The Cause Of Violent Extremism

By Tom Coghlan, In London
From: The Times
May 28, 2011 12:00AM
Courtesy Of "The Australian"

Michael Scheuer, a former CIA agent who directed the "Alec Station" dedicated bin Laden CIA team during the 1990s, said that far from winning the war, the West was losing and did not understand the conflict.

"In 2001, (al-Qa'ida) was overwhelmingly based in Afghanistan. It still has a part of Afghanistan. It now has a big slice of Pakistan, (and is) firmly established in Yemen and recovering in Iraq."

He said it had influence in Somalia and "worrisome" strength in the Maghreb that would probably grow given events in Libya. "We have not yet seen the extent of Salafism (from which al-Qa'ida derives much of its ideology) coming into Lebanon, Syria, Palestine and Jordan because of taking out Saddam. How can growth geographically and apparently in numbers translate into a weaker organisation?"

He said US foreign policy and Western intervention defined its relationship with the Muslim world. "There are almost 900 pages of primary sources on bin Laden - sermons, speeches, etc ... There is almost nothing in there about waging a war against the West for its freedoms or liberty or gender equality or drinking alcohol.

"It is support for Israel, support for the Saudi police state, it's our presence in the Arab peninsula, it's support for the Russians in the Islamic Caucasus. There is no more effective recruiter for al-Qa'ida than the status quo of American foreign policy."