Murk. Islam Rising

  Brigitte Gabriel. Because They Hate: A Survivor of Islamic Terror Warns America

  Nonie Darwish. Now They Call Me Infidel: Why I Renounced Jihad for America, Israel, and the War on Terror

  Karen Armstrong. Muhammad: A Biography of the Prophet

  Robert Spencer. The Truth about Muhammad: Founder of the World’s Most Intolerant Religion

  Maulana Muhammad Ali. “Founder of the Ahmadiyya Movement”: A Short Story

  Terrorism and al Qaeda

  Yaroslav Trofimov. The Siege of Mecca: The Forgotten Uprising in Islam’s Holiest Shrine and the Birth of al-Qaeda

  Lawrence Wright. The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11

  Peter Bergen. The Osama bin Laden I Know: An Oral History of al Qaeda’s Leader

  Yossef Bodansky. Bin Laden: The Man Who Declared War on America

  Randall B. Hamud. Osama Bin Laden: America’s Enemy in His Own Words

  Richard A. Clarke. Against All Enemies: Inside America’s War on Terror

  Richard Miniter. Losing Bin Laden

  Laura Mansfield, editor. His Own Words: A Translation of the Writings of Dr. Ayman al Zawahiri

  National Commission on Terrorist Attacks. The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States

  Dore Gold. Hatred’s Kingdom: How Saudi Arabia Supports the New Global Terrorism

  Michael A. Sheehan. Crush the Cell: How to Defeat Terrorism Without Terrorizing Ourselves

  Nicholas Noe, editor. Voice of Hezbollah: The Statements of Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah

  Naim Qassem. Hizbullah: The Story from Within

  United States Politics

  President Dwight Eisenhower. Mandate for Change: The White House Years, 1953-1956

  President Jimmy Carter. Keeping Faith: Memoirs of a President

  Admiral Stansfield Turner. Burn Before Reading: Presidents, CIA Directors, and Secret Intelligence

  Zbigniew Brzezinski. Power and Principle: Memoirs of the National Security Adviser, 1977-1981

  Henry Kissinger. The White House Years

  Robert Gates. From the Shadows: The Ultimate Insider’s Story of Five Presidents and How They Won the Cold War

  Tim Weiner. Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA

  Christopher Andrew. For the President’s Eyes Only: Secret Intelligence and the American Presidency from Washington to Bush

  George Tenet. At the Center of the Storm: My Years at the CIA

  Bob Woodward. State of Denial: Bush at War, Part III

  Bob Woodward. The War Within: A Secret White House History 2006–2008

  Islam and the United States

  Mark Bowden. Guests of the Ayatollah: The First Battle in America’s War with Militant Islam

  His Majesty King Abdullah II. Address to the National Prayer Luncheon, February 2, 2006

  Daniel Pipes. Militant Islam Reaches America

  Stephen Kinzer. All the Shah’s Men: An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror

  International Politics

  Jerrold Post. Leaders and Their Followers in a Dangerous World: The Psychology of Political Behavior

  Israel

  Tom Doyle. Two Nations Under God: Why You Should Care about Israel

  Iraq

  Ambassador L. Paul Bremer III. My Year in Iraq: The Struggle to Build a Future of Hope

  James A. Baker III and Lee H. Hamilton, co-chairs. The Iraq Study Group Report: The Way Forward—A New Approach

  Central Asia—Afghanistan and Pakistan

  Nick B. Mills. Karzai: The Failing American Intervention and the Struggle for Afghanistan

  John Weaver. Inside Afghanistan: The American Who Stayed Behind after 9/11 and His Mission of Mercy to a War-Torn People

  Pervez Musharraf. In the Line of Fire: A Memoir

  Iran and the Islamic Revolution

  Baqer Moin. Khomeini: Life of the Ayatollah

  Dr. Hamid Algar, translator. Islam and Revolution 1: Writings and Declarations of Imam Khomeini (1941-1980)

