Walid Phares Tells Imus How Not to Act American. Or Vice Versa.

Walid Phares, a Fox News terrorism expert of Lebanese descent, is into Lynyrd Skynyrd. He’s also pretty knowledgeable about the latest terror warnings in Europe; possible peace negotiations in Afghanistan; and why the U.S. hasn’t been attacked since 9/11.

Phares, also a Senior Fellow and the Director of the Future Terrorism Project at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington, told Imus that Americans should always be careful when traveling overseas, but they should be particularly alert now.

“There were threats, real threats, issued by the Al-Qaeda operating out of Africa, against France,” he said. “Then later on, there were threats issued by the Taliban operating out of Pakistan against other targets in Europe.”

His advice was to take care in public areas not controlled by police; not to associate with demonstrations; and to avoid standing out as an American in an isolated area.

“So, don’t be fat?” Imus asked. Or, don’t draw attention to your accent, but sure, let’s go with don’t be fat.

Phares isn’t buying this morning’s announcement that the Taliban agreed to negotiate peace with Hamid Karzai’s government in Afghanistan. He noted the timing (a few weeks before the midterm elections in the U.S.) and the lack of reporting on the subject in Arab and Islamic media as signs the news was false.

“The Taliban ideal is to continue these attacks on both sides of the border, in Pakistan and inside Afghanistan, until we decide to leave unilaterally,” he said, referring to the U.S. “But they may also send messages to the Kabul government saying, ‘If you ask the Americans to withdraw, we may have a chance to tlak with you.’ But eventually, they don’t want Karazai. They want to take over the government, reestablish their own regime.”

Yesterday’s sentencing to life in prison for would-be Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad turned contentious in a New York courtroom, with Shahzad declaring that his attempt at terrorism was “just the beginning.”

“This is a slogan that jihadists have been using for many years now,” Phares said. They use it to incite and inspire fellow terrorists, but Phares was most interested in Shahzad saying that he would have carried out another operation. “The intention of Al-Qaeda, the Taliban, and those who support them is to go into what I call ‘urban jihad’—they want to do multiple, small kind of attacks across the country as much as they can.”

He attributed the lack of another major attack on U.S. soil to the use of “urban jihad,” but warned Imus that attempts at terrorism—like in Times Square this past May, and on Christmas Day in 2009—are on the rise. “It’s mushrooming, and it’s spreading like cancer within our own body,” he said.

On a happier note, Phares told Imus he loves “Sweet Home Alabama” because it introduced him to the culture of the South when he first arrived in the U.S. 20 years ago. “The melody is excellent,” he said.

Who can argue with that?

-Julie Kanfer