By Brett Daniel Shehadey
Special Contributor for In Homeland Security
President Barack Obama responds to yesterday’s beheading of another American Journalist, Steven Sotloff. The first journalist reported to be killed in Syria near the end of August was James Folly. The Islamic State demanded that America stop the airstrikes in Iraq. America began aerial surveillance in Syria with an eye for airstrikes against the terrorist group.
Sotloff died telling “the story of Muslim men and women demanding dignity.” The U.S. owes more than response not for revenge but for the safety of others and the continuance of this mission.
Today President Obama vowed a national commitment to destroy the so called Islamic State, in which international jihadists have taken control of large parts of Syria and Iraq. The President’s commitments were said in two parts: “degrade and destroy” the Islamic State and he acknowledged that it would “take some time but it is going to get done.”
Will there be follow through? Yes. There will be loud noises in the Near East as the Islamic State receives more airstrikes and U.S. pressure. Washington will see what it can ‘get away with’ first. This is a cautious step as much as a political decision of incremental military middle ground. It is something like a political Pareto optimal in which the greatest decision does not satisfy the real problem itself but rather limits a politician’s action to satisfy the appearance of doing something as needed, but not risking enough to fail [or overcommit].
What would it take to really “degrade and destroy” the Islamic State?
To Degrade the Islamic State: This could be honored as the Sotloff Initiative. The effort to reduce the attractiveness of terrorists, mass murderers and fanatics and exposing them as they really are; exposing their lies to the world and the region and publishing the suppressed outcry of the people they terrorize. Increasing the freedom of movement and safeguards for journalists in the region could be a parallel effort in the background.
To really “degrade” the enemy will require a serious information campaign, the likes of which America has not seen since perhaps World War II. Why? Because America is behind the enemy in the information business; because America is not prepared to fight ideological warfare on this level against violent Islamic extremists and because America has been reluctant to fully commit in this essential arena, relegating this function to public diplomacy at the State Department.
While the enemy may appear self-degrading to us, it should be recommended that America engages in total foreign strategic information operations and passive political information operations as well as more aggressive measures in order to truly “degrade” the enemy and reduce their popularity. The State Department’s primary role to play here should be its international and regional coalition building in orchestrating the reduction of capabilities and elimination of the Islamic State. It would be beneficial to have a dedicated department that can conduct the level of foreign strategic and regional information programs necessary. As of now they are not equipped to play on the “human” battlefield terrain like the Islamic State. Because the allies are more prepared, they are winning some influence.
In addition to building ‘common purpose’ allies, the U.S. must have a strategic political vision of a more liberal Central Asia. This does not immediately mean democracy but it will mean moderation, tolerance and more humane treatment from Islamic rulers. America must be able to genuinely work with others to offer a better vision and future than the Islamic State. This appears as a done deal to the Westerner but for the non-Westerners in the region, they must be convinced of this fact—that it is better to live a life of freedom and prosperity than intolerance, slavery, barbarism and extremism. Deceit may be better than war and death. This takes dedication, money, and a willingness to strategically persuade and cannot be done through any of the conventional channels in place.
In addition to a massive strategic information campaign that targets violent Islamic extremism’s revolution, another revolution must present itself to the people of the area as the better choice. The better choice must be like an oasis in the desert—a jewel of hope that can be emulated. The people need to see and taste it to believe it. They have suffered long and hard and they believe they always will. Without an introduction and safeguard to civilization, they never will. In Central Asia, fear sells more than hope because fear is alive and well and hope is too distant of a possibility. Therefore, massive humanitarian aid programs and international and regional efforts like we are seeing in Iraq, give the people hope that someone is willing to stand by them in their defense and future. This must continue on a revolutionary scale with a liberal ideological package. Schools, markets, and tolerance could be a slogan overnight.
To Destroy the Islamic State. No physical assistance can be wavering. realize on-the-ground momentum, the long commitment and the building up of proxy powers favorable to a more liberal constitution. This civilization process may require as many martyrs a benign revolution as for the evil one being conducted by the Islamic State. The difference will be in empowering the people versus disempowering them; while winning their hearts and minds to a humane order.
Along the way, regional allied military forces like Turkey, Iran, and the Arab states all have the faulty primitive self-interest for taking down the Islamic State. These can be used to get them working fighting the same enemy but never for the same end-game. What that end-game becomes will be the prize for any winner of the war or might make them all bigger losers. These nation’s military forces can be used as instruments of Western power, only in so far as they are blunt and add to the stockade of arms and moving pieces. Coordinating them will be an extreme challenge. In any case, the international armed forces must retain the high ground advantage and be united like never before.
Joint multinational military operations are essential across the board at this point only because of the failure to successfully do the above through diplomacy, intelligence and the much needed information channels. Boots on the ground are needed but not necessarily American boots. An increased military effort is critical to stop and roll back the Islamic State but Washington and its allies must penetrate inside of the Islamic State’s population and train operatives to destroy it from within.
As far as conditions under the Islamic State go, and they are not quite uniform, but even freedom under abuses before must be better than its total absence? There must be hundreds of thousands of women alone that would heed that call; not to mention the many that have suffered loss of loved ones. Train Sunni guerrillas to take back their freedom. Consider arming and turning the refugees; particularly the Sunni. Train Shiite militias not to indiscriminately target Sunnis in a secular showdown. Shake the ground.
Bottom line—boost morale, have a strategic vision, be creative and turn the anger and fear into hope.
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