10/22/10

As the days before the midterms tick down, Islam-bashing has heated up.  This posturing is morally unpleasant - and problematic for our social cohesion and national security, as experts and military leaders have reminded us over and over.  A study of successful terrorism prevention released this week recommends that authorities "Work to establish good relations with local communities and avoid tactics that might alienate them."  Bipartisan national security experts strongly agree.  Remembering that terrorists seek to instill fear and lead us to attack our own institutions and each other, General Colin Powell, Secretary of State under George W. Bush, recently stated: "we have to remain who we are and what we are... an open, freedom loving people who believe in our constitution..."

Campaign season brings Islamophobia and scaremongering in place of real ideas. This year's campaigns have crossed a line by turning to Islamophobia and scaremongering.

Equating Middle Eastern heritage and donations from Arab groups to "terror ties." The ad, by Rep. Nick Rahall's (D- WV) Republican opponent, Spike Maynard, says donations to Rahall by the National Association of Arab-Americans PAC, the National Muslims for a Better America PAC and the Arab American Leadership PAC amount to "terrorist ties." The ad also claims that Rahall, who is of Lebanese descent, is "good for the Middle East, bad for America." [Spike Maynard for Congress, 10/20/10]

A discriminatory letter that decries discrimination. A group that calls itself the "Coalition to Honor Ground Zero" released a letter signed by 100 candidates from both sides of the aisle opposed the building of Park 51 complex - but interested in making a lower Manhattan debate a national political issue. As the signers promote religious discrimination, they write, "We should never stand silent while a discriminatory ideology is promoted." [Coalition to Honor Ground Zero, 10/14/20]

Politicizing 9/11 imagery. The National Republican Trust PAC released an ad that features pictures of mosques and Muslims juxtaposed against imagery from the 9/11 attacks, including a person falling from the World Trade Center. It also refers to the "Audacity of Jihad," a clear attempt to tie President Obama to the false notion that he's Muslim. [National Republic Trust PAC, 7/2/10]

Endorsing profiling of Muslims. Dan Fanelli, who sought the Republican nomination to challenge Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL), put out a trio of ads explicitly supporting racial profiling. The ads featured a Middle Eastern man speaking Arabic and playing a "terrorist." In the ad, Fanelli makes a joke about how he wouldn't profile a man of his own physique (white male) as the "terrorist" - the Middle Eastern man, who is wearing a towel on his head and has a bomb strapped to chest - stands by. [Dan Fanelli, 5/6/10]

Bipartisan security experts agree: This type of behavior is not only counter to our values but also our national security interests.  An in-depth study released this week by the Institute for Homeland Security Solutions finds that, "Of the 68 foiled plots examined, approximately 40% were thwarted as a result of tips from the public or reports by informants. Acquiring information from these sources depends on the ability to establish good relationships between law enforcement and communities with persons in or near radical movements, an ability that is jeopardized by indiscriminately targeting individuals and groups due to their race, ethnicity, religion or ideology."  As a result, the report recommends, "Work to establish good relations with local communities and avoid tactics that might alienate them."

Bipartisan national security leaders agree:

Ted Olson, the Bush administration's solicitor general and 9/11 widower, has said: "I do believe that people of all religions have a right to build edifices or structures, places of religious worship or study where the community allows them to do it under zoning laws and that sort of thing. And that we don't want to turn an act of hate against us by extremists into an act of intolerance for people of religious faith. And I don't think it should be a political issue. It shouldn't be a Republican or Democrat issue either." [Ted Olson, via Politico, 8/18/10]

Major General Paul Eaton, US Army (Ret), senior advisor, National Security Network, explained how this rhetoric is harmful to the military's objectives: "It is a slap in the face to a great many people we wish to have as allies. We are trying to make allies of our colleagues in Iraq and Afghanistan and this is not helpful." He also added, "This is unhelpful to the American fighting men and women and counter to the image we wish to portray in Afghanistan and Iraq." [Paul Eaton, via Media Matters, 8/16/10]

Lawrence Wilkerson, chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell in the Bush administration, describes the extreme opposition, saying: "It is like offering your opponent two or three whips with which to beat you... The impact on our military people would be injurious if we say ‘no.'  It would put another instrument in the hands of those who want to exploit the fear that Americans are at war with Islam and not the radical elements within it." [Lawrence Wilkerson, via Media Matters, 8/16/10]

