Winning the War on Terror

Defeating Islamic Terrorism

According to Chan (2007), in his article "Defeating Islamic terrorism," to win the war against terror, the U.S. must wage a battle for the hearts and minds of people living in the Muslim world, not simply fight the battle on the level of a military conflict. A largely negative perception of the U.S. In the Middle East has stoked the fires of radicalism and without counterbalancing that mindset the U.S. will always be fighting radical fundamentalist groups, even if it successfully defeats every last member of Al Qaeda. However, the U.S. must also be aware of the fact that to build trust it must reach out to Muslim moderates. Physically, the effort to defeat terrorist groups in the short-term has been more successful than long-term efforts (Chan 2007:2).

The Islamic world has been difficult for the U.S. To understand because it is not monolithic although it is sometimes portrayed as such in the press. There are many clan, ethnic, and religious rivalries within the label of 'Islam.' Viewing fundamentalism as synonymous with Islam is a self-fulfilling prophesy (Chan 2007:6). However, the U.S. cannot impose its vision of democracy on the Middle East and even democratic developments do not always serve U.S. interests, as has been seen by the victory of anti-Israeli Hamas amongst the Palestinians via elections. Still, there are viable examples of thriving democratic Islamic states (Chan 2007:9).