NEW YORK, July 25: Former US head of counter-terrorism, Richard Clarke, has called for aiding economic development and political openness in Muslim countries like Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan, restarting of Israel-Palestinian peace process, in order to expose the Islamic world to values that are more attractive than those of the jihadis.
Towards that end, Mr Clarke, has suggested a pan-Islamic council of respected spiritual and secular leaders to co-ordinate the Islamic world's own ideological effort against the Al Qaeda.
But Mr Clarke did not elaborate on his idea, which he offered as part of the efforts to prevent future attacks against America, except to say that the US should not be involved in such move. At the same time, he said, "We can't do this alone."
A counter terrorism expert at the Bush and Clinton White House Mr Clarke in his comments on the 9/11 commission report in Sunday's New York Times lamented "Unfortunately, because of America's low standing in the Islamic world, we are now at a great disadvantage in the battle of ideas.
This is primarily because of the unnecessary and counterproductive invasion of Iraq. In pulling its bipartisan punches, the commission failed to admit the obvious: We are less capable of defeating the jihadis because of the Iraq war."
In an article, entitled "Honourable Commission, Toothless Report," Mr Clarke who was extremely critical of Bush White House in his book "Against All Enemies" asserts "what the commissioners did clearly state was that Iraq had no collaborative relationship with Al Qaeda and no hand in 9/11."
Mr Clarke said: "They (the commissioners) also disclosed that Iran provided support to Al Qaeda, including to some 9/11 hijackers. These two facts may cause many people to conclude that the Bush administration focused on the wrong country."
He underscores that "the commission properly identified the threat not as terrorism (which is a tactic, not an enemy), but as jihadism, which must be defeated in a battle of ideas as well as in armed conflict," which he felt, was "more important than any bureaucratic suggestions is the report's cogent discussion of who the enemy is and what strategies we need in the fight."
Also, we can't do this alone. In addition to "hearts and minds" television and radio programming by the American government, we would be greatly helped by a pan-Islamic council of respected spiritual and secular leaders to co-ordinate (without United States involvement) the Islamic world's own ideological effort against the new Al Qaeda.
Clarke wrote in the newspaper that the 9/11 commission's recommendations for a new cabinet-level intelligence director and a National Counter terrorism Center would "marginally improve our ability to crush the new, decentralized Al Qaeda, but there are other changes that would help more."
