"How to Win the Terror War"

"Unless the U.S. retreated entirely into its borders, unless the U.S. allowed radical Islam to start prevailing, unless the U.S. stopped assisting democracies and pro-Western regimes, unless the U.S. stopped combating the jihad movements around the world, unless the U.S. stopped protecting itself, then the U.S. is still going to be hated."

Bill Steigerwald interviews Steven Emerson in yesterday's Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:

Q: Where have we failed in fighting this war?

A: In looking at the war against militant Islamic fundamentalism, there are two components. One is the criminal attack on those who are violating the law by either carrying out attacks or assisting those who carry out attacks.

Second is the political component, which consists of a need to discredit those who perpetrate or justify militant Islam generally under false cover by pretending to be a moderate or a civil rights group when, in fact, they are essentially providing coverage for Islamic extremists.

It's not illegal to be an extremist. It's not illegal to even call for the death of America. Therefore that wouldn't be covered by any type of criminal prosecution. However, that requires an active willingness to confront them politically, and that's where we have failed miserably and increasingly so since 9/11 — with radical Islamist groups pretending to be something they are not.

There has been a willingness, unfortunately, by the head of the FBI as well as by various political leaders, to embrace the militant Islamic groups and legitimize them without confronting their radical agenda or asking them to unequivocally condemn and repudiate Islamic extremism....

Q: What's it going to take to defeat these Islamist militants around the world? Or are we in for a global war without end?

A: Traditional wars have armistices to sign. There's not going to be one to sign here. There's a military component, a religious component and a political component. In a sense, the military component is the easiest.

The most difficult is to essentially discredit the militant Islamic movement. There is a real disconnect between those who support suicide bombings and justify terrorism and American values that abhor any type of political violence. Unless there's going to be a willingness to challenge the extremists, not appease them, then they're going to flourish.

Do I think that we're going to be successful in discrediting them? Not necessarily in the short term. To a certain extent, we need to embark on a genuine effort to embolden authentic, moderate Muslims, not the ersatz ones who say they condemn terrorism, but then, if asked if they condemn Hezbollah, they say, "No, it's not a terrorist group."

We need to promote the moderate interpretation of Islam by emboldening and empowering Islamic reformers to instigate a self-criticism within the Islamic world. I'm often asked what the panacea is here, and the answer is, we need to see an Islamic reformation. Then I'm asked how will we know there is a reformation, and I say, "One very telling indicator will be the appearance of many Muslim comedians." ....

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Sun. 03/21/04 11:33:53 AM
Categorized as International & Social/Cultural.