Phil Taylor's papers
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BACK TO : THE END OF THE WAR ON TERROR?
Military should be exempt from White House policy by C L Clark 
July 17, 2010 Cecil Lee Clark: Military should be exempt from White House policy Recently John Brennan, the president's chief national security adviser for counterterrorism, announced a shift in White House policy. Mr. Brennan says the White House will no longer refer to Islam when discussing certain terror organizations or individuals (i.e. al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden). I respect Mr. Brennan and White House policy but argue that policy is unsuitable for the U.S. Department of Defense. This policy is an obvious political initiative to appease American Muslims and the estimated one and a half billion Muslims worldwide. From a public diplomacy perspective it's entirely sensible; however, such a precautionary policy would prohibit our military a commonsense means by which to openly identify and accurately characterize our enemy. The military absolutely understands the religion of Islam is not the enemy. I also agree with Mr. Brennan that terrorism is a method and one does not wage war against methodology. Rather, America and our allies are fighting inter-related enemies that prefer to lurk in shadows while employing terror tactics and asymmetric methods to achieve their goals. It is therefore fitting the current administration stopped using the former GWOT (Global War on Terror) label. However, no rational person can deny we are locked in a worldwide conflict against transnational Islamic militant organizations. Forty-five groups are currently identified as Foreign Terror Organizations by the U.S. State Department and 30 of them - two thirds - openly profess Islam as their primary raison d'être. The U.S. military must be unhindered in its ability to clearly identify the source of an enemy's power that provides their moral and physical strength and will to function - what Carl Von Clausewitz called the "Center of Gravity" (CoG). We must resist politically correct exuberance that might diminish our military's straightforward mission to identify, deter, disrupt and destroy our enemies. Islam is foremost among the sources of moral strength for our current enemies and thus, a primary CoG. We cannot ignore this obvious fact. The counterterrorism and counterinsurgency campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan, and similar operations across the globe, pit our military men and women against violent, radical Islamic organizations. The single commonality among these enemies is a long-term strategy to expand Islam through violence. I therefore think the Department of Defense should be exempt from this new policy. It would be unwise to require the military to use such a restrictive policy that prevents candid and clear identification of organizations that threaten our nation. Lt. Col. Cecil Lee Clark is a Shreveport native and currently serves as an Intelligence Officer in the U.S. Special Operations Command. He is based at MacDill Air Force Base in Florida. The opinions of the author expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government. |