Not Jihad... Not Yet

Courtesy of Instapundit, here is an article by Jim Dunnigan covering the riots in France.

The most relevant parts:

In France, Islamic clerics issued a Fatwa (religious ruling) condemning the street violence of young Moslems over the last two weeks. Fortunately, or unfortunately, most of the thugs on the streets are not very religious. The violence is more ethnic and economic, than religious, with a major criminal element (the gangs, like the IRA, know they will thrive if the police can be driven from their neighborhoods).

And then the finisher:

But now, nearly two weeks of street violence have thoroughly embarrassed the government so much that curfews and more arrests have taken some of the joy out of these Autumn Antics. But it’s not jihad, and never has been.

The whole article is worth reading. Those who think of the riots as the "French Intifida" are mistaken if they look upon this as Jihad. Its much more simple than that, mostly just thugs who want to be able to operate outside of the bounds of French society trying to "convince" the French to let them be. Its not Jihad. Not Yet. Al Qaeada is undoubtely keeping a close eye on such riots. They present the perfect opportunity for AQ to act with plenty of cover. The police are distracted at times such as these, so they might plan ahead for actions to be taken under the next series of riots. Also, the disenchanted "youths" who are these thugs present a potential new source of recruits for AQ. Not many will sign up for the full Jihadist routine. But then again, you never need that many to accomplish a great deal. Even a hundred could be enough.