Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Violence Leaves Young Iraqis Doubting Clerics
I found this article to be absolutely fascinating. The youth of Iraq are seeing the consequences of Islamic extremism and they are becoming disillusioned with the ideology and religion as a whole. I think this general feeling can be seen in a statement by a moderate Sunni cleric when he says, "In the beginning, they [the youth] gave their eyes and minds to the clerics; they trusted them,”It’s painful to admit, but it’s changed. People have lost too much. They say to the clerics and the parties: You cost us this.” Because religious terrorism tends to kill more people than other types, the general public feels the effects of the terrorism much more heavily. And as shown in this quote, the youth of Iraq are tired of the attacks and killings and they are beginning to blame the religious ideology that provides the legitimacy for the terrorist organizations. This article suggests that in Iraq, the religious terrorist organizations are losing the support of their constituencies, especially in the younger generation-- the very people who are supposed to be the future supporters and members of the organization. So, as this article states, the terrorist organizations are changing their approach. Instead of offering an ideology, they're offering money to gain more recruits. Perhaps this suggests that in Iraq, efforts should be more focused on economic relief and fighting poverty, as well as promoting more moderate strains of Islam. Anyway, just interesting to think about. Let me know what you think...
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11 comments:
Terrorist organizations have constantly sought new methods of recruitment and will continue to do so. While the youth may feel disillusioned others will serve as a recruiting base for terrorist groups. Money has been used before and some scholars argue that economic factors are the only important factors determining the occurence of terrorist activity.
I think that we may just see a shift in how Islamist terrorist organizations operate in the future if the clerics are undermined and the rising generation does not buy into the rhetoric.
On an interesting side note a man was recently convicted in England for recruiting and training Islamic extremists for terrorist purposes. Check out a video on the training from the BBC.
I agree that this is a fascinating article, and definitely not something I would have guessed could be happening. This highlights one of the great weaknesses of terrorism: maintaining legitimacy among the constituent population. It seems that the foreign terrorists in Iraq are struggling to do so.
Also, the increased combination of terrorism and profit seems like evidence that insurgent organizations are flattening out, as the leaders can't maintain the ideological purity of the struggle, and individual cells turn more towards crime simply to survive.
Combined with more aggressive military action from the U.S. over the last year, this could be a serious blow to the continuing insurgency in Iraq. I agree that to fully exploit this issue the economic concerns of the population must be addressed. On the whole, however, this gives me hope that Iraq is on a course for long term success.
Fascinating article. I think this is exactly what the terrorist organizations are so afraid of happening- that the people realize that they are shooting in the foot by supporting/harboring these terrorists, and they are better off without any influence from them. It's especially gratifying in the up-and-coming population, as if more of them can be convinced of the awful state the terrorists bring upon them, then they will eventually replace the old guard with more moderate religious organizations.
A book written by Kenneth M. Pollack discusses this same issue happening in Iran. In 1979 students rioted and overthrew the old Shah and replaced him with Ayatollah Khomeini who imposed strict adherence to Sharia Law. However around the presidential elections of 1997 when Khatami came to power his platform was change. The younger generation wanted to be able to hold hands in public, be able to go out without chaperons, men and women wanted greater voice in political matters. In 2003 60% of the population was under 25 and 70% was under 30. I believe that we will see a strong shift in politics in Iran due to the rising generation and their desire to become more westernized. Religious terrorists will have to begin to appeal to a different audience than just religious zealots.
The book I referred to by Pollack is called "The Persian Pallace"
This was a very interesting article.
I agree that terrorists are worried about the younger generation not being as enthusiastic about their religious fanaticism. I think that is one of the reasons why terrorists are looking other places for new recruits. As long as terrorists can find willing recruits in "greener pastures" does the younger generations disillusionment with them really matter?
The article in the times is tradgic. The youth of Iraq seem lost, without many positive options or prospects in their lives. Their religious leaders have failed them, and Islam no longer holds the potential for peace for them...I believe this will further tear this society apart. It is the youth of Iraq who deal with the brunt of this war. Their fathers are dying in sectarian conflict, their mothers are left with no income, their religious leaders are unwilling or unable to create a stable enviornment. Unemployment and education are down...the future of the Iraqi youth seems dark indeed, the clerics aren't the only ones responsible for this.
I think that if the Islamist ideology which is so opposed to Western culture loses its followers, it can only be good for peace-building efforts and the people who live in Iraq. If the youth are losing faith in extremist clerics who send them to their deaths to fight jihad, this could allow other economic measures to work more effectively. Part of the problem in Iraq has been trying to establish stability and democracy using means that are repugnant to a large portion of the population. If Islamism loses its luster with the youth, perhaps the rising generation will be better able to tolerate the Western world.
I think that the study pointed out on Iran is a good example of the end state if terrorists were to be victorious. I'd like to take a look at the liberal perspective for a moment.
If the US were to completely withdraw from Iraq, and allow the terrorists to duke it out and eventually create their perfect Sharia Law governed State, what would happen then, we could work on containment banning any trade or travel to the new Iraq, and allow the population to live oppressed until it is the people who rise against the terrorists and not an outside western force. It only took Iran almost 30 yrs to begin a change away from the once thought "perfect" state.
It isn't pretty from our perspective because there would most likely be human rights violations and other problems to pull on our heart strings, but in the end I wonder if the life cycle wouldn't play out, and islamists slowly fade away.
Maybe the islamists are so violent because we are fighting back, if there was no opposition to their desires they would have a harder time rallying support and thus unable to fight us abroad.
Now of course this does not account for the ultimate goal of groups such as Al Queda, who want nothing short of the fall of the west. These groups would love to have a nation to base their operations out of. I am not saying that I support pulling out, but maybe this perspective deserves some evaluation seeing as the current political situation here might yield a full US withdraw.We would need to know how to handle the results of a withdraw if it happens.
There was some discussion in class today about the effectiveness of global development to counter terror. Based on this article and post, it seems that terrorist groups are adaptinig to the change in their constituent support by appealing to individuals inclined to perfrom mercenary terrorism. This tactic would not be as effective if the countries in which it is implemented were not struggling economically. Thus, it seems legitimate to me that Payne included global development in his "menu" of possible counter-terrorist strategies because terrorist organizations are currently taking advantage of poverty to gain recruits.
Professor,
I was signed in under my husbands name "Jeremy" when I made this comment. I just want to make sure I get credit for the comment I made to this post for that the week of this post. Thanks.
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