Backgrounder: 9/11 and Radical Islam

[Valin]

Middle East Forum

Gary C. Gambill
MEForum.org
September 11, 2021

On September 11, 2001, Al-Qaeda's devastating attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon catapulted the threat posed by Islamism to the forefront of American government. Already a leading U.S. think tank addressing the Islamist threat in 2001, the Middle East Forum then spent the next twenty years developing and advocating policies designed to ensure American victory over this enemy. The following amounts to a report card on this mission.

The Before Times

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Combatting Islamism

"If the U.S. government wishes to weaken its strategic enemy, militant Islam," Pipes wrote in 2002, it must fight that enemy "wherever militant Islam poses a threat, in Muslim-majority countries (such as Saudi Arabia), in Muslim-minority countries (such as the Philippines), and even in the United States itself." Secondly, it must "promote moderate Muslims" as an antidote to militant Islam.

While President Bush only intermittently pointed the finger at Islamism, preferring instead to use the phrase "war on terror," the bipartisan 9/11 Commission Report did not mince words, calling not only for "dismantling the al Qaeda network," but also for "prevailing in the longer term over the ideology that gives rise to Islamist terrorism." The report also endorsed Pipes' argument that moderate Islam is the cure for radical Islam. "Tolerance, the rule of law, political and economic openness, the extension of greater opportunities to women – these cures must come from within Muslim societies themselves. The United States must support such developments."

In the intervening years, however, references to radical Islam have once again become taboo when discussing 9/11 and the ongoing threats posed by Al-Qaeda, ISIS, and other jihadist groups.......(Snip)

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The Obama administration's Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) program was intended to assist "efforts at the community level to counter violent extremist recruitment and radicalization to violence." However, far from combatting Islamism, the CVE program regarded Islamists as partners provided that they disavow violence. CVE grant recipients included the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC), an organization with ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and a long history of sanitizing Islamist terrorism.

* Although Donald Trump ran on a platform of combatting "radical Islam," his administration made little headway combatting domestic Islamism. CVE was shut down in favor of a new program called Targeted Violence and Terrorism Prevention (TVTP), but "the only difference [was] a shiny new name" argues Islamist Watch director Sam Westrop. Like its predecessor, TVTP ignored the simple reality that "those who espouse radical beliefs are more likely to commit radical acts." During the Trump administration, the "federal government gave out, on average, almost three times as much cash to American Islamic organizations per year as it did under Obama," notes Westrop.

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Conclusion

Twenty years after the 9/11 attacks, the U.S. record in combatting the threat posed by Islamist extremism is mixed. The U.S. military has decimated the overseas infrastructure and leadership of Al-Qaeda, ISIS, and affiliated organizations (though not the Taliban), while law enforcement agencies have thwarted dozens of terrorist plots against the U.S. homeland.

However, as Westrop has emphasized, "The United States ... still lacks a functioning national program to counter domestic Islamist activity," which has left the country vulnerable to homegrown terror attacks. Middle East studies programs at American universities remain deeply politicized and as unwilling as ever to play a constructive role in national security debates or provide students with the kind of training needed for government service. The U.S. struggle against radical Islam promises to be a long one, as does the Middle East Forum's campaign to better prepare for it.

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* Some people (Ever Trumpers) are NOT going to be pleased with this

 

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