The Fight in the Middle East is a Fight Over Ideas

For John, BLUF:  We are dealing with fights over ideas in the Middle East.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Many ask why Muslim scholars don't push back against violent actors blowing things up and killing people in the name of Allah.  Here is an article from The Jordan Times, providing that very specific pushback.  THe author is Reporter Abeer Numan and the Headline is "Scholars say extremist militants should not be called ‘jihadists’".

The person who forwarded the article said:

The struggle against Muslim extremism is also a battle for ideas.  Few have spoken out against having their religion hijacked by criminals and murderers as much as the Jordanian religious leaders and the monarchy.

Since this battle with ISIL and other such groups is to a large degree a battle over ideas, it behoves us to pick our words in ways that do not enhance the standing of ISIL.♠

We should not think we can defeat ISIL by just killing people, by playing "whack a mole".  Strong, disciplined forces can push ISIL back into a guerrilla mode, but that is not the same as defeating the ideas being put forward by ISIL.  Those ideas are attractive to men and women around the world.  Not large numbers, but significant numbers.  For example, per Newsweek 16% of French Citizens support ISIL.  There are reasons to question the poll numbers and its methodology, but still, it is an indication of a problem in Europe.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  For example, US Psychological Warfare types might be updating Wikipedia to make "the Islamic State" the "so called" Islamic State.