Friday, August 08, 2014

US deterrence and Islamic terrorism

Yoram Ettinger

According to the July 30, 2014 Rasmussen Reports, 59 percent of likely U.S. voters ‎believe that there is a global conflict between the Muslim world and ‎Western civilization, only 17 percent disagree and 24 percent are undecided. Likely ‎voters also believe that the Arab Spring does not bode well for the U.S.‎
The U.S. posture of deterrence played a key role in bolstering Western ‎civilization in face of intensifying threats, checking global violence and ‎instability, bolstering the confidence of U.S. allies, and constraining the ‎maneuverability of rogue regimes.‎

However, the current perception of the U.S. posture of deterrence ‎among U.S. Arab allies is reflected by a July 27, 2014 op-ed in the leading ‎Saudi daily, Asharq Al-Awsat, which is one of the most influential Arab ‎newspapers, owned by the Saudi royal family: "Secretary John Kerry is ‎representing a weak U.S. administration. ... He visits Baghdad to represent an ‎administration that lacks decision-making. He shuttles between Tel Aviv and ‎Cairo as a mediator with no real clout. ... Barack Obama's weak foreign policy ‎is weighing on the deteriorating situation across the world. ... Washington's ‎position on Egypt has changed over the course of the past three years in a ‎manner which demonstrates America's confused vision and weak foreign ‎policy. ... Obama did not even bother to issue a statement regarding the ‎Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) forcing Mosul's Christians to flee. ‎Obama's increasingly isolationist policy is damaging Kerry's credibility."‎
In order to improve the U.S. image in the Muslim world, Obama ‎issued a July 27, 2014 statement on the occasion of the Muslim holiday Eid al-Fitr: "In the United States, Eid reminds us of the many achievements ‎and contributions of Muslim Americans to building the very fabric of our ‎nation and strengthening the core of our democracy." That statement was ‎consistent with Obama's June 2009 speech at Cairo University: ‎‎"America and Islam are not mutually-exclusive and need not be in ‎competition. Instead, they overlap, and share common principles of justice, ‎progress, tolerance and the dignity of all human beings. ... Islam has ‎demonstrated through words and deeds the possibilities of religious ‎tolerance and racial equality. ... I also know that Islam has always been a ‎part of America's story. ... Since our founding, American Muslims have ‎enriched the United States. ... [The] partnership between America and Islam ‎must be based on what Islam is." ‎
Obama's view of Islam has been reinforced by CIA Director John ‎Brennan, who was Obama's advisor on counterterrorism: "Our enemy is ‎not 'terrorism' because terrorism is but a tactic. Our enemy is not 'terror' ‎because terror is a state of mind and as Americans we refuse to live in fear. ‎Nor do we describe our enemy as 'jihadists' or 'Islamists' because jihad is ‎a holy struggle, a legitimate tenant of Islam, meaning to purify ‎oneself or one's community." ‎
While Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab ‎Emirates and Oman dread the clear and present lethal threat of Islamic, jihadist terrorism -- initially and mostly bankrolled by Saudi Arabia -- ‎Obama claims that there is no Islam-driven terrorism or ‎radicalism, but local cases of al-Qaida, Taliban and ISIS terrorism and Maj. ‎Nidal Hasan's Fort Hood "workplace violence." Therefore, he ordered the ‎revision of the U.S. National Security Strategy and the training literature of ‎the military, intelligence and homeland security agencies, deleting all ‎references to Islamic terrorism. Thus, the Los Angeles Times editorial stated ‎on June 8, 2010: "The [Obama] administration has assiduously avoided ‎terms that recognize the distinct threat posed by those who cite Islam as a ‎rationalization for terror." ‎
Obama's ideological ambiguity undermines operational clarity in ‎the battle against Islamic terrorism. It further erodes the U.S. posture of ‎deterrence among increasingly vulnerable U.S. Arab allies, who are also ‎concerned about Obama's core belief in multilateral diplomatic engagement ‎of -- rather than unilaterally confronting -- rogue regimes, such as Iran. ‎
The anxiety of Saudi Arabia and other pro-U.S. Gulf states -- which are ‎afflicted by domestic and regional Sunni and Shiite Islamic terrorism -- was ‎expressed by a series of July 2014 columns in Asharq Al-Awsat. For ‎examples, "it is clear that the policy of withdrawal and isolationism ‎practiced by President Barack Obama's administration has helped set ‎instincts loose, encouraging [Middle Eastern] groups and people who show ‎no respect for peaceful coexistence. ... What if Egypt was left to the rule of ‎the Muslim Brotherhood, according to the wishes of the Obama administration? ... The Obama administration is still dithering and ‎preoccupied with the illusion of an agreement with Iran on its nuclear ‎program."‎
The Arab Tsunami-driven threat of Islamic terrorism is not limited to the pro-‎U.S. Arab regimes. It has afflicted India (the largest victim of Islamic ‎terrorism), China (XinjIang province), Russia (Chechnya), Pakistan, ‎Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Thailand, the Philippines and Africa. It constitutes ‎a clear and present threat to Europe and the U.S. mainland, emboldened by ‎U.S. ideological and operational ambiguity and indecisiveness.‎
When it comes to "third down and ten yards to go" in the battle against ‎Islamic terrorism, the U.S. quarterback can rely on the Israeli wide ‎receiver, which provides a uniquely reliable and effective battle-tested ‎laboratory and training ground for America's defense and homeland security ‎forces and industries -- the unconditional and democratic ally of the U.S.

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