“I Challenge Marc Thiessen”–Six Questions for Malcolm Nance

* Interesting point of view.

April 30, 11:04 AM, 2010

By Scott Horton


An Arabic-speaking counterterrorism expert and a combat veteran with twenty-eight years of operational experience in the Middle East, Malcolm Nance has now published a sweeping new strategic proposal for engaging Al Qaeda. I put six questions to him about his book and the continuing debate about waterboarding propelled by former Vice President Cheney and his staffers.

1. Peter Bergen, among others, has made the case that the tide has turned in the battle against Al Qaeda. He says the organization misplayed its hand with radical tactics that cost the lives of large numbers of Muslim civilians. Is he too optimistic?

Malcolm NanceI believe Peter Bergen is a little too optimistic but generally on mark. Yes, Al Qaeda has suffered massive losses in Iraq and some significant degradation worldwide. In Iraq their one-time sponsors, the ex-Baathist insurgents, found them in the end to be ideologically dangerous and turned on them. Initially, the Iraqi insurgents loved the effect that the Al Qaeda suicide operations had on the Americans. Once the Sunni insurgents realized that Bin Laden’s reinterpretation of Islam would undermine the existing Iraqi tribal structures, and that Al Qaeda would engage in the mass murder of Muslims, they turned against Al Qaeda and helped us gain the upper hand. Militarily, Al Qaeda is boxed into Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, and Yemen–but their cult-like ideology could infect the youth of the Muslim world. The risk remains that they will achieve a generational success by transforming Islam. That would make our recent military campaigns into pyrrhic victories.




2. You suggest that the key to defeating Al Qaeda lies in “counter-ideological warfare.” What do you mean by this?

Bin Laden’s dream, which will likely survive his death, is not just to radicalize Islam but to transform it into a global virus that destroys the tradition of tolerance and puts in its place perpetual jihad and suicide martyrdom. His ideology feeds off hatred of the West. He wants to harness Muslim popular anger at Western missteps to root out the tradition of tolerance in Islam. If he has to massacre innocent Muslims to do that, he won’t hesitate to do so.

Al Qaeda’s ideology has little to do with traditional Islam. Some call it al-Qaedaism; I call it Bin Ladenism. This fanatical ideology, not a command-and-control structure of a traditional sort, is the organization’s center of gravity. It must therefore be fought with the tools of counter-ideological warfare. That means that we recognize, attack, and neutralize their central belief system using all political, diplomatic, intelligence, military, and economic tools. The starting point is therefore to drive a wedge between Al Qaeda and Islam. The Muslim world needs to understand that Al Qaeda’s ideology has nothing to do with the pillars of Islam. When Al Qaeda is isolated and recognized as a radical cult, it will lose the ability to generate new recruits.


remaining Q&A here: http://www.harpers.org/archive/2010/04/hbc-90006966

I wrote a review of An End to Al Qaeda on Amazon.com the strategy is very progressive and could solve ALLOT of problems in counterterrorism by asking for the Muslim wrold's help. Its a GREAT book and a super detailed history of Al Qaida's fanaticism.

I also liked the personal challenge he gave to Mark Thiessen to waterboard him. We should start a counter for the number of days Thiessen waits to respond or run from the challenge. I saw his interview embracing torture on the Daily Show and finally a true professional smacks him down and calls him a fool. :P How the Washington Post hired this hack is amazing!

within the MSM for conversations and challenges such as this one by Nance that are painfully absent. Nance has done a great job here, I agree.

Welcome to DU:hi: