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| Negroponte sez inter-Muslim debate is the key to the future |
| 2006-02-18 |
| Director of National Intelligence John D. Negroponte said yesterday that the future environment for terrorism worldwide will depend more on the outcome of the debate between Muslim extremists and moderates than on the acts of global jihadists such as Osama bin Laden. "Entrenched grievances such as corruption and injustice and the slow pace of economic, social and political change in most Muslim-majority nations continue to fuel the global jihadist movement," Negroponte said. In contrast to comments from other Bush administration officials, Negroponte traced the origins of global jihadism to the Afghan-Soviet conflict, when in the 1980s Muslims from around the world, including bin Laden, were brought in with U.S. support to fight the communist invaders. The jihadist movement born then, Negroponte said, "is today inspired and led by al Qaeda" and is "the preeminent threat to our citizens, homeland interests and friends." Negroponte, the former U.S. ambassador to Iraq and now President Bush's chief intelligence adviser, also gave a cautious assessment of the situation in Iraq, as he delivered a speech and answered questions at Georgetown University, which presented him with an award for his past service in the diplomatic corps. In answer to a question, he said that "while there is enmity towards the West in general and towards the United States in particular, a struggle going on within the world of Islam itself may even be the more fundamental struggle that is taking place." With regard to Iraq, Negroponte said that Sunni-Arab disaffection is likely to continue fueling the insurgency this year while the majority Shiite and Kurdish populations are making political compromise with the Sunnis more difficult by working to protect their separate interests after national elections. "Although Kurds and Shia were accommodating to the underrepresented Sunnis in 2005, their desire to protect core interests such as regional autonomy and de-Baathification could make further compromise more difficult," Negroponte said, referring to the Kurdish desire to have autonomy in the north and the Shiites to have more control in the south. While Negroponte was speaking at Georgetown, Bush was covering some of the same subjects in a speech in Tampa. The president's discussion of terrorism focused primarily on the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and al Qaeda, and contained his traditional refrain that the extremists have to be defeated abroad so the United States does not face them at home. "These people are cold-blooded killers," Bush said of al Qaeda. "They've made it clear that it's just a matter of time before we vacate parts of the world which they can then occupy in order to be able to plan, plot attacks against the United States of America." The two men used contrasting language to describe aspects of the situation in Iraq, where Bush said "on the political front they're making progress," and added that the current U.S. ambassador in Baghdad, Zalmay M. Khalilzad, is "making our position known that we want the government to be a unified government." Negroponte warned that "prospects for economic development in 2006 are constrained by the unstable security situation, insufficient commitment to economic reform on the part of the government and corruption," while Bush said that "businesses are flourishing in Iraq." Negroponte said that "Iraq security forces require better command and control to improve their effectiveness," while Bush said that "there's a command structure -- command and control structure -- getting in place, and this military's getting better and better." |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #2 Director of National Intelligence John D. Negroponte said yesterday that the future environment for terrorism worldwide will depend more on the outcome of the debate between Muslim extremists and moderates.. Then the outlook doesn't look good. Extremists aren't likely to place much value in debate as a method of convincing others. |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2006-02-18 14:54 |
| #1 Director of National Intelligence John D. Negroponte |
| Posted by: gromgoru 2006-02-18 10:04 |