ASP: Bush?s Linking of Iraq Troop Surge and War on Terror ?Dangerously Misleading?
Washington, D.C. (PRWEB) March 19, 2008 -- The American Security Project (http://americansecurityproject.org/) (ASP) today called President Bush?s claim that recent military gains in Iraq have ?opened the door to a major strategic victory in the broader war on terror? dangerously misleading. In fact, there is increasing evidence that progress in Iraq is fundamentally disconnected from the struggle against the broader global jihadist movement.
?We are witnessing the first large-scale Arab uprising against Osama bin Laden, his grim ideology, and his terror network. And the significance of this development cannot be overstated,? Mr. Bush stated during a Pentagon speech today marking the fifth anniversary of the Iraq war.
But a newly-released ASP report (http://americansecurityproject.org/are_we_winning_interim_report) that examined metrics of success in the so-called war on terror identified a much grimmer scenario. It found a metastasizing jihadist threat, a continuing increase in Islamist terrorist incidents around the world, and a largely tone-deaf U.S. policy response due largely to a preoccupation with the apparent success of the Iraq surge strategy.
As troop increases in Iraq were beginning to quell the bloodshed there last year, terrorist attacks claimed by jihadist groups around the world continued to surge upward, even when excluding attacks in Iraq and Afghanistan and those related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, according to data from the U.S. government?s National Counter Terrorism Center (NCTC).
?This is yet another indication that Iraq is not the central front in the war on terror, but rather a costly distraction from the broader threat we face from Islamist extremism,? argued report author and ASP senior fellow, Bernard I. Finel.
While al Qaeda in Iraq has indeed been marginalized, Finel points out, ?what has happened in Iraq in recent months was not so much a repudiation of al Qaeda?s approach as it was already largely in line with the existing preference of the jihadists.? Osama bin Laden?s deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, pointedly warned Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, then leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, about using too much violence, especially against fellow Muslims. Zawahiri?s warnings were not heeded. As a result, al-Qaeda?s influence in Iraq has waned, he explained.
The ASP report also found that jihadist recruitment has continued its march beyond its traditional geography and core of mostly disaffected and disenfranchised young men to educated and self-motivated jihadists who are joining the movement without any direct control from al Qaeda central.
?Such cultural popularization of violent extremism should serve as a wake-up call to counter-terrorism policymakers,? said Finel. ?Increased jihadist activity worldwide is likely to be a natural outcome of our continued presence in Iraq and U.S. policy going forward should recognize rather than disguise that fact.?
Read "Are We Winning? An Interim Report" at www.americansecurityproject.org.
CONTACT:
Amy Gergely
(202) 347-3115
agergely @ americansecurityproject.org
http://americansecurityproject.org/
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