Religious Leadership: Interrupting Jihad at the Point of Recruitment
Abstract
The coalition has been successful in defeating Islamists through military means; however, their numbers continue to stay strong because they have a successful recruiting program. This paper asserts that one reason Muslims continue to join the Jihad is because Islamist sympathizers are eventually convinced to take up the fight against the West. It is at the point of sympathizer recruitment this paper focuses to interrupt the circle of terrorism. By actively engaging those sympathetic to the Islamists ideology, the Islamist sympathizers can be persuaded from joining the Jihad. Although there may be easier methods of eliminating Islamists, this one goes directly after the recruiting process. This approach requires a concerted effort by the interagency community engaging across the entire range of military operations (ROMO) to achieve lasting effects. The combatant commander (CCDR) must lead this process because he holds the responsibility for security and possesses the regional expertise to provide tailoring necessary to address differences in culture and social structure. This paper makes the following recommendations: 1. Establish a formal global religious leader outreach program to indirectly provide operational support to the CCDR; 2. Develop relationships between ambassadors and local religious leadership; 3. Add to operational doctrine religious assessment criteria to ascertain the possible impact an operation may have on the religious climate; 4. Add religious support to the SOCOM's staff; 5. CCDR reach back to SOCOM staff; 6. Expand the TSCP program; 7. Add religious awareness instruction to the military educational system.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Oct 10, 2006
- Accession Number
- ADA463555
Entities
People
- James P. Johnston
Organizations
- Naval War College