Friday
Jan292010
"War on Terror": How to Remove Al Qa'eda From Under Your Bed
Friday, January 29, 2010 at 8:18 
Sharmine Narwani, writing for The Huffington Post, takes a long look under her bed, and at the US and the world, to advise how to deal with the fear of Al Qa'eda:I looked under my bed last night. Just in case. And don't tell me you haven't either. With Al Qaeda popping up in new countries every day, it seemed prudent to make sure a spanking new Salafi jihadist cell wasn't being formed under my California Kingsize mattress.
Known Al Qaeda host nations: Yemen, Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Pakistan, Jordan - purportedly even Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, Turkey, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Syria, Xinjiang in China, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Myanmar, Indonesia, Mindanao in the Philippines, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Libya, Nigeria, Tunisia, Bosnia, Kosovo, Chechnya, Dagestan, Jammu and Kashmir, Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Azerbaijan, Eritrea, Uganda, Ethiopia, and - drum roll - the United States.
Actually, with Al Qaeda's strong internet recruitment abilities, let's just scratch that last paragraph and grandly state that this entrepreneurial Salafi franchise is in potentially as many nations as McDonald's.
Afghanistan was the start-up incubator. Operating out of a cave and strapped to a dialysis machine, the canny Saudi-born businessman Osama bin Laden took advantage of the hospitality of fellow Salafists -- the Taliban -- to engineer a magnificent American investment in his franchise, and grow a global brand. And so, thanks to the US's penchant for disproportionate reaction, a rag-tag group of Saudi-funded jihadists hiding out in rough Afghani terrain with a small cadre of operatives scattered around the world, became the new hot stock overnight.
And like any investor worth his salt, the United States looked to an untapped market -- Iraq -- where it then launched its first world-class subsidiary. Yes, that's right. There was no Al Qaeda in Iraq before the Bush administration initiated its ill-fated market penetration. Not under the watch of the fiercely-secular dictator Saddam Hussein, certainly.
But then American troops swooped in and Al Qaeda, Iraq was born. Every Salafi jihadist still smarting from the US occupation of sacred Muslim soil in Saudi Arabia during Iraq War I -- the raison d'etre of Al Qaeda -- now flocked into the new Iraqi battlefield to prevent a second occupation.
And when the US "surged" in Iraq and Afghanistan, they went elsewhere to revamp, re-arm and recruit. Hence, the presence in Pakistan. And when we "drone-d" in Pakistan, they swarmed to Yemen and Somalia. And when we "funded" Yemen, they reared up in Jordan.
Ergo, every time we make a move in the Muslim world, we invest in Al Qaeda's nimble fund-and-recruit franchise enterprise. In the world of venture capital, the US would be akin to a Greylock, Softbank or Kleiner-Perkins.
This is serious business. Al Qaeda and its copycats threaten not only our way of life, but that of most Muslims in whose nations we wage our silly battles. And after nine years of this, each and every time there is a new Salafi-related development in the Muslim world, we still react with the same bluster, bullying and stunning lack of creativity as we did when we embarrassingly threatened to "smoke them out of their caves" that first time.
Last July, building on the work of the acclaimed 9-11 Commission, the National Security Preparedness Group (NSPG) was formed to tackle changing security threats to the United States. A bi-partisan Who's Who of distinguished security experts, the group includes terrorism and insurgency authority Dr. Bruce Hoffman who recently authored an insightful opinion piece in the Washington Post entitled"Al Qaeda has a new strategy. Obama needs one too."
Hoffman reveals how a "shrewdly opportunistic" Al Qaeda is playing to the US's weaknesses with only a handful of operatives, while the United States is "stuck in a pattern of belated responses." Having failed to recognize Al Qaeda's changing strategies, this systemic failure in US intelligence, security and military centers is doomed to continue unless we re-jig things. But I would argue that Hoffman and the NSPG are also doomed to fail if they do not consider a broader reshuffle of US Mideast policy to keep future Salafi groups at bay.
What is the solution? Look at it as a business venture, if you will.
A well-crafted exit strategy: Get out as quickly as possible without leaving a worse mess behind as we did in Afghanistan I and Iraq I.