  Nikki R. Keddie. Modern Iran: Roots and Results of Revolution

  Said Amir Arjomand. The Turban for the Crown: The Islamic Revolution in Iran

  Michael Ledeen. The Iranian Time Bomb: The Mullah Zealots’ Quest for Destruction

  William J. Daugherty. In the Shadow of the Ayatollah: A CIA Hostage in Iran

  Ali M. Ansari. Confronting Iran: The Failure of American Foreign Policy and the Next Great Conflict in the Middle East

  Mehdi Khalaji. Apocalyptic Politics: On the Rationality of Iranian Policy, Policy Focus #79, Washington Institute for Near East Policy, January 2008

  Karim Sadjadpour. Reading Khamenei: The World View of Iran’s Most Powerful Leader

  Alireza Jafarzadeh. The Iran Threat: President Ahmadinejad and the Coming Nuclear Crisis

  Yossi Melman and Meir Javedanfar. The Nuclear Sphinx of Tehran: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the State of Iran

  Kasra Naji. Ahmadinejad: The Secret History of Iran’s Radical Leader

  Kenneth M. Pollack. The Persian Puzzle: The Conflict between Iran and America

  Reza Pahlavi. Winds of Change: The Future of Democracy in Iran

  Nasrin Alavi. We Are Iran: The Persian Blogs

  Azar Nafisi. Reading Lolita in Tehran

  Tom White, et al. (Voice of the Martyrs). Iran, Desperate for God: An Oppressive Islamic State Drives Its People into the Arms of Christ

  Former Muslims and Christian Evangelism

  Ibn Warraq, editor. Leaving Islam: Apostates Speak Out

  Susan Crimp and Joel Richardson, editors. Why We Left Islam: Former Muslims Speak Out

  Brother Andrew and Al Janssen. Light Force: A Stirring Account of the Church Caught in the Middle East Crossfire

  Brother Andrew and Al Janssen. Secret Believers: What Happens When Muslims Believe in Christ

  Brother Yun, Peter Xu Yongze, and Enoch Wang (with Paul Hattaway). Back to Jerusalem: Three Chinese House Church Leaders Share Their Vision to Complete t
he Great Commission

  Walid Shoebat. Why I Left Jihad: The Root of Terrorism and the Return of Radical Islam

  Tass Saada. Once an Arafat Man: The True Story of How a PLO Sniper Found a New Life

  William McElwee Miller. Ten Muslims Meet Christ

  Carrie McDonnall. Facing Terror: The True Story of How an American Couple Paid the Ultimate Price for Their Love of the Muslim People

  Notes

  1 Jim Michaels, “19,000 insurgents killed in Iraq since ’03,” USA Today, September 27, 2007.

  2 Lt. General (ret.) William G. Boykin, author interview, February 11, 2008.

  3 “Mission Backgrounder: Somalia - UNOSOM I,” United Nations Office of Public Information, March 21, 1997.

  4 “Fact Sheet on Dirty Bombs,” U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, February 20, 2007, http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/fact-sheets/dirty-bombs.html, accessed July 31, 2008.

  5 E-mail from General Boykin to the author on August 2, 2008.

  6 Kamal Saleem, author interview, February 12, 2008.

  7 Walid Shoebat, interview for Epicenter documentary film, March 10, 2008.

  8 Porter Goss, author interview, February 12, 2008.

  9 Alireza Jafarzadeh, spokesman for the National Council of Resistance of Iran, author interview, March 24, 2008.

  10 Alireza Jafarzadeh, see remarks at the National Press Club, August 14, 2002, http://www.iranwatch.org/privateviews/NCRI/perspex-ncri-topsecretprojects-081402.htm, accessed August 21, 2008.

  11 See transcript, NBC’s Meet the Press, April 2, 2006.

  12 General Moshe Ya’alon, author interview, March 9, 2007.

  13 Former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, author interview, March 2007.

  14 Sen. Barack Obama was speaking at a town hall in Oregon on May 18, 2008. See “Obama Flip-Flop on Iran,” The Weekly Standard, “The Blog,” May 19, 2008; see also “McCain Criticizes Obama Over Iran Comments,” Associated Press, May 19, 2008.

