U.S. in Iraq fueling terrorists, expert says
Posted: Thursday, November 02, 2006
OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE, Neb. (AP) -- The United States' continued presence in Iraq and Afghanistan inflames extremism, an expert on jihadist movements told an anti-terrorism conference Wednesday.
To quench those flames of hatred, said Fawaz A. Gerges, the United States must consider replacing its troops gradually with forces from other, friendly nations -- including those from Iraq's Arab neighbors.
"If we stay, it only pours a fuel on a raging fire," Gerges told the military and civilian representatives from more than 50 nations invited to discuss how they could fight the spread of jihadist terrorism.
Jihadist leaders who send others to conduct what he called the "horrible art of suicide bombing" are exploiting Islam to give their aims some legitimacy, Gerges said.
Otherwise, he said, they have no hope of becoming a legitimate social force that could attract the powerless Arab masses who disdain their governments' political leaders as self-interested hypocrites.
Gerges is an analyst for ABC News and a commentator on National Public Radio. He has written several articles about fringe Islamist movements and most recently a book, "Journey of the Jihadist: Inside Muslim Militancy."
He sees three distinct phases of the jihadist movement, stemming from its birth in the mid-1970s in Egypt. He said those founding ideologues were the cream of the middle and upper classes who had no interest in what he called "the far enemy": the United States.
The first generation was primarily interested in overcoming their own oppressive governments -- the "near enemy."
The second generation arose in the 1990s from the die-hards who had failed to overcome their governments in Egypt, Algeria, Saudi Arabia and other countries.
The second generation of jihadists soon focused on the United States, galvanized in part, he said, by the 1991 basing of U.S. forces on Saudi Arabian soil as they and their allies prepared to wrest Kuwait back from Saddam Hussein.
The first-generation jihadists could not mobilize a broad social base, he said, so the second generation, which includes Osama bin Laden and his relatively small al-Qaida organization, believed that the only way to survive was to attack the "far enemy."
The Taliban and other jihadists had been empowered by their eventual triumph over Soviet forces that had invaded Afghanistan, he said, and believed they could do the same to the United States because "Americans don't have fire in their bellies."
The Sept. 11 attacks on U.S. soil may have been a tactical success, Gerges said, but were a strategic blunder in the jihadists' struggle for legitimacy.
The attacks were widely criticized by first-generation jihadists as reckless, counterproductive adventurism, he said.
By the end of 2002, Gerges said, al-Qaida "was in a coma," powerless ideologically and its leaders, including bin Laden, in hiding.
Then came March 20, 2003, when U.S. and allied forces poured over the border into Iraq, taking Baghdad by April 9.
That act galvanized what Gerges sees as the third generation of jihadists, which he calls the "Iraq generation."
"I've met hundreds of teenagers in villages who seek bus ride money to join the fight against the U.S." in Iraq, he said.
They are young kids, he said -- angry, uneducated youths who don't even have religious education and come from the poorest levels of society.
"It's an individual duty to go fight because a Muslim country is occupied," Gerges said.
And, he said, their leaders are "willing to kill thousands and thousands of Muslims to defeat the U.S."
The longer the war continues, Gerges said, the more organized and determined the Iraqi generation of jihadists becomes.
Unless there is a dramatic shift in U.S. policy on Iraq, Afghanistan and the Palestinian question, he said, the Iraqi generation of jihadists "will pose a lethal threat to the U.S. homeland."
His analysis mirrors that of a U.S. intelligence report disclosed in September that said Iraq has become a "cause celebre" for jihadists, who are growing in number and geographic reach. If the trend continues, they said, the risks to the U.S. interests at home and abroad surely will grow.
After the report became public, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said there were many groups of extremists who murder and terrorize free people in order to topple any Muslim regime.
"Ultimately they will fail," Rumsfeld said at a meeting of NATO defense ministers.
"It's going to take time and its going to take a lot of work by people who are patient and believe in freedom," he said.
To quench those flames of hatred, said Fawaz A. Gerges, the United States must consider replacing its troops gradually with forces from other, friendly nations -- including those from Iraq's Arab neighbors.
"If we stay, it only pours a fuel on a raging fire," Gerges told the military and civilian representatives from more than 50 nations invited to discuss how they could fight the spread of jihadist terrorism.
Jihadist leaders who send others to conduct what he called the "horrible art of suicide bombing" are exploiting Islam to give their aims some legitimacy, Gerges said.
Otherwise, he said, they have no hope of becoming a legitimate social force that could attract the powerless Arab masses who disdain their governments' political leaders as self-interested hypocrites.
Gerges is an analyst for ABC News and a commentator on National Public Radio. He has written several articles about fringe Islamist movements and most recently a book, "Journey of the Jihadist: Inside Muslim Militancy."
He sees three distinct phases of the jihadist movement, stemming from its birth in the mid-1970s in Egypt. He said those founding ideologues were the cream of the middle and upper classes who had no interest in what he called "the far enemy": the United States.
The first generation was primarily interested in overcoming their own oppressive governments -- the "near enemy."
The second generation arose in the 1990s from the die-hards who had failed to overcome their governments in Egypt, Algeria, Saudi Arabia and other countries.
The second generation of jihadists soon focused on the United States, galvanized in part, he said, by the 1991 basing of U.S. forces on Saudi Arabian soil as they and their allies prepared to wrest Kuwait back from Saddam Hussein.
The first-generation jihadists could not mobilize a broad social base, he said, so the second generation, which includes Osama bin Laden and his relatively small al-Qaida organization, believed that the only way to survive was to attack the "far enemy."
The Taliban and other jihadists had been empowered by their eventual triumph over Soviet forces that had invaded Afghanistan, he said, and believed they could do the same to the United States because "Americans don't have fire in their bellies."
The Sept. 11 attacks on U.S. soil may have been a tactical success, Gerges said, but were a strategic blunder in the jihadists' struggle for legitimacy.
The attacks were widely criticized by first-generation jihadists as reckless, counterproductive adventurism, he said.
By the end of 2002, Gerges said, al-Qaida "was in a coma," powerless ideologically and its leaders, including bin Laden, in hiding.
Then came March 20, 2003, when U.S. and allied forces poured over the border into Iraq, taking Baghdad by April 9.
That act galvanized what Gerges sees as the third generation of jihadists, which he calls the "Iraq generation."
"I've met hundreds of teenagers in villages who seek bus ride money to join the fight against the U.S." in Iraq, he said.
They are young kids, he said -- angry, uneducated youths who don't even have religious education and come from the poorest levels of society.
"It's an individual duty to go fight because a Muslim country is occupied," Gerges said.
And, he said, their leaders are "willing to kill thousands and thousands of Muslims to defeat the U.S."
The longer the war continues, Gerges said, the more organized and determined the Iraqi generation of jihadists becomes.
Unless there is a dramatic shift in U.S. policy on Iraq, Afghanistan and the Palestinian question, he said, the Iraqi generation of jihadists "will pose a lethal threat to the U.S. homeland."
His analysis mirrors that of a U.S. intelligence report disclosed in September that said Iraq has become a "cause celebre" for jihadists, who are growing in number and geographic reach. If the trend continues, they said, the risks to the U.S. interests at home and abroad surely will grow.
After the report became public, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said there were many groups of extremists who murder and terrorize free people in order to topple any Muslim regime.
"Ultimately they will fail," Rumsfeld said at a meeting of NATO defense ministers.
"It's going to take time and its going to take a lot of work by people who are patient and believe in freedom," he said.
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