Mark Silverberg

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Biography of Mark Silverberg

Book Summary

Book Review by Dr. David Patterson

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Biography of Mark Silverberg

The author of The Quartermasters of Terror: Saudi Arabia and the Global Islamic Jihad (Wyndham Hall Press, 2005), Mark Silverberg is a former member of the Canadian Justice Department, a past Director of the Canadian Jewish Congress (Western Office) based in Vancouver, and served as a Consultant to the Secretary General of the Jewish Agency in Jerusalem during the first Palestinian intifada.

He is a member of Hadassah's National Academic Advisory Board, a foreign policy analyst with the Ariel Center for Policy Research (Israel), and has been interviewed on Israel National Radio as an authority on American foreign policy in the Middle East.

His editorials and articles on Middle East affairs have appeared in the Hebrew and English editions of the NATIV Journal of the Ariel Center for Policy Research (Israel), Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs (Daily Alert); The Shalem Center (Jerusalem); Hudson Institute (New York); Homeland Security Newsletter; The Dallas Morning News; Middle East Times; American Thinker; Slate; Foreign Confidential; Israel Insider; Arutz Sheva (Israel National News); Intelligence Summit; Intel Base; Israel Matsav; Israel Forum; Israel Unity Coalition; Midstream Magazine; Outpost Magazine; Free Republic; The American Center for Democracy; The Conservative Voice; Intellectual Conservative; ActforAmerica; Faith Freedom International; Baltimore Independent Media Center; RealClearPolitics.com; FBI Academy Library Archive; EuropeNews; Homeland Security Today; Israpundit; Newsvine-Europe; The Layalina Review; Christian Action for Israel and Think-Israel.

He has lectured extensively on the subjects of American foreign policy in the Middle East, counterterrorism, jihadism, and homeland security issues, and is a regular columnist for the Hudson Institute (NY); a Featured Writer with the New Media Journal (Chicago) and a Contributing Editor for Arutz Sheva (Israel National News) and Family Security Matters (Washington).

Book Summary

As we enter the 21st century, Islam finds itself engaged in an ideological and religious struggle within itself - a struggle between medieval and modern interpretations of Shari'a law. The manifestations of this struggle have destroyed hundreds of thousands of lives in the name of jihad and detrimentally affected the stability of many nations around the world.

Within this boiling religious cauldren, the Saudis have emerged as the single most prolific financial and ideological supporters of radical (Wahhabi) Islam in the world having spent an estimated $87B over the past twenty-five years to finance the propagation of Wahhabism not only in Saudi Arabia and other Muslim countries, but throughout the Western world and, in particular, the United States through numerous charitable front organizations, businesses, banks, Saudi-endowed chairs at American colleges and universities, and through the Muslim chaplaincy program whose Islamic seminaries train and certify Muslim chaplains for the U.S. prison and military establishments - all with the aim of recruiting converts for the worldwide Islamic jihad.

Moreover, in the estimated 80% of American mosques and Saudi-supported American Islamic schools that are dependant upon Saudi funds, Saudi textbooks teach that Western culture is the source of all Muslim misfortune - from Western democracy to Western imperialism to Western ideas and influence. It is not surprising then that 15 of the 19 September 11th terrorists, 40% of the suicide bombers in Iraq, and 80% of the detainees taken from Afghanistan to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba were Saudis.

It is this subject and its implications for future world stability that form the underlying theme of this book. To quote Steven Emerson of The Investigative Project (Washington), the book is "absolutely superb."

Book Review by Dr. David Patterson

This book is excellent. Mark Silverberg has presented a very clear, lucid account of a very complicated issue and has made it accessible to a broad readership. His thesis concerning the Saudi involvement in a worldwide network of terror is thoroughly researched, well-argued, and laid out in a methodical, well-organized manner.

The chief Islamic threat to Jews, Christians, and the Western world is Wahhabism. Silverberg provides a good introduction that explains what it is, where it came from, and where it is in the world today. Mapping out names, dates, and places, Silverberg charts the money trail that finances the indoctrination of youth and the underwriting of terrorism with evidence meticulously gathered. He provides the reader with the many aspects of the Wahhabi invasion of America, showing that the invasion lies not only in the mosques and schools funded by the Saudis, but also in our universities and even in the military chaplaincy. He exposes the Wahhabis' venomous, vitriolic hatred of Jews, Christians, and Americans and the global dimensions of the Wahhabi movement.

Having painted a highly detailed picture of the threat of Saudi-backed Wahhabi Islam to the world, he then offers a clear picture of the complexities of an unstable Saudi society and where those complexities might lead.

Silverberg is not an alarmist. He does not overstate anything. His claims are supported by his thorough research. I highly recommend the book to anyone.

Dr. David Patterson,
Director, Bornblum Judaic Studies Program
University of Memphis
Memphis, TN