American Muslim Leaders Provide Analysis to Strengthen US Efforts Against Militant Islamist Terror

Online, July 19, 2011 (Newswire.com) - The American Islamic Leadership Coalition (AILC) issued a policy communique today noting both improvements and glaring omissions in the Obama administration's recently released National Strategy on Counterterrorism (NSCT) and recommending revisions to increase the effectiveness of the strategy. The AILC is a group of more than 25 organizations and leaders representative of the overwhelming "silent majority" of Muslims in America-who span a wide gamut of religious beliefs and adhere to diverse social and cultural practices. As Muslims dedicated to helping the U.S. government to protect our nation, AILC leaders are offering their vision of a genuine solutions-based approach against the threat of Islamist terror.

The NSCT is the guiding document for the U.S. government's efforts to combat terrorism around the world. The Obama administration received significant criticism because its previous version of the NSCT failed to identify the ideological underpinning of terrorism and because the document deliberately avoided using terminology such as "Islamism," which refers to a political ideology that underlies and animates not only al-Qa'ida -style terrorism, but also other movements that seek to establish a theocratic state.

Some key elements in the current strategy are promising. These include the recognition that there is an ideological underpinning to terrorism; advocating the dissemination of positive views of the US and our values; confirmation that it is and shall remain U.S. strategy to maintain a robust military counter-terrorism protocol in regions of the world where Islamist militants execute terrorist campaigns; and acknowledgement that the administration must work with Muslim groups to implement the strategy.

The latest NSCT has made significant steps forward, in particular in its recognition that there is an ideology that drives terror. If we ever truly hope to defeat Islamist terrorism we have to recognize that the battle is first and foremost ideological. But we must also recognize the deep diversity of the Muslim community, and we must identify our counter-terrorism partners by the ideological positions of their organizations. In addition, we must develop a comprehensive, proactive strategy that demonstrates to Muslims around the world that their faith is more secure in an environment that promotes and protects the freedom of each individual. The AILC hopes the administration will utilize its critique to strengthen the NSCT to be an effective document for securing the United States.

AILC recommends that the administration update the NSCT to:

· Clearly and publicly define the ideology of al-Qa'ida and the terror organizations that we seek to defeat;

· Distinguish between the religion of Islam and Islamist ideology ("a distorted interpretation of Islam"), whose adherents seek to conflate their own theocratic, statist agenda with Islam itself;

· Acknowledge the diversity of American Muslims, and recognize that genuinely pluralistic, tolerant and spiritual Muslim leaders possess the theological legitimacy, authority and credibility required to counter Islamist ideology and movements from within Islam, and should be encouraged and supported in their efforts to do so;

· Engage non-Islamist Muslim groups to help develop and implement effective counter-radicalization programs that affirm the principles of liberty and individual rights;

· Facilitate the production of compelling content ("narratives") and their distribution, through proactive use of the internet, which is one of al-Qa'ida's primary means of ideological indoctrination and recruitment;

· Support the development of robust, on-the-ground efforts to expose the brutal reality of Islamist oppression, violence and terror, and contrast it with American values.

"The current NSCT is better than its previous iteration, in that it correctly identifies ideology-specifically, 'a distorted interpretation of Islam'-as a key enabling factor of al-Qa'ida-style terrorism," said Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser, AILC member. "However, in order to actually counter this ideology, our government must take the additional step of identifying it for what it is: a militant form of political Islam, or 'Islamism.' Although the NSCT uses the term ideology 20 times within a 17 page document, its failure to identify the exact nature of this ideology suggests a continued unwillingness to confront the root cause of terrorism."

"While we applaud the administration's recognition that it must work with Muslim organizations to implement change, we are concerned that they do not realize the diversity of thought within Muslim communities and thus may not engage with a truly representative group of organizations," said AILC member Manda Ervin.

