Is US Losing an Important Part in the War on Terrorism?

 

Sixteen years after the United States launched its war on terrorism, there are concerns that parts of the war have not succeeded.

Some experts and U.S. government officials believe the country may be losing what they call “the battle of ideas.”

Michael McCaul is a member of the House of Representatives and head of its Homeland Security Committee.

McCaul notes that the U.S. military has used drone aircraft to kill jihadists and others sharply opposed to the West.

“We have been able to stop and prevent a lot of (terror) plots from happening in the United States,” he says. But he adds that “drone strikes alone can’t win a war of ideology¹.”

Current and former U.S. officials say the country has tried hard to fight propaganda that fuels groups like al-Qaida and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS. But they admit the results of the efforts have not been good.

White House homeland security adviser² Tom Bossert says he is “alarmed at the spreading of the ideology.” He spoke³ at a security conference earlier this month in Washington, D.C.

“We’ve got upwards⁴ of 17 or 18 nation states that might be failed, or viewed as close to failing, and they have a strong presence of either ISIS or al-Qaida or other groups,” Bossert said. “That is a troubling development.”

Some U.S. officials once believed the problems would end with a military victory against Islamic State fighters in the Middle East. They believed that after the group’s self-declared caliphate collapsed⁵, so would the appeal of the group.

But experts say the Islamic State’s continuing losses on the battlefield have failed to end the appeal of jihadist teachings.

In July, Dan Coats, the U.S. Director of National Intelligence, told a group that “we’re putting a stake in the heart of ISIS.” He compared the effort to killing⁶ an octopus⁷, “with all the tentacles⁹ moving out to different places.”

Other American efforts to directly attack Islamic State communications and ideology quickly failed. Some critics say the State Department’s “Think Again, Turn Away” Twitter account feed was not effective or meaningful.

Since then, the government has been empowering partner organizations to help beat back the Islamic State message. Progress has been slow, but some former officials say President Donald Trump¹⁰ needs to give these efforts more time.

Joshua Geltzer is a former counterterrorism expert at the National Security Council. He said “it seems to me there’s actually been a stepping back, in particular, from some of the structures that were built” to fight terrorist ideology.

Geltzer and other former officials have said they are worried about the Trump administration’s plans to cut money for such programs.

But some current and former officials say there may be limits to what the U.S. government can do.

“Truly altering the environment that gives rise to the terrorist threat we face, that’s a much more formidable task,” says Nicholas Rasmussen, director of the National Counterterrorism Center. He added “More resources are required, more time is required and more patience is required.”

Some observers say there are signs that the U.S. may not even know what it wants to do.

Jasmine El-Gamal was a cultural adviser for the U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne Division in the early days of Operation Iraqi Freedom. She now works for the Atlantic Council research center in Washington.

She notes “we have a very militarized view of what this battle is. When we say ‘countering violent extremism’ it’s really counterterrorism. It’s really that we use bombs, we use drones, we use armies.”

A report by New America’s International Security program noted¹¹ that “there seems to be some conceptual confusion in the U.S. government about what ‘countering violent extremism’ programs are attempting to do.”

The report says “turning many millions of Muslims around the world away from radical¹² ideas … seems both a nebulous mission and one that may not be achievable.”

Some experts believe American allies in the Middle East could be doing much more to help fight extremists’ ideology.

New America Fellow Nadia Oweidat said “most Arab states are not interested in uprooting¹³ the tree, but just taking the poisonous fruits when convenient.”

Many Arab states have laws against blasphemy¹⁴ – the act of insulting God or religion.

Oweidat notes, “As long as there are blasphemy laws, you don’t even dream about countering terrorism, because the very people who can take on these ideas from within -- who know the Quran by heart, people who went to school all their lives in the Middle East” -- are those who would be identified as blasphemous¹⁵.”

I’m Pete Musto. And I'm Jill Robbins.

Words in This Story

caliphate – n. the government of a caliph, a Muslim political and religious leader

stake – n. a sharp, pointed¹⁶ stick

octopus – n. a sea creature with eight arms

tentacle⁸ – n. one of the long arms that stick out from an octopus

alter – v. to change

formidable – adj. causing fear; creating serious difficulties

confusion – n. the feeling you have when you do not understand what is happening

nebulous – adj. not clear; difficult to understand

achievable – adj. doing something successfully

convenient – adj. letting you do something easily or without trouble

Quran – n. Islam’s holy book

1 ideology   

n.意识形态，(政治或社会的)思想意识

参考例句：

• The ideology has great influence in the world.这种思想体系在世界上有很大的影响。
• The ideal is to strike a medium between ideology and inspiration.我的理想是在意识思想和灵感鼓动之间找到一个折衷。

2 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

3 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

4 upwards   

adv.向上，在更高处...以上

参考例句：

• The trend of prices is still upwards.物价的趋向是仍在上涨。
• The smoke rose straight upwards.烟一直向上升。

5 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

6 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

7 octopus   

n.章鱼

参考例句：

• He experienced nausea after eating octopus.吃了章鱼后他感到恶心。
• One octopus has eight tentacles.一条章鱼有八根触角。

8 tentacle   

n.触角，触须，触手

参考例句：

• Each tentacle is about two millimeters long.每一个触手大约两毫米长。
• It looked like a big eyeball with a long tentacle thing.它看上去像一个有着长触角的巨大眼球。

9 tentacles   

n.触手( tentacle的名词复数 )；触角；触须；触毛

参考例句：

• Tentacles of fear closed around her body. 恐惧的阴影笼罩着她。
• Many molluscs have tentacles. 很多软体动物有触角。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

11 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

12 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

13 uprooting   

n.倒根，挖除伐根v.把（某物）连根拔起( uproot的现在分词 )；根除；赶走；把…赶出家园

参考例句：

• He is hard at work uprooting wild grass in the field. 他正在田里辛苦地芟夷呢。 来自互联网
• A storm raged through the village, uprooting trees and flattening crops. 暴风雨袭击了村庄，拔起了树木，吹倒了庄稼。 来自互联网

14 blasphemy   

n.亵渎，渎神

参考例句：

• His writings were branded as obscene and a blasphemy against God.他的著作被定为淫秽作品，是对上帝的亵渎。
• You have just heard his blasphemy!你刚刚听到他那番亵渎上帝的话了！

15 blasphemous   

adj.亵渎神明的，不敬神的

参考例句：

• The book was declared blasphemous and all copies ordered to be burnt.这本书被断定为亵渎神明之作，命令全数焚毀。
• The people in the room were shocked by his blasphemous language.满屋的人都对他那侮慢的语言感到愤慨。

16 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。