Countering Violent Extremism—End Government Extremism

Bruce Fein, Huffington Post

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Excerpt:

There is a simple and cost-free strategy to diminish or slash the incidence of violent extremism in the United States: end government extremism, including the initiation of gratuitous wars not in self-defense that kill, injure or displace millions in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Libya, and against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL); authorizing the President to play prosecutor, judge, jury, and executioner to kill American citizens not engaged in hostilities based on secret, uncorroborated evidence; imprisoning alleged “enemy combatants” at Guantanamo Bay indefinitely without accusation or charge in violation of constitutional due process; invoking the state secrets privilege to deny judicial redress for government kidnappings, torture, or assassinations; and, providing material assistance—including weapons and money—to unpopular governments that terrorize or oppress their own populations, for instance, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Libya, the Gulf States, Iraq, and Afghanistan. ...

In 2004, the Defense Science Board Task Force concluded:

“Muslims do not hate our freedom, but rather they hate our policies. The overwhelming majority voice their objections to what they see as one-sided support in favor of Israel and against Palestinian rights, and the long-standing, even increasing, support for what Muslims collectively see as tyrannies, most notably Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Pakistan and the Gulf states. Thus, when American public diplomacy talks about bringing democracy to Islamic societies, this is seen as no more than self-serving hypocrisy.” ...