Distribution: Hand over ops to sovereign states. And if we are going to fund them, make sure the funds are going to the right fights. Sometimes these are not military confrontations, but instead education, economic progress, human rights and democracy. Which means that we will have to stop propping up dictators in the Middle East, i.e., most of our closest allies, and start standing firmly behind genuine efforts for reform.
That may mean Hamas in Palestine, the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt - but you know what? Let them figure it out for themselves. If the Brotherhood, known as the Ikhwan, had been allowed to participate in Egyptian elections decades ago, the whole Middle East may have gone through and come out the other end of "political Islam," which incidentally isn't necessarily a bad thing. Think Turkey.
And we don't have to take on the Mideast's problems ourselves. Distribute the workload and delegate responsibility to other influential nations who have more nuanced relationships with regional players -- some EU nations, Russia, China, Turkey, India and Qatar come to mind.
Partnerships: As hard as this may be for a US administration to stomach, this may be the time to invoke the "your enemy's enemy is your friend" doctrine of foreign policy. Which effectively means that we need to partner with Al Qaeda's biggest regional targets and foes. Who are they? Think Shiites. That means Iran - a country that rang alarm bells when the Taliban rose to power, although we didn't listen then. A country that has offered and delivered help during our worst times in Afghanistan and Iraq, even though we showed no gratitude. More importantly, a country that has been on the receiving end of the same kinds of Salafi attacks by Al Qaeda supported groups as have US troops.
Iran leads a regional bloc of nations and groups included on our dated State Department terrorism lists. We need to start to distinguish between Islamist groups with nationalist agendas (Hezbollah) and those with "cosmic" plans (Al Qaeda) because Iran, Hezbollah, Syria and Hamas have all been under Salafi jihadist threat of some sort this past year. They would make smart, resourceful and powerful regional allies - unlike our alliances with Saudi Arabia and Egypt, both supremely impotent despite their claims otherwise, and boasting zero street cred, unlike the former bloc.
Troubleshoot: Deal swiftly and creatively with the Palestinian issue. This is the one regional issue that will continue to be exploited effectively by Al Qaeda and its franchises - the crux of Bin Laden's most recent audiotape message last weekend. Open up Gaza's Rafah border with Egypt and start physically monitoring the delivery of widespread humanitarian aid to the 1.5 million Gazans living under siege - we will build instant goodwill with Palestinians at the negotiating table and remind Arabs of their hopes in a pre-Cairo Obama.
If we can move mountains and send manpower to Haiti in a nanosecond, we can loosen a crumby little border in Rafah, surely?
Strike Deals: Sponsor a timelined Palestinian-Israeli agreement on final solution issues - borders, refugees, sovereignty, natural resources and Jerusalem. Enough with the spineless pussy-footing around the hard issues that has been "all process and no peace" for 18 years now. Utilize J-Street and other sane voices in the American Jewish community to back up a new, firm approach to Israel - the Jewish state, the occupying entity, needs to make some significant concessions for any peaceful resolution of the conflict . Or...get out of peacemaking altogether and let the Palestinians and Israelis find their own way to a One State Solution. Colonial-settler movements never last, and the establishment of a single democratic state consisting of Jews, Muslims and Christians is the natural, organic direction of things without our overbearing, one-sided participation.
And table the failed Iran nuclear talks to deal with the more pressing issues of Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan where both the US and the Islamic Republic have an "existential" stake and share much common ground. A focused, mutually-beneficial game plan here will create the necessary trust to tackle the nuclear issue further down the road, which will in turn diffuse a regional nuclear race.
As any savvy CEO will tell you, don't say or do anything unless there are clear quantifiable and qualitative benefits to be reaped. From his lips to Obama's ears...
While it looks like Al Qaeda is spreading like wildfire, the fact is, it isn't. Their numbers have dwindled in Afghanistan and Iraq, and their popularity has generally plummeted amongst Mideast populations. But there is a marked increase in the number of Salafi, jihad-mindedindividuals who are fed-up with the status quo and are happy to risk life and limb. Every silly move we make - and we really know how to do silly - beefs up the Al Qaeda brand and extends the franchise.