  15 Ibid.

  16 Ibid.

  17 “Russia Warns over U.S. Missile Defense, Says Iran Is Not a Threat,” Associated Press, October 23, 2007.

  18 Scott Ritter, “The Big Lie: ‘Iran Is a Threat,’” CommonDreams.org, October 8, 2007, http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/10/08/4404, accessed July 26, 2008.

  19 Nikki R. Keddie, Modern Iran: Roots and Results of Revolution, p. 346.

  20 Ted Koppel, “Let ’Em Have Nukes. But . . .” New York Times/International Herald Tribune, October 3, 2006.

  21 Daniel Trotta, “Ted Turner Says Iraq War among History’s ‘Dumbest,’” Reuters, September 19, 2006.

  22 Cited by V. S. Naipaul, Among the Believers, pp. 81–82; and by Robin Wright, Sacred Rage, p. 21.

  23 Cited by Hamid Algar, translator, Islam and Revolution: Writings and Declarations of Imam Khomeini (1941-1980), p. 286. Dr. Algar’s compilation of Khomeini’s writings was extraordinarily helpful to me in understanding the ayatollah. The book also begins with an excellent summary of Khomeini’s biography and basic religious philosophy.

  24 Cited by Alireza Jafarzadeh, The Iran Threat: President Ahmadinejad and the Coming Nuclear Crisis, p. 208.

  25 See bin Laden’s “Declaration of War Against the Americans,” cited by Randall Hamud, Osama bin Laden: America’s Enemy in His Own Words, pp. 32–58

  26 Broadcast on Palestinian Authority TV, May 13, 2005. See transcript of translation by the Middle East Media Research Institute, http://www.memritv.org/clip_transcript/en/669.htm, accessed July 6, 2008.

  27 The publication was called Risalat al-Ikhwan. The slogan was removed from future printings after September 11, 2001. Cited by Lt. Col. (res.) Jonathan Dahoah-Halevi, “The Muslim Brotherhood: A Moderate Islamic Alternative to al-Qaeda or a Partner in Global Jihad?” Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, November 1, 2007, http://www.jcpa.org/JCPA/Templates/ShowPage.asp?DBID=1&TMID=111&LNGID=1&FID=379&PID=0&IID=1920, accessed on June 23, 2008.

  28 Cited by Kasra Naji, Ahmadinejad: The Secret History of Iran’s Radical Leader, p. 144.

  29 Cited by Naji, p. 143.

  30 “Rafsanjani says Muslims Should Use Nuclear Weapon against Israel,” Iran Press Service, December 14, 2001.

  31 Cited by Naji, p. 139.

  32 Cited by Jafarzadeh, p. 31.

  33 “Ahmadinejad Says Israel Will Soon Disappear,” Agence France-Presse, June 2, 2008.

  34 Beirut Daily Star, October 23, 2002; cited by Deborah Passner, “Hassan Nasrallah: In His Own Words,” research paper produced by the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America, July 26, 2006, http://www.camera.org/index.asp?x_context=7&x_issue=11&x_article=1158, accessed July 6, 2006.

  35 Cited by Passner, “Hassan Nasrallah: In His Own Words.”

  36 Cited by Steven Stalinsky, executive director of the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), “Palestinian Authority Sermons 2000–2003,” MEMRI, Special Report - No. 24, December 26, 2003.

  37 Ibid.

  38 Cited by Jafarzadeh, p. 25.

  39 “Ahmadinejad Says Israel Will Soon Disappear,” Agence France-Presse, June 2, 2008.

  40 “Ahmadinejad: Iran, Japan Should Be Prepared for a World without U.S.,” Islamic Republic News Agency, June 4, 2008.

  41 Osama bin Laden, “Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders,” World Islamic Front statement, February 2, 1998; cited by Wright, p. 256.

