From Charles Martel to Inspector Clousseau

A sobering analysis from Geostrategy (by subscription only).

French Interior Minister Nicholas Sarkozy has been trying to contain an Arab uprising whose fighters have been trained in Afghanistan, Bosnia and Iraq and possess everything from light weapons to anti-aircraft missiles.

In a classified report, the French military has concluded that a network of 25,000 Muslim fighters are participating in the worst violence in France in more than 40 years. The report said the so-called mujahadeen, or holy warriors, have been trained in guerrilla warfare, light weapons and intelligence. Many of them are loyal to Al Qaida chief in Iraq, Abu Mussib Al Zarqawi and make a living from drugs, prostitution and loan-sharking.

Sarkozy acknowledged that prior to the outbreak of violence late last month, some Muslim neighborhoods in Paris were ablaze nearly every night. Sarkozy said rioters were torching up to 40 cars a night in Muslim neighborhoods in the French capital. In the space of a few months, the interior minister said, 9,000 police cars had been stoned in these neighborhoods.

The battle-hardened Muslim fighters dismiss French riot police, who have not been trained to combat Arab guerrilla warriors. The police are not equipped to deal with legions of Arab fighters who rush toward them with firebombs and light weapons.

At this point, French officials are close to throwing in the towel. Their main concern now is to stop Muslims from capturing the heart of Paris.

I have only one point to make here: whether they call themselves Al Qaeda, Hizb ut-Tahrir, Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, Hamas, Jaish-e-Muhammad, or whatever -- and regardless of their nationality -- Muslim terrorists are united by a shared ideology rooted in the Qur'an and the Sunnah. This is what motivated Islamic conquests of the 7th and 8th centuries, and it's what motivates the war against Israel and the West now. The profusion of groups named this or that should not distract us from their common goal: the utter submission of conquered peoples under the banner of Islam.