Peter Beinart, a senior fellow at the New America Foundation writes: "I wonder how David Petraeus feels about all this. There he is, slogging away in the Hindu Kush, desperately trying to be culturally sensitive, watching GIs get killed because Afghans believe the U.S. is waging a war on Islam, and back home, the super-patriots on Fox News have... declared war on Islam." [Peter Beinart, 8/17/10]

Brian Fishman, research fellow with the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point and Counterterrorism research fellow at the New America Foundation, says that "Anwar al-Awlaki, the most important recruiter of western Muslims into jihadi movements, has been hammering at the point that there is a double standard for Muslims in the West and the 'we' are soon going to crackdown on Muslims.  He is implicitly admitting that these folks are very well integrated into American society, but warns them that social comity won't last." [Brian Fishman, 8/16/10]

[Institute for Homeland Security Solutions, 10/10]

America's strength and resilience - not demagoguery and fear mongering -are what we need against terrorism.  Former Secretary of State, General Colin Powell recently discussed the anti-Islamic rhetoric in the context of terrorism and America's reaction.  He points out that the purpose of terrorism is to invoke fear and overreaction, and that we cannot let terrorists win by changing who we are as a people.  He states, "They do it to terrorize us. They do it to make us terrified and they win if we become terrified and we starting acting in a different way than Americans should act and what I have seen over the years is that we go after the terrorists with all the power at our disposal, give them no slack, go get them, but at the same time we have to remain who we are and what we are... What they can't do, not one terrorist can do, not ten thousand terrorists can do, is change who we are and what we are an open, freedom loving people who believe in our constitution..."

Resilience is also an effective deterrent for terrorists. Stephen Flynn, the President of the Center for National Policy and a participant in the in the National Security Preparedness Group with 9/11 Commissioners Thomas Kean and Lee Hamilton, recently testified that, "When we demonstrate an unwillingness to inflict damage on our way of life in the face of terrorism, terrorism becomes a less attractive weapon for our adversaries to confront the United States. When federal agencies work well with each other and their counterparts at the state and local levels and reach out to the everyday Americans, we will be far better able to detect and prevent future attacks."  [Colin Powell, via the View, 9/9/10. Steve Flynn, 9/15/10]

What We're Reading

Retired generals say, "We have the tools we need to put Khalid Sheikh Mohammed away," in a new ad from supporting civilian trials for the 9/11 perpetrator. 

Mid-level Taliban insurgency commanders do not believe their leaders have begun tentative peace talks with the Afghan government, with many vowing not to give up the fight after nearly 10 years of war.

The African Union has asked the United Nations Security Council to back a naval and air blockade of Somalia.

Hiding, often in plain sight, for 15 years, Europe's most wanted war-crimes suspect, Ratko Mladic, is being hidden by no more than a handful of loyalists, most probably in a neighborhood of Communist-era housing towers., according to investigators and some of his past associates.

A global agreement to curb carbon emissions is still possible at the upcoming U.N. climate conference but hinges on the efforts and political will of countries.

In Egypt, after years of loosening freedoms for the press, censorship has returned as elections approach.

With just over two weeks until the first elections in Myanmar in 20 years, a United Nations envoy questioned the fairness of the vote.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki wrapped up a regional tour, apparently designed to secure support for a second term in office, with a visit to Turkey, a country with a growing financial stake in Iraq.

More than a billion dollars worth of aid projects in Afghanistan will have to be cancelled by the end of the month if Hamid Karzai persists with his demand that all private security companies should be disbanded by the end of the year.

The Western Sahara seems calm but dissatisfaction is growing in refugee camps.

The Obama administration will refuse to train or equip about a half-dozen Pakistani Army units that are believed to have killed unarmed prisoners and civilians during recent offensives against the Taliban.

Commentary of the Day

Tom Plate writes that poor leadership on the part of both China and Japan has led to a possible collision course between the two.

Nigel Sheinwald believes that the recent military spending cuts made by the British brass will not have as significant an impact on the U.K.'s ability to carry out operations as most are predicting.