  42 Cited by Wright, p. 257

  43 Cited by Peter Bergen, The Osama Bin Laden I Know, p. 339.

  44 BBC Monitoring: Al-Manar TV, September 27, 2002; cited by Passner, “Hassan Nasrallah: In His Own Words.”

  45 Cited by MEMRI, Special Dispatch Series - No. 1791, December 21, 2007.

  46 Cited by Stalinsky, “Incitement Official,” FrontPageMagazine.com, May 26, 2005.

  47 Cited by Stalinsky, “Palestinian Authority Sermons.”

  48 Cited by Mansfield, pp. 200–201.

  49 Cited by Bergen, p. 347.

  50 Bernard Lewis, What Went Wrong? The Clash Between Islam and Modernity in the Middle East, and The Crisis of Islam: Holy War and Unholy Terror.

  51 See “Islam and the West: A Conversation with Bernard Lewis,” event transcript, Pew Forum, April 27, 2006, Washington, D.C.

  52 Pervez Hoodbhoy, “Islamic Failure,” Prospect magazine, February 2002.

  53 From a series of essays Mr. al-Akhdar posted in June 2003; cited by Barry Rubin, editor of the Middle East Review of International Affairs (MERIA), in “What’s Wrong: The Arab Liberal Critique of Arab Society,” MERIA, Vol. 9, N. 4, Article 5, December 2005.

  54 Jamal Bittar, “What’s Wrong With The Arab World?” The Arab American News, January 19, 2008.

  55 Zaffar Abbas, “Musharraf Berates Muslim World,” BBC News, February 16, 2002.

  56 Ehsan Ahrari, “Musharraf’s Clarion Call to the World of Islam,” Asia Times, March 5, 2002.

  57 Pervez Musharraf, In the Line of Fire: A Memoir, p. 149.

  58 Cited by Bergen, pp. 6–7.

  59 Sheik Yussef Al-Qaradhawi, interview on Al-Jazeera Television, “The Prophet Muhammad as a Jihad Model,” June 19, 2001, cited by MEMRI, Special Dispatch Series - No. 246, July 24, 2001.

  60 Cited by Mansfield, pp. 50, 51, 54.

  61 Cited by Wright, p. 44.

  62 Cited by Naji, p. 98.

  63 Yossef Bodansky, Bin Laden: The Man Who Declared War on America (Roseville, Calif.: Prima Publishing, 2001), 110.

  64 Cited by Sadanand Dhume, “Indonesian Democracy’s Enemy Within: Radical Islamic Party Threatens Indonesia with Ballots more than Bullets,” column for Yale Global Online, December 1, 2005.

  65 Cited by Mansfield, p. 205.

  66 Cited by Mansfield, pp. 346–347.

  67 George W. Bush, remarks at Islamic Center of Washington, D.C., transcript made available by the White House, Office of the Press Secretary, September 17, 2001, http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/09/20010917-11.html, accessed August 4, 2008.

  68 See “Backgrounder: The President’s Quotes
on Islam—In the President’s Words, Respecting Islam,” White House Office of the Press Secretary, http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/ramadan/islam.html, accessed August 4, 2008.

  69 Transcript, “Bush, Blair News Conference,” Associated Press, November 20, 2003.

  70 “Tony Blair: ‘Wake Up’ to Iran’s Extremism,” Associated Press, December 21, 2006.

  71 “‘Islam Is also France,’ Sarkozy Says at Iftar,” Al Arabiya TV, October 2, 2007, http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2007/10/02/39829.html, accessed August 4, 2008.

  72 For more information on specific citations, see Sh. G. F. Haddad, “Documentation of ‘Greater Jihad’ Hadith,” www.livingislam.org, February 28, 2005, http://www.livingislam.org/n/dgjh_e.html, accessed August 16, 2008. See also “Religion & Ethics—Islam,” BBC, http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam/beliefs/jihad_2.shtml, accessed August 16, 2008.

  73 Douglas E. Streusand, “What Does Jihad Mean?” Middle East Quarterly, September 1997, http://www.meforum.org/article/357, accessed August 16, 2008.