Editor's Letter

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Fighting Smarter

Second of two parts

I

t's foolhardy to bequeath to our kids and grandkids the
task of fighting the civilized world's most-dangerous
ideological foe: Islamo-fascism. If we've learned anything
from history, it should be clear that the threat will be infinitely
harder to contain the longer we allow
it to fester.
The first step to confronting Islamo-
fascism is recognizing the urgency
and severity of the danger. It's rooted
in a religious fanaticism that, incred-
ibly, honors jihadists, who find Islamic
blessing in killing themselves in the
process of murdering Zionists, Jews
and other "non-believers."
"We're not comprehending ade-
quately the need for sacrifice to fight
this ideological foe, especially in ways
that are beyond the realm of even the most formidable fight-
ing force the world has ever known: the U.S. military': said
Frank Gaffney, an outspoken but respected authority and
commentator on how America can protect itself from the ter-
rorists who have hijacked Islam.
Gaffney was keynoter at the Detroit Jewish community's
2007 commemoration of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks
on America instigated by Al Qaida. The Zionist Organization
of America-Michigan Region hosted the sixth-anniversary
event at the Jewish Community Center in West Bloomfield.
I got an earful of levelheaded thinking.

When And Now

For insight and inspiration, Gaffney reflected on the tactics
of President Reagan, who stared down America's last great
totalitarian enemy: Soviet Communism during the 1980s.
Gaffney served under Reagan as assistant secretary of defense
for international security policy.
When the eight-year Reagan
administration ended in 1988,
Gaffney founded the Center for
Security Policy, an independent
agency based in Washington.
Because of its nuclear capabil-
ity and presidential boasting to
unleash it, Iran is the most glaring
example of the totalitarian ideol-
ogy that Gaffney terms Islamo-fascism. But there are other
potential battlefronts: China, Russia, North Korea, Venezuela.
"Imagine if this Islamo-fascist phenomenon, with its
enablers around the world, is allowed to metastasize still fur-
ther for years to come': Gaffney said.
"I submit that we can't let that happen."
We sure can't.
America and our allies continue to fight Al Qaida insur-
gents in Iraq to debatable avail. But we're not simply battling
Al Qaida leader Osama bin Laden. He's but one manifestation
of Islamo-fascism, which, because of its many strains and
supporters, is even more of a menace.

among others, to try and counter it:' said Gaffney, zeroing in
on the core issues for waging a 21st-century war.
Yes, we need our soldiers to do what they do best. But we
also need to engage in political warfare, something America is
well equipped for. Gaffiiey talked about the skill of our politi-
cal strategists in using the news media and other public tools
to galvanize Americans behind the right cause. These tools are
ripe for use against totalitarian ideologies of most concern to
the West, like Soviet Communism under Vladimir Putin and
the Iranian theocracy headed by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
The Iranian president in particular has called for forcing an
end to the hegemony of the West, headed by the U.S.
What we hold in our struggle with Iran is the Iranian peo-
ple's hatred of the Tehran-based regime. By deploying political
warfare tools, Gaffney said, we can help the Iranian masses
much like we aided the populace of the Soviet Union. "We can
help embolden them and empower them even as we deal with
the government that is repressing them and threatening us:'
Gaffney said.
This alone won't quell the Persian threat. But like Gaffney
says, it's a critical component of the engine that could reject
the reigning mullahs and Holocaust-denying president.

Another key component is reducing the amount of oil we
extract from Middle East lands that would gladly see the
Stars and Stripes burn in effigy. To jump-start this reduction,
Gaffney wants the U.S. to require every vehicle sold here to
have Flexible Fuel Vehicle Capability. Such technology gives a
vehicle, at minimal cost, the ability to burn ethanol, methanol
or gasoline or some combination, diversifying how we drive
our transportation sector and diminishing our reliance on oil
imports from places that poorly mask their hatred for us.
This fuel technology won't topple the Iranian regime. But
it could crimp its cash flow. We know that international sanc-
tions already have caused economic difficulty despite all the
oil sold. Gaffney's formula has
merit: Heighten Iran's financial
hurdles while exercising politi-
cal warfare to inspire a revolution
that allows the West to bolster its
security while limiting the threat
of all-out war with Tehran. Gaffney
captures why a battleground war
would work against us: "It has the
real chance of driving our natural
allies in the Iranian people into the arms of our enemies."
Overcoming Islamo-fascism as an ideology, not just its
major enablers like Iran, demands political warfare, economic
levers, intelligence, covert operations and military might
under an umbrella strategy that respects the multifaceted,
dynamic character of the adversaries we face today. Only then
will we take giant strides toward grasping the nature of this
totalitarian ideology, neutralizing its spread in the Free World
and ultimately prevailing against it. ❑

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6116WININklit MOM

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Fortifying Our Resolve
"Understanding that this is an ideological phenomenon
means that we can adopt counter ideological techniques,

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The first step to confronting
Islamo-fascism is recognizing
the urgency and severity
of the danger.

0 : Is the Islamo-fascist challenge rooted
deeply enough in the American psyche?
N
p
Z z How can America do better on the inter-
0 0 national public relations battlefront?
0.

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September 27 m 2007

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