So in places like Yemen and Jordan, where local governments have until recently played a careful balancing act and kept their Salafists under wraps, one false American move threatens -- always -- to crack open a can of worms. Think healthcare reform and Teabaggers for a closer-to-home analogy.
And it only takes one bus bombing, one aircraft explosion, one restaurant pipe-bomb to level economies, cripple tourism, incite insurgencies and create an environment of fear. We need to exit these battles and fundamentally alter our disingenuous Middle East policies to allow anger to subside and reform to flourish.
Or I will have to check my closets next.
Reader Comments (11)
Yes - perhaps the US should have let the German Nazi regime just get on with things. Eventually they would have worked it all out and probably have become a Democracy. All that bombing of cities was just so savage - all those poor civilians died.
Hamas - Muslim brotherhood - the Iranins - just let them find themselves. America should draw a line in the sand ( on a California beach somewhere) and withdraw behind that line - just let the rest of the world get on with whatever they want to do.
Girl - could you please advise how old you are?
Barry
Barry, do we really need to bomb and bomb, create more and more hate and Nazism instad of trying to show friendship and help root out poverty and prejudice
Germany has lost at least 50% of its cultural tradition in WW2, not only by the Nazis' devastating influence, but also due to the 30 years of occupation that followed.
Should this happen to every country you consider a "terrorist" regime because there are some idiots hiding there?
How old are you?
@Whizbiz
Old enough to know that there are just some things, some people, some idealogies that can't be left alone and allowed to fester like a boil. It is nice to think that if you just keep away from the boil and don't touch it, it will go away - but all they do is grow bigger until you have a real problem.
Are you in any way suggesting that the Nazis should not have been stopped? My view is that they "should" have been stopped sooner - but that is the way of the world. Like when somebody is being beaten in the street - or the woman next door is being mistreated - nobody wants to get involved until it is too late.
Barry
I agree w/ @barry , you can't just let the extremists figure they way!! Do you understand Islam?? I was born in a Muslim country, my parents didn't have a religion, but most of our relatives were Muslims. Islam is a religion of hate, according to Islam, all non-Muslims are infidels & as dirty as dogs & pigs!! Just imagine if the Christians had the same beliefe & American government was a religious extremist gov was ran by the priests separating all people in the world based on how christian they are and non-christians with a value close to a non-human!! That's what exactly allowing radical political Islam would bring.
My country Iran was transformed from one of the fasted growing countries in the world, one of the most peaceful countries & the most prestigious countries in the world to the point today I feel emabarassed to call myself Iranian sometimes!!! And gues what, 30 years after Jimmy Carter & the British helped the establishment of Islamic Republic, America & Israel are fighting a proxy war with Iran through Iraqi Shiia, Lebanon. Hezbullah, Iran aided & armed Taliban in afghanistan, Hamas, and now we are getting into war withe Somalian extremists also funded & armed by Iran.!
Extremist Islam is a cancer and we may not be able to treat it with one shot, but we have to slowly remove its tumors hoping that one day we get rid of it completely.
Also education and support of secular movements in the middle east is very important. Forget about supporting what's easier & cheaper, support what's right
@Wixxbizzz 1st idont see nothing wrong with replacing one tradition with another as long as the new one is more peaceful, better functioning & gets along better with other cultures
2nd you don't culture German culture with Islamic extremist culture because Islam is a religion not a national ID, as a matter of fact, Islam destroyed thousands of tradtions in the world & anytime people walked away from it, they revived their tradtions, for example Egyptian or Persian cultures or even Syrian (assyrian). If the spanish didn't get rid of Arab invadors, spain would have been very much similar to Lebanon, Syria or Yemen now!!!
Interesting article..thanks EA for posting.
Reading the comments above I tend to agree fall in the middle. If I understand Barry's argument I agree that there should be some boundry versus discussion until the end of time. To the author's analogy of a business..business create a plan and execute versus sitting around planning all day. However to the authors point, if a process is broken, you look at it, determine the problem area, fix it and act. I am of the same belief that a little process re-engineering may be in order.