According to C. Holland Taylor, another AILC member, "We must recognize the diversity of Muslim populations in the U.S. and abroad, and carefully select our counter-radicalization partners on the basis of their principled rejection of Islamist ideology, rather than on the basis of tactical differences they may have with al-Qa'ida, when the ultimate objective they hope to achieve-the establishment of a theocratic state, and/or caliphate-is virtually identical."

Individual AILC Muslim leaders and organizations that are signatories to this policy communique are listed below. To view the full version of the AILC's critique and policy recommendations, please visit http://americanislamicleadership.org/ailc_response_nsct

About the American Islamic Leadership Coalition (AILC)

The American Islamic Leadership Coalition (AILC) is a diverse coalition of liberty-minded, North American Muslim leaders and organizations. AILC's mission advocates for defending the US Constitution, upholding religious pluralism, protecting American security and cherishing genuine diversity in the faith and practice of Islam. AILC provides a stark alternative to the Islamist organizations that claim to speak for what are diverse American Muslim communities. For more information on AILC, please visit our website at http://www.americanislamicleadership.org/.

AILC Coalition Signatories

Golam Akhter
Bangladesh-USA Human Rights Coalition Inc.
Washington, DC

Bahman Batmanghelidj
Founding Member
Alliance for Democracy in Iran
Virginia, USA

Khurshed Chowdhury, Ph.D.
Maryland, USA

Manda Zand Ervin
President
Alliance of Iranian Women
Maryland, USA

Tarek Fatah
Founder
Muslim Canadian Congress
Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Farid Ghadry
President
Reform Party of Syria
Washington, DC

Jamal Hasan
Council for Democracy and Tolerance
Baltimore, MD

Farzana Hassan, Ed.D.
Past President
Muslim Canadian Congress
Toronto, Ontario, Canada

M. Zuhdi Jasser, M.D.
President
American Islamic Forum for Democracy
Phoenix, AZ

Hasan Mahmud
Member, Advisory Board
World Muslim Congress
Dallas, TX

Kamal Nawash
President
Free Muslims Coalition
Washington, DC

C. Holland Taylor
Chairman & CEO
LibForAll Foundation
Winston-Salem, NC

Jalal Zuberi, MD
Associate Professor of Pediatrics
Morehouse School of Medicine
Atlanta, GA

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C. Holland Taylor is co-founder, chairman and CEO of LibForAll Foundation. An expert on Islam and the process of Islamization in Southeast Asia, he has lived, studied and worked in the Muslim world, from Iran to Indonesia, over a period of more than four decades. Although his knowledge of Islam pales in comparison with that of the powerful Muslim leaders who form the backbone of LibForAll Foundation, Mr. Taylor's unique combination of experience in the fields of international business, strategy and the forging of cross-cultural relationships has enabled LibForAll to become "a model of what a competent public diplomacy effort in the Muslim world should look like" (Wall Street Journal).

Mr. Taylor established LibForAll in December 2003, together with his close friend, the former Indonesian president Kyai Haji Abdurrahman Wahid (1940-2009), whom the Wall Street Journal has called "the single most influential religious leader in the Muslim world" and "easily the most important ally the West has in the ideological struggle against Islamic radicalism." Under their leadership, LibForAll has grown into the leading NGO developing and operationalizing successful counter-extremism strategies worldwide.

Their inspiration lay in the heroic example of President Wahid's own 16th century Javanese ancestors, whose deft use of soft and hard power defeated Muslim extremists, and guaranteed freedom of religion for all Javanese, two centuries before the Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom and the Bill of Rights led to the separation of state and religion in the U.S.

Based on lessons derived from this struggle, LibForAll is forging a Global Rahmatan lil 'Alamin ("Blessing for All Creation") Counter-Extremism Network of top Muslim opinion leaders in the fields of religion, education, pop culture, government, business and the media, who are joining with people of good will of every faith and nation to confront the threat of religious extremism before it's too late.

