February 15, 2006
Report: U.S. involvement helps spread radical Islam
By John Diamond
USA Today
The United States should rely more on indirect propaganda and allies in the
Middle East, because the current military strategy is only helping radical
Muslims, according to a West Point critique of U.S. terror policy.
"Direct engagement with the United States has been good for the jihadi
movement," said the report by the Combating Terrorism Center at the U.S.
military academy. The United States needs to emphasize indirect action more
skillfully and extensively, the report said.
Last year, the U.S. Special Operations Command issued $300 million in
contracts for three companies to spread pro-American messages without
revealing the U.S. connections.
However, the vast bulk of Pentagon spending goes to conventional military
operations in Iraq.
One propaganda contractor, the Lincoln Group, became the focus of a
Pentagon investigation in December because of reports it had paid Iraqi
newspapers to publish pro-U.S. stories as part of a U.S. information
warfare strategy in Iraq.
"It is essential," the West Point critique says, "that the U.S. hand not be
seen" in such propaganda efforts.
U.S. military action, it says, "rallies the locals behind the movement,
drains the United States of resources and puts pressure" on U.S.-backed
regimes.
Titled "Stealing al-Qaida's Playbook," the report is based on a detailed
study of jihadist writings and communications. Though not an official U.S.
military document, its authors, Jarret M. Brachman and William F. McCants,
regularly brief top Pentagon officials.
The unpublished study, which was finished Monday, is meant to help better
understand the enemy, Brachman said in an interview. Too often, he said,
U.S. officials fail to take advantage of what jihadis reveal through
speeches, Internet statements and writings.
Retired general Wayne Downing, the center's chairman and a former head of
Special Operations Command, is in a position to make the study's
suggestions policy. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has sent him back to
Special Operations Command to recommend ways to improve its work in the war
on terror.
In the report's foreword, Downing writes that although U.S. intelligence
agencies have devoted more resources to translating jihadi texts and
broadcasts, they don't have enough people to pay enough attention "to the
most useful texts" they have collected.
The report has circulated widely among U.S. military and intelligence
officials. Lt. Col. Diane Battaglia, spokeswoman for the Joint Chiefs of
Staff, said top officials have seen the report but weren't prepared to
comment on its details.
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