Cut Off Political Oxygen in War on Terror

Thursday, June 5, 2003
By Kumar Ramakrishna
For The Straits Times

Kumar Ramakrishna, an assistant professor with the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies, is currently with Washington's National Defence University

The Bush administration has recognised that something must be done to win the war of ideas and perceptions. Hence, in January, the Office of Global Communications was created by Executive Order of the President. Working with the State Department, the new office seeks to push a positive image of America, counter rumours and allegations about US policy, disseminate information on how the US is rehabilitating Afghanistan, and study fresh ways of reaching out to the wider Arab and Muslim world.

THE United States scored a stunning military success in Iraq, but toppling president Saddam Hussein was never the endgame in the wider war on terror.

The recent suicide attacks directed at Western and American civilians in Riyadh and Casablanca, together with the suicide bombings in Bali last October and Mombassa last November, suggest that radical Islamist terrorism remains a clear and present danger.

The powerful US military instrument is inadequate to neutralise the ideological-political roots of the terrorism exemplified by Al-Qaeda.

From North Africa to South-east Asia, exclusionist, even violent interpretations of Islam continue to overwhelm progressive, inclusive renderings of the faith.

One common thread that runs through radical Islamist discourse everywhere is the identification of America as the embodiment of the age-old 'Crusader' enemy out to subjugate Islam.

This ideological interpretation continues to pose a practical dilemma for allied states with demographically and politically significant Muslim communities.

Uncritical identification with America risks alienating local Muslims, generating more support not just for hardline Islamist political parties but also terrorist networks. Worse, Washington itself generates the 'political oxygen' fuelling radical Islamism.

Official policy is one source. Many Muslims blame the US for not intervening in Bosnia earlier to stop the killing of Muslims by ostensibly Christian Serbs.

If Washington now fails to stay the course in helping set up stable, politically and economically viable Afghan, Iraqi and Palestinian states, radical ideologues would have a field day fashioning damagingly lopsided story-lines of an America out to despoil the Dar al-Islam.

* CAUSE FOR REVENGE
* WINNING HEARTS AND MINDS
(More: The Straits Times)
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Dan