Cyrus -
Respectfully I disagree with your comments regarding Muslims. I come from a mixed heritage where one side is Muslim and the other Christian. Two points I would like to make. The Muslims I know (friends and family) are very peaceful and loving (of all people) and I would argue in many cases more tolerant than many Christians I know. Please note that many Christians preach and believe that if you do not believe as they do, you are also damned.....also we could add Judiasm to this as well. I fear you are making a broad statement that may be relevant to a portion of the population versus the whole. I am not in any way suggesting your experience is not valid, I believe that it is if you say it is. I have personally sat in many Christian churches and heard sermons speaking of the evils of those who were not Christians themselves. This is the unfortunate reality in all groups..some are "extremist" or "fundamentalist" and this leads to substantial levels of ethnocentricity.
To link your comment you are correct that religion does not RUN the government in the US but I think we could all agree it has a significant influence...especially those in the far right. We are fortunate here that we have a balance in the government..if not, could be a very different story.
Further I agree with your comments on means to address the greater issue and unfortunately agree that sometimes identifying myself as Iranian can be difficult and resort to "persian" instead.
Best,
Wow. To some of the commenters... that one-size-fits-all attitude toward Islamist groups is just dumb. Even British Foreign Secretary David Miliband admitted this in January 2009 when he called the War on Terror a "mistake." Specifically, Miliband pointed out:
"The more we lump terrorist groups together and draw the battle lines as a simple binary struggle between moderates and extremists, or good and evil, the more we play into the hands of those seeking to unify groups with little in common."
This is the problem with the Israeli and American narrative - not all Islamist groups are radical. And most are not terrorists. They have an ideology, and whether you agree with it or not, you need to understand that it is NOT your decision when democratic elections are held and they triumph - as in Turkey and Palestine.
As pointed out in this article, perhaps if we let them go their natural path, they will burn out or even morph into something quite okay. The Muslim Brotherhood is a moderate force in the Mideast compared to Saudi Wahhabism of Egypt's dictatorship. And they advocate Sunni-Shia rapprochment - a healing of the rift that the Saudis have promoted since the Iranian revolution.
Hamas and Hezbollah are national political organizations focused on national aspirations and were created solely as a direct result of resisting Israeli occupation. These are liberation struggles that have moderated over time, and you'd have to be blind or a complete ideologue not to see this. Even Obama's advisor on counterterrorism John Brennan waxed poetic about the changes in Hezbollah back in August, before the State Dep't came out and refuted his statements.
Enough with the Hasbara folks. Iran does NOT support the Taliban - they never have, and were in fact one of the most vocal critics of the Taliban from the start. And Iran does not support Al Qaeda types, whether in Iraq or in Somalis - that is a bare-faced lie. Please note that Iran and the Shia have been direct targets of Salafi bombings and killings. You can't have it both ways, guys. Get your facts straight.
Am sorry some of you feel ashamed to invoke the term "Iranian" to describe yourselves. You can only identify with a country if you are prepared to do so fully. If it has a shitty government, well change it even if you have to spend the rest of your life doing so. But folks like you weaken Iran - Iran, not the government - when you are prepared to narrowly focus on gov't change without considering the threats on the country's direct borders, and refuse to even get a basic education about this, lest it clash with your myopic ideologies.
Bijan,
Is there an apostasy law in Christianity or Judaism? No, but Islam does have one. The punishment is death.
"This is the unfortunate reality in all groups..some are “extremist” or “fundamentalist” and this leads to substantial levels of ethnocentricity."
****
In the Western Hemisphere, ethnocentrism is only a problem in eastern Europe, particularly the Balkan countries. This did lead to the ethnic tensions and wars in the 1990s. The Orthodox Church is very ethnocentric indeed, but Christian countries to the west are not like this at all.
"These are liberation struggles that have moderated over time,...."
*****
No amendments have been made to the 1988 Hamas Charter. The Charter calls for the destruction of Israel and the creation of an Islamic state.
Dave, face it - if they shaved off their beards and did the hokey-kokey you would still cite the "Charter" as your one fallback argument. Sure - just ignore the fact that they have publicly distanced themselves from it for many years now.
Hezbollah changed their charter last month and what did your kind do? Insisted that the "old" charter is what they really, really, really meant to say.
Puh-lease.
Lol, You wrote a big one.