10/08/10

The airwaves this election season are low on debate on how America can grow its exports, fight its wars or lessen its energy dependence - but full of rhetoric and political ads promoting fear and intolerance of Islam and Muslim-Americans.  Such inflammatory rhetoric runs counter to American values and security interests.  It feeds al Qaeda's worldview, alienates Muslim Americans and diminishes the strength we draw from diversity.  Meanwhile, establishment conservatives and Tea Party activists acknowledge that, because of their national security disagreements, they are "steadfastly ignoring policy declarations of any sort" - raising questions about their readiness to govern.   

Conservatives push Islam-bashing, promoting fear and hate, as political posturing.  On Salon.com Justin Elliot writes, "There's still about a month until Election Day, but it's already safe to declare 2010 the year of the Muslim-baiting campaign ad...This is the first election cycle under a president whom many falsely believe to be Muslim. And lurking resentments and suspicions were stirred up even more by the ‘ground zero mosque' hysteria that began in May and raged all summer long. The topic became impossible to resist for conservative campaign strategists."  One case he points out is the attack ad against "Rep. Bruce Braley, D-Iowa, for his ‘support' of Park51. In fact, Braley's position was merely that it was a local zoning issue for Manhattan, not for a congressman from eastern Iowa. The gist of the ad is that the "ground zero mosque" is the latest front in the centuries-long battle between Muslims and the West."  Similar ads have run in Florida, Ohio and North Carolina. 

"North Carolina GOP congressional hopeful Renee Ellmers' [ad] gained instant notoriety for its casual conflation of ‘the Muslims,' ‘the terrorists' and the organizers of Park51, the planned Islamic community center near ground zero."  [Salon, 10/7/10]

 "U.S. Senate candidate Sharron Angle told a crowd of supporters that the country needs to address a ‘militant terrorist situation' that has allowed Islamic religious law to take hold in some American cities. Her comments came at a rally of tea party supporters in the Nevada resort town of Mesquite last week after the candidate was asked about Muslims angling to take over the country, and marked the latest of several controversial remarks by the Nevada Republican." [Associated Press, 10/7/10]

"Americans Against Hate (AAH) has started a campaign to get Rep. Keith Ellison removed from the Congressional Task Force on Anti-Semitism and is ramping up pressure on Rep. Ron Klein, D-Fla., who chairs the committee.  In a statement on Tuesday, [AAH founder] Kaufman said, ‘Representative Klein has both the authority and the responsibility to remove Keith Ellison from the Congressional Task Force on Anti-Semitism, a group that Ellison has no business being on. We demand that he does so immediately. Every day that Ellison sits on that task force is an offense to those who fell victim to anti-Semitism and/or radical Islam.'"  The group accuses Ellison, who recently accompanied a group of American imams and the White House anti-Semitism adviser on a visit to concentration camp memorials in Europe, of "radical activities."  [The Minnesota Independent, 10/7/10]

West Virginia Conservative Foundation:  "Rep. Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.) is the target of a well-funded attack campaign by a conservative nonprofit called the West Virginia Conservative Foundation (WVCF), which is airing an ad questioning the congressman's outreach to the Arab-American community...The group was founded by West Virginia attorney Mike Stuart, who is now chairman of the state's Republican Party." [Huffington Post, 10/4/10]

[Salon, 10/7/10]

Islam-bashing and anti-Muslim rhetoric harms our national security. Anti-Islamic rhetoric harms our national security because it plays into al Qaeda's "Clash of Civilizations" narrative - in other words, right into al Qaeda's hands - and aids in recruitment. Bigoted Islam-bashing also alienates Muslim partners, whom experts know to be some of our best allies in combating extremism.

Isolates Muslim Americans. Ali Soufan, the Muslim-American FBI interrogator who successfully interrogated Abu Zubaydah and discovered that Khalid Sheikh Mohammad was the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, wrote in Forbes Magazine, "When demagogues appear to be equating Islam with terrorism, it's making young Muslims unsure about their place in the country. It bolsters the message that radicalizers are selling: That the war is against Islam, and Muslims are not welcome in America." Homeland security and terrorism expert David Schanzer writes that "Far from enhancing security in New York and across the country, the controversy may contribute to the next homegrown terrorist attack."  [Ali Soufan, Forbes Magazine, 8/18/10. David Schanzer, Newark Star Ledger, 8/17/10]

