Blake Hall
March 9, 2015 | Contributed By Jared Ogden – Former Navy SEAL, Reality TV Personality, public speaker, and Founder/President of Phoenix Patriot Foundation.
For further discussion regarding this and more, please follow @JaredWOgden.
In April of 2006, when Muammar Gaddafi delivered a speech that aired on Al-Jazeera TV, the now dead, former Libyan dictator said, “We have 50 million Muslims in Europe. There are signs that Allah will grant Islam victory in Europe – without swords, without guns, without conquests. The 50 million Muslims of Europe will turn it into a Muslim continent within a few decades.” Gaddafi was not delusional when he uttered those words nearly ten years ago; Europe is on the brink of reinventing itself through decades of detrimental, self-imposed policy and is turning into a continent that no longer resembles its rich history.
With that in mind, it is increasingly important for us Americans to keep what is happening in Europe at the forefront of our thought because it is telling of what could lie ahead for our children and grandchildren. In order to positively affect the future, it is imperative for us to reach back in time and understand Islamic culture and history, which are often overlooked yet directly impact our ability to secure the landscape we wish for generations to come.
To accomplish this goal, we need to find an effective solution to contain and then terminate the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL). When we consider their history to the present day, I see two trends. The first trend is the Western world’s attempt to understand and influence other cultures, using our value system as the metric and exporting our values to regions in the world that do not appreciate them. The second trend is the violence and hatred deeply entrenched in Islamic radicals for which there is no reform. Both trends span generations, and both must be considered in formulating U.S. policy moving forward.
There is no quick solution to the ISIS problem. More importantly, there is no solution without a competent leader at the helm, capable of building and guiding an international coalition. Last month a Secretary of State spokesperson suggested that providing jobs to potential ISIS recruits was key to dismantling ISIS. How can this be true when many of the recruits are educated Westerners, such as “Jihadi John” from Britain? This shortsighted solution is a reflection of the leader we elected on the national level.
Also shortsighted was the creation of Iraq by the League of Nations in the years following World War I. The initial framework was met with skepticism because it was seen as an attempt to colonize the region. Eventually, in 1922, the British government and the Iraqis agreed to the Anglo-Iraqi Treaty, which allowed for local Iraqi self-government while Britain had considerable control over foreign affairs. The Hashemite Kingdom of Iraq, consisting of three separate camps—the Sunnis, the Shi’as, and the Kurds—was born, and with it, the resentment toward the West and amongst the ethnic groups within.
This situation is an example of applying Western values to nation-building and ultimately creating substantial challenges. The resulting turmoil was contained within its borders through harsh, oppressive, iron-fisted leadership exemplified by the murderous Saddam Hussein. An even worse scenario is what we are seeing right now—the lack of strong central leadership, resulting in radical groups like the Islamic State planting its flag and inspiring and launching operations outside its geographic strongholds.
The other obvious trend is the violence by extreme radicals, projected on non-Muslims and on those who subscribe to the ‘wrong’ brand of Islam. There will always be a faction within the Islamic faith who interpret the Qur’an in a barbaric way. Over the past two decades, we have seen this brand of extremism change names and franchise out. Whether being led by Osama bin Laden and al-Queda, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and AQI, or, as now, the self-proclaimed Caliph, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and the Islamic State, we are talking about the same people.
Photo: Iraqi News
ISIS is a resilient group that is fueled by an amazing propaganda machine which enables it to replenish its losses with many more new recruits. It is a tough cycle to break, but it can be done if the United States takes the lead. Here are a few components that I think are absolutely critical to ensure that the Islamic State is destroyed.
Destroying the Islamic State must begin with an international coalition that is financially backed by the oil-rich nations in the Arabian Peninsula. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE, Bahrain, Oman, and Qatar all need to pay the bill. It is their backyard—they owe it to themselves and to the international community. Also, the strategy is doomed to fail without the buy-in of other countries in the region providing military personnel.
The military component is multi-layered, beginning with parallel and simultaneous tracks and requiring that government officials exercise operational security (OPSEC)—meaning that they do not broadcast the strategy to the world. The civilian leaders must also let military professionals do their jobs and not micro-manage. It is a simple leadership concept called ‘Command by Negation’, where the Commander-in-Chief provides necessary resources, expresses the desired end state, and establishes the acceptable parameters in which to operate. Beyond that, the military professionals should plan and execute.
Photo: US Army
The Special Operations Command (SOCOM) and the allied equivalent components need to create a series of strategically positioned forward air bases, from which training local forces occurs and offensive operations are launched. This war will only be won if countries within the region provide their own soldiers to do the fighting. The coalition will train the local forces, provide transportation to and from the military operations, and provide Close Air Support, actionable intelligence, and combat advisement.
The Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) and the allied equivalent components need to establish networks in order to identify critical nodes (leadership cells, logistics lines, training and distribution centers) in the Islamic State, in preparation for coordinated air strikes to soften the enemy.
The Department of State needs to work with the military to create an alternative message to render ineffective the propaganda machine of the Islamic State. I applaud Twitter for degrading the Islamic State’s propaganda machine by shutting down their accounts. Other social media platforms should follow suit. Largely, we are competing for the minds of the youth, and we must show them that better alternatives exist.
Having lived in Bahrain for over a year during the Arab Spring and having worked extensively with all of the oil-rich Arab and Levant nations, I know that other issues stemming from respective national agendas and cultural egos present challenges as well. If the Middle East is serious about ending the ISIS reign of terror, those nations need to swallow their pride and work together.
Finally, as nations are rebuilt, let us not make the same mistake that was made when present-day Iraq was conceived nearly a century ago. The rebuilding approach ought to be logic-based. It should govern its citizens with the value systems of those who live there. To me, this means that present-day Iraq should be divided into three separate nation-states, representing the Sunnis, the Shi’as, and the Kurds.
It is within our power to influence how this plays. I know that ISIS will be defeated, but will we set the world stage for another brand of ISIS to emerge and thrive, or will we do what our grandparents’ generation did when called to defeat Adolf Hitler and render Nazism impotent?