[ExI] LA Times: Fighting terrorism with terrorists

PJ Manney pjmanney at gmail.com
Tue Jan 8 20:06:53 UTC 2008


This Op-Ed piece is a follow-up to the Saudi Arabia piece, showing how
Indonesia is deprogramming terrorists as well, by using reformed
terrorists.  This work reminds me of former gang members working to
change the behavior of gang kids here in LA.

It also mentions the work in Saudi Arabia in ever so slightly more
specific terms as well as a mention of the radicalization issues in
the UK.

PJ

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/sunday/commentary/la-op-kurlantzick6jan06,1,5305348.story

>From the Los Angeles Times
Fighting terrorism with terrorists
Using former radicals to turn around militants in the making is
showing remarkable success.
By Joshua Kurlantzick

January 6, 2008

In the fall of 2002, the Indonesian island of Bali, once known for its
luscious beaches and vibrant Hindu culture, became synonymous with
terror and radicalism. After a massive bombing in Bali's nightclub
district killed more than 200 people, the world suddenly realized what
many locals had known for years: Indonesia, the largest Muslim nation
on Earth, faced a serious internal terror threat.

Even before the Bali attack, Indonesia had suffered a wave of bombings
in the winter of 2000, and earlier that year someone had bombed the
Jakarta Stock Exchange. The Al Qaeda affiliate Jemaah Islamiah was
actively recruiting across the archipelago, establishing radical
schools to train a young generation of jihadis and planning attacks in
Indonesia and throughout the region, including in the Philippines and
Thailand.

But today, Indonesia has become a far different kind of example. Even
as terrorism continues to grow more common in nations from Pakistan to
Algeria, Indonesia is heading in the opposite direction, destroying
its internal terrorist networks and winning the broader public battle
against radicalism. And it has done so not only by cracking heads but
by using a softer, innovative plan that employs former jihadis to wean
radicals away from terror.

Indonesia's successes are striking. Once a threat capable of waging
war across Southeast Asia, today Jemaah Islamiah is a shell of its
former self. Indonesian authorities have captured most of its top
leaders, including the deputy commander who allegedly helped plan the
Bali attacks. Indonesian police have overrun JI's operational bases,
forcing most of its members to live on the run, making it harder for
them to plan bombings. Indonesia has suffered no major terror attacks
in two years, and JI's ability to raise money and find recruits has
been shattered. "There is not much of JI left," Indonesia terrorism
authority Kenneth Conboy told reporters.

To be sure, effective police work has made a difference. Backed by
U.S. training and high-end surveillance equipment, Indonesia's elite
counter-terrorism squad has established an effective internal
intelligence network, relying on informants to point the way to
terrorist hide-outs and arresting hundreds of JI members.

But if they really hoped to reduce the pool of possible new recruits
for groups like Jemaah Islamiah, Indonesian leaders realized they had
to win public support for their battle. Otherwise, police could arrest
or kill hundreds of militants, and new radicals would just take their
place.

To win militants' hearts and minds, Indonesia instituted a program
called deradicalization. Realizing that hard-core militants will not
listen to prominent Muslim moderates, whom they view as soft, as
irreligious or as tools of the government, the deradicalization
initiative employs other militants -- former terrorist fighters or
trainers. These are men like Nasir Abas, once a Jemaah Islamiah
leader, who have sworn off most types of violence. Former fighters who
agree to help the deradicalization program often receive incentives,
such as reduced sentences or assistance for their families.

The co-opted radicals are sent as advocates into Indonesian prisons,
major breeding grounds of militants. In the jails and other sites,
they work to convince would-be terrorists that attacking civilians is
not acceptable in Islam, to show that terror actually alienates
average people from their religion, to suggest that the police are not
anti-Islam and to exploit internal antagonisms within terror networks
to turn militants against each other.

These intense debates, which rely partly on Koranic scholarship, can
last for months. Meanwhile, other former militants appear on
Indonesian television to express remorse for having killed their
countrymen and women.

The deradicalization program already has delivered. According to a
recent report by the independent, nonprofit International Crisis
Group, the Indonesian plan has "persuaded about two dozen members of
Jemaah Islamiah ... to cooperate with the police."

Deradicalization could work far beyond Southeast Asia. In 2004, Saudi
Arabia launched its own version of deradicalization. Under the Saudi
version, militants in jail who agree to undergo intense classroom
sessions receive shorter sentences. The sessions, designed to convince
extremists that Islam does not condone terror, come combined with
psychological deprogramming. The deprogramming resembles techniques
used on cult members, and it also allows psychologists to assess
whether militants are joining the deradicalization program just to be
released and return to extremism. Police then follow up with
extremists who have completed the program and been released from jail
to ensure that they do not return to their old ways.

Saudi officials say the program has been very successful. Major
terrorist attacks in Saudi Arabia have plummeted compared with 2004.
The Saudi plan also appears to have a broader regional impact. Gen.
David Petraeus, commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, has said that the
Saudi initiative may be one reason for the sharp decline in the number
of foreign fighters coming into Iraq.

Other countries have created variants on the program. Egypt has
established a deradicalization initiative in which former jihadist
thinkers argue that the Islamic concepts that militants use to justify
violence are wrong. Singapore, Malaysia, Jordan and Yemen have enacted
reeducation strategies, often focusing on prison populations. Drawing
on Jakarta's experience, nations such as Pakistan have launched
deradicalization cooperation with Indonesia.

Even Western nations facing radical threats seem to be learning. The
Netherlands this summer announced it would spend the equivalent of $40
million to launch deradicalization programs, train imams and other
religious leaders and promote intercultural dialogue.

In perhaps the most sweeping Western initiative, Britain, stunned by a
wave of terror attacks committed by British citizens, has attempted to
build far deeper relationships with domestic Muslim groups, relying on
them to help deradicalize potential young militants who could be
transformed into suicide bombers.

"Our strategy of funding and engagement must shift significantly
toward those organizations that are taking a proactive leadership role
in tackling extremism," declared British Cabinet minister Ruth Kelly
last year. In other words, Britain has finally learned what Indonesia
already knew.

Joshua Kurlantzick is a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace and the author of "Charm Offensive: How China's
Soft Power Is Transforming the World."



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