Feeds into al Qaeda's "Clash of Civilizations" narrative. Marc Lynch, Senior Fellow at Center for New American Security and professor at George Washington University says that, "The U.S. has a vital national security interest in preventing a spiral towards a ‘clash of civilizations' which would strengthen al-Qaeda's appeal and narrative." [Marc Lynch, Foreign Policy, 7/22/10]

Feeds extremist recruitment abroad. Taliban operative Zabihullah told Newsweek magazine that, "By preventing this mosque from being built, America is doing us a big favor. It's providing us with more recruits, donations, and popular support." [Zabihullah, via Newsweek, 8/30/10]

Our diversity is our strength. CIA Director Leon Panetta recently wrote to his agency employees that, "The diversity of talent that we send into the field against al-Qa'ida includes officers with roots in the countries and communities suffering and sacrificing on the front lines-Arabs and South Asians, Muslims and non-Muslims alike. I see the powerful contributions they make by virtue of their knowledge, insight, and sheer courage. They are our brothers and sisters. I hope many more Americans like them will join us. We are one family, bound together by our values, our liberty, and our Constitution." [Leon Panetta, 9/10/10]

Demagoguery replaces debate on real issues beyond America's borders.  "Islamophobia" is an easy distraction from the real issues:  the ninth anniversary of the war Afghanistan, a terrorism threat in Europe, energy dependence highlighted by fuel convoy attacks in Pakistan.  Instead, conservatives have filled the airwaves with false and misleading rhetoric about "an invasion" of Islam and the alleged imposition of Sharia law in the United States, with the Washington Times even warning about an "Islamic flag over the White House." The conservative "Pledge to America" released last month by House conservatives fails to address the wars we are fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq, energy security, and other key issues we face. Max Bergmann, a national security analyst at the Center for American Progress, writes, "The fact that more than half the points are devoted to keeping people out of America, indicates that the GOP House leadership simply doesn't know how it wants to engage the world.  All the ‘pledge' tells us therefore, is that the House GOP will support war in perpetuity and that it has no concrete ideas about what America's foreign policy should be." 

The Tea Party movement itself - which has captured so much of conservative energy this year - specifically ignores national security.  Peter Baker writes in Foreign Policy magazine that, "The question for the movement is whether it can maintain its own uneasy coalition. And for now, at least, that means steadfastly ignoring foreign-policy declarations of any sort. When nearly half a million Tea Party supporters voted online to define their campaign agenda, not a single one of the 10 planks they agreed on had anything to do with the world beyond America's borders." [Max Bergman, Wonk Room, 9/23/10. Peter Baker, Foreign Policy, 10/10. Washington Times, 10/4/10]

What We're Reading

In the clearest sign that a deal may be emerging to keep the troubled U.S. Mideast peace push alive, a top Palestinian official said that his side would accept an American proposal for Israel to curtail settlement construction for two months.

Liu Xiaobo, an irrepressible, chain-smoking Chinese dissident imprisoned last year for subversion, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for helping to spearhead a campaign for more freedom in China.

Heavy US reliance on private security in Afghanistan has helped to line the pockets of the Taliban, a U.S. Senate report says.

African Union troops have captured more territory and may control half of Somalia's rubble-strewn capital Mogadishu by the end of October after weakening the Islamist rebels.

President Felipe Calderon calls Tijuana a success in his four-year-old war on drug cartels, though he is unsure that making the border city safer has reduced the flow of drugs to the United States.

Even as India flagged concerns about delays, cost escalations and inadequate product support in several defense projects with Russia, the two countries firmed up plans to jointly design, develop and manufacture the fifth-generation fighter aircraft and multi-role transport aircraft.

In a reverse of a years-long trend, the number of Cubans interdicted by the Coast Guard or arriving from Mexico is down -- way down.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's planned visit to Lebanon, which has been labeled as "provocative" by the largest parliamentary bloc in Lebanon, has been heavily criticized by the United States and Israel.  

A bomb blasted through a mosque in the capital of Takhar Province in northern Afghanistan, killing the governor of a neighboring province as he attended Friday prayers and at least 12 other worshippers.

President Obama will announce today that Gen. James Jones, the national security adviser, is resigning and will be replaced by his deputy, Thomas E. Donilon.

Commentary of the Day

Geneive Abdo says Washington should seize the opportunity to have Turkey serve as mediator in talks with Iran over the revival of its Tehran Declaration.

Leslie Gelb says that talking with the Taliban is a Machiavellian mess that eventually must be tried seriously.

The Hartford Courant editorializes that Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) is too ready to attack Iran.