EIGHT. Combating Global Islamist Terrorism

Abstract

How can we defeat the threat of global Islamist terrorism? First, it is critical to be explicit about our goals, and then fashion a strategy according to those goals and our understanding of the enemy. Most of the officially proposed solutions to counter this threat suffer from too strong a reliance on ideology. The July 2006 National Strategy for Combating Terrorism (NSCT) continues to advocate the advancement of democracy to combat terrorism.  This approach is misguided and continues to show its deficiencies six years after it was first articulated. The U.s. strategy of promoting democracy and freedom in the Middle East as the antidote to terrorism has not borne any fruit in the re-gion. 2 This strategy is calculated to win the " war of ideas " among the converted, namely conservative Americans who deeply believe in the values of freedom and democracy. Although the U.s. government needs the support of voters at home, to counter the terrorist threat it is essential to focus on the terrorists. Let us examine what a truly effective program to combat this form of terrorism would entail.