Mr. Taylor is an acclaimed speaker whose writings have been published in major media outlets throughout the world, helping to educate government policy makers and the general public about how to counter the ideology of religious hatred that underlies and animates terrorism.

Mr. Taylor's work with LibForAll follows a career as a successful entrepreneur and global telecom executive, during which he served as CEO of USA Global Link, and was credited by numerous leading publications as one of the essential catalysts in the deregulation of the global telecommunications industry.

Mr. Taylor was educated at the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill and Princeton University. He is fluent in English, Indonesian/Melayu and German.

"C. Holland Taylor used to solve business problems as a telecom CEO. Now he's aiming higher-with a goal of ending religious extremism.... Although Taylor's foundation may seem an odd follow-up to his telecom career, his background makes him a perfect fit. A military child, Taylor lived for three years in Iran as a kid, backpacked through Afghanistan, Iran, Turkey and Pakistan and has meditated since he was 18. 'My own meditation and spirituality was key,' he says. 'Meditation is universal, and helps me connect with people and form a relationship of mutual understanding and trust.' It helps that he possesses the diplomatic and persuasive acumen to broker relationships with high-level clerics, heads of Muslim organizations, university officials and political leaders like Wahid."

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M. Zuhdi Jasser, M.D. is the President and Founder of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy (AIFD). A devout Muslim, Dr. Jasser founded AIFD in the wake of the 9/11 attacks on the United States as an effort to provide an American Muslim voice advocating for the preservation of the founding principles of the United States Constitution, liberty and freedom, and the separation of mosque and state. Dr. Jasser is a first generation American Muslim whose parents fled the oppressive Assad regime of Syria in the mid-1960's for American freedom. He is leading the fight to shake the hold that the Muslim Brotherhood and their network of American Islamist organizations and mosques have on organized Islam in America.

Dr. Jasser earned his medical degree on a U. S. Navy scholarship at the Medical College of Wisconsin in 1992. He served 11 years as a medical officer in the U. S. Navy. His tours of duty included Medical Department Head aboard the U.S.S. El Paso which deployed to Somalia during Operation Restore Hope; Chief Resident at Bethesda Naval Hospital; and Staff Internist for the Office of the Attending Physician to the U. S. Congress. He is a recipient of the Meritorious Service Medal. Dr. Jasser is a respected physician currently in private practice in Phoenix, Arizona specializing in internal medicine and nuclear cardiology. He is a Past-President of the Arizona Medical Association.

AIFD seeks to counter political Islam the ideology that fuels radical Islamists. AIFD's current passions include the Muslim Liberty Project

(MLP) and involvement in the newly formed American Islamic Leadership Coalition (AILC). The Muslim Liberty Project seeks to instill the ideas of liberty into young Muslim adults in order to inoculate them against the viral threat of political Islam. The project brought together its first class of Muslim Youth in March 2011 with tremendous success. AILC is a broad based coalition of diverse Muslim organizations that provide a stark alternative to the domestic and global network of Islamist organizations. Dr. Jasser has also been one of the most prominent American Muslim voices against the "Ground Zero Islamic Center".

Dr. Jasser regularly briefs members of the House and Senate congressional anti-terror caucuses on the threat of Political Islam.

On March 10, 2011, Dr. Jasser was one of four panelists invited to testify before the United States House of Representatives Committee on Homeland Security on "The Extent of Radicalization in the American Muslim Community and that Community's Response." Dr. Jasser's testimony focused on how radicalization is the outgrowth of the ideology of political Islam and solutions needed to bring lasting security to the United States.

Dr. Jasser is a nationally recognized expert in the contest of ideas against political Islam and American Islamist organizations. He has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, The Washington Times, The New York Post, The Dallas Morning News, CNN, CBS, Fox News Channel, MSNBC and BBC in addition to nationally syndicated radio programs. He has spoken at hundreds of national and international events including universities, places of worship, and government venues.

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