Photo by Darren Livingston (Central Intelligence Agency) via Wikimedia Commons
Cautioning against allowing portrayal of the fight against terror as a clash of civilizations, former CIA Director David Petraeus has said the huge majority of Muslims who oppose ISIS and al-Qaeda ideology are America’s most vital ally in the ongoing war.
The former general, while appearing before the House Armed Services Committee on “The State of the World: National Security Threats and Challenges,” drew attention to the fact that fight is waging primarily between majorities and militant groups within the Muslim societies.
“Here I should note that our most important ally in this war is the overwhelming majority of Muslims who reject al Qaeda, Daesh, and their fanatical, barbaric worldview.”
Petraeus, who commanded the US troops surge missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, quoted specific examples of countries where people are combating militants.
“Indeed, it is millions of Muslims who are fighting and dying in the greatest numbers on the frontlines of this war—including Arab and Kurdish fighters bravely battling ISIL in Mosul; Gulf Arab forces taking the fight to AQAP in Yemen; Afghans courageously struggling against a resurgent Taliban and a nascent Islamic State affiliate; Somali forces confronting Al Shabab; and the Libyan elements that recently drove another Islamic State entity from the enclave it had seized on the North African coast.”
In this respect, Petraeus noted the US must avoid any steps that may help terror groups to frame the fight against extremism as a clash of civilizations.
“We must also remember that Islamic extremists want to portray this fight as a clash of civilizations, with America at war against Islam. We must not let them do that; indeed, we must be very sensitive to actions that might give them ammunition to use in such an effort.”
He said “Islamic extremism”—the ideology that animates the Islamic State and al Qaeda is a “radical revisionist force threatening the international order.”
He argued that, though recently some progress has been made toward having a sustainable strategy to combat extremist forces, “what is still missing in many cases is a truly comprehensive approach.”
Explaining his point, Petraeus called for addressing the underlying conflicts in the Middle East to defeat extremism comprehensively.
“The defeat of Islamic extremist groups does, of course, require a vital military component. But even if we succeed militarily, as I believe we will, in metaphorically putting a stake through the heart of Daesh elements in Iraq and Syria, that success will be fleeting unless the underlying conflicts in those countries and the greater Middle East that enabled ISIL’s rise are addressed and resolved.”
“We must also recognize that long-term success in this conflict requires that the ideology of Islamic extremism is itself discredited,” he said, adding that contending with the “ideological caliphate in cyberspace will undoubtedly prove more challenging than taking away the rest of what is now a shrinking physical caliphate on the ground in Iraq and Syria.”
