Kerry working to get state, religious and broadcast powers in the Middle east to condemn ISIS

[karynnj]

Kerry is so animated by this war of ideas that he calls it even more important than the military campaign against the group. Sitting in a gilded room at the U.S. ambassador’s residence in Paris, Kerry sounded irritated at the media’s focus on air strikes and ground forces. “The military piece is one piece,” Kerry said. “It’s a critical component — but it’s only one component.”

“Probably far more important than the military in the end,” Kerry continued, is the effort “to start drying up this pool of jihadis.” The goal is to mobilize Arab leaders, preachers, and media outlets behind a message that ISIS does not represent a “pure” vision of Islam, but a grotesque distortion of it. That, they hope, can blunt ISIS’ ability to recruit new fighters among impressionable young Muslim men. Stopping a fighter from signing up, Kerry said, is “a far better mechanism than having to go chase him down in the battlefield.”

<snip>
Abdullah can also summon his clerics to action. In a speech last month that a U.S. State Department official calls “unprecedented” in its vehemence, Abdullah denounced radical Islamists for using Islam to justify their actions — and castigated Saudi clerics for not making the point more forcefully. Days later, the kingdom’s top religious authority declared that ISIS and al-Qaeda “are enemy No. 1 of Islam.” Another senior cleric soon declared it “a major sin” to join ISIS. He added that the group’s fighters might avoid damnation if they murder their commanders.
<snip>
The effort also extends beyond the mosque. The U.S. is pressing major Arab media outlets, including Dubai-based al-Arabiya and Qatar’s al-Jazeera, to broadcast more antiradical programming. (State Department officials say Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy Richard Stengel — a former managing editor of TIME — will soon return to the region to pursue that topic.)

http://time.com/3379004/kerry-isis-saudi/

This effort really explains why Kerry made the speech on Islam that he made at this busy time. Though the right will mock this as naive, it is a very ambitious effort to create change that would work to weaken some of the root causes behind these terrorists. The far left is likely to dismiss this as well as it does not posit that everything stems from economic roots especially the politics of oil.

Like everything in this Obama administration effort, it is complex, a lofty goal not easy to accomplish, and something that refuses to pander to American myths. The article is worth reading entirely. The facts are themselves interesting, as is the way the author writes it. It is pretty clear that he is skeptical and that he wanted to frame the article around 911 - which he mentioned at both the beginning and the end.

[Dems to Win]

1. Are Muslim leaders little children? They can't figure this out on their own?

Thirteen years after 9/11, Kerry is starting an effort to dry up the source of jihadi fighters. Yay....I guess.

But, it seems awfully ridiculous to me, for Kerry - a non-Muslim - to be telling Muslim leaders they need to preach more 'peace and brotherhood' and less 'kill the infidel.'

If Islamic leaders truly don't feel the Taliban, al-Qeada, and ISIS represent the real Islam, they would have been speaking out, forcefully, years ago. And demanding their rich Muslim brothers cease funding these groups.

It's all just theater, imo.

[karynnj]

2. Kerry was not Secretary of State in 2001, he was saying the same things then

Kerry is making the case to them - hopefully successfully - that it is in their interest to work on this broader issue. Not to mention, there are Muslim leaders who have said exactly what Kerry is saying. Interesting that you seemed to have bought into the idea that Islam itself caused this. (A friend with a masters in world religion, who is going towards a PHD has in the past said similar things to me about Islam.)

It is interesting that you use italics on starting. To my knowledge, President Bush did not name Kerry to a position where he could have done this. In addition, it is very possible that the fact that the countries themselves now feel threatened by the monster they helped create has created an opening that Kerry is trying to use. (Kerry gave a speech in 2008 at Yale on interfaith that has a lot in common with this. )

Kerry did this KNOWING the RW response - because it flies directly at their Islamofascist nonsense. He is speaking to the leaders in the Middle east. If nothing happens, it was just a speech - how much effort or resources were put into that? If there is a positive change - even in some countries, this will have been well worth it.

What I don't get is what your problem with this is. It is likely the least innocuous thing he is doing.

[Dems to Win]

3. Your OP quotes Kerry: “to start drying up this pool of jihadis.”

That's why I used the word 'starting.'

If there were such a thing as responsible Muslim leaders, they would have been trying to dry up the pool of jihadis for over a decade now. No one would have to beg them to do so.

If there were any Muslim leaders with critical thinking skills, they would have long-ago realized that 'kill the infidel' talk is a threat to world peace and would eventually be a threat to them. No one would have to point out the threat.

There have been some mild statements made by Muslims that al-qeada is not the real Islam. But I've not seen large protest by Muslims at Saudi embassies, demanding they stop funding the worldwide madrassas that teach young boys to kill for Allah. Certainly no protests that compare to the protests against Danish cartoons, for example.

I agree with you that there is no harm in Kerry's speech. He can make a speech, I can write critical commentary. That's how it works.

My criticism is directed more at Muslim leaders and the total farce that requires Kerry to make such a speech.

[karynnj]

4. So, what would you recommend doing?

I personally do not think Kerry's speeches - the recent one or the 2008 one are farces. It seems you think the Muslim leaders should have done more -- which is what Kerry is calling on them to do now. That and cutting off any funding. I really do not see why you are so offended by this.

Do you know anyone who is Muslim? I do -- and they have been appalled by the actions of their violent minority.

[Dems to Win]

5. As I tried to make clear, I don't object to Kerry's speech. I'm disgusted by the Muslim

leaders who needed such a speech.

What would I do? Tell the Saudis they need to fight and take out their creation, ISIS, before it reaches their border. They have plenty of US-supplied weapons, they can do it themselves, they don't need any help from us infidels. Bring the US troops home.

Your Muslim friends who are appalled by the violence done in the name of Islam need to be protesting at the Saudi embassies. The Saudis fund and spread the most cruel, violent version of Islam.