A Necessary Engagement: Reinventing America's Relations with the Muslim World (Princeton Studies in Muslim Politics)

A Necessary Engagement

PRINCETON STUDIES IN MUSLIM POLITICS Series Editors: Dale F. Eickelman and Augustus Richard Norton

Diane Singerman, Avenues of Participation: Family, Politics, and Networks in Urban Quarters of Cairo Tone Bringa, Being Muslim the Bosnian Way: Identity and Community in a Central Bosnian Village Dale F. Eickelman and James Piscatori, Muslim Politics Bruce B. Lawrence, Shattering the Myth: Islam beyond Violence Ziba Mir-Hosseini, Islam and Gender: The Religious Debate in Contemporary Iran Robert W. Hefner, Civil Islam: Muslims and Democratization in Indonesia Muhammad Qasim Zaman, The Ulama in Contemporary Islam: Custodians of Change Michael G. Peletz, Islamic Modern: Religious Courts and Cultural Politics in Malaysia Oskar Verkaaik, Migrants and Militants: Fun and Urban Violence in Pakistan Laetitia Bucaille, Growing up Palestinian: Israeli Occupation and the Intifada Generation Robert W. Hefner, editor, Remaking Muslim Politics: Pluralism, Contestation, Democratization Lara Deeb, An Enchanted Modern: Gender and Public Piety in Shi>i Lebanon Roxanne L. Euben, Journeys to the Other Shore: Muslim and Western Travelers in Search of Knowledge Robert W. Hefner and Muhammad Qasim Zaman, eds., Schooling Islam: The Culture and Politics of Modern Muslim Education Loren D. Lybarger, Identity and Religion in Palestine: The Struggle between Islamism and Secularism in the Occupied Territories Bruce K. Rutherford, Egypt after Mubarak: Liberalism, Islam, and Democracy in the Arab World

A Necessary Engagement reinventing america’s relations with the muslim world

Emile A. Nakhleh

princeton university press princeton and oxford

Copyright © 2009 by Princeton University Press Requests for permission to reproduce material from this work should be sent to Permissions, Princeton University Press Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street, Princeton, New Jersey 08540 In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, 6 Oxford Street, Woodstock, Oxfordshire OX20 1TW All Rights Reserved Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Nakhleh, Emile A., 1938– A necessary engagement : reinventing America’s relations with the Muslim world / Emile A. Nakhleh. p. cm. — (Princeton studies in Muslim politics) Includes index. ISBN 978-0-691-13525-0 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. United States—Relations— Islamic countries. 2. Islamic countries—Relations—United States. I. Title. JZ1480.A55N35 2009 327.73017΄67—dc22 2008040378 British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available This book has been composed in Minion Pro Printed on acid-free paper. ∞ press.princeton.edu Printed in the United States of America 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

To My Wife Ilonka Whose love, friendship, and support made this book possible

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CONTENTS

Author’s Note

ix

Introduction

xi

Chapter 1 Political Islam and Islamization Islamization and Islamic Activism Stages of Islamization Islamic Activism and Radicalization Islamic Radicals and WMD Manifestations of Islamization Factors Contributing to Islamization Education and Islamization Shia Activism Islamic Political Party Politics Islamic Activism, CIA Briefings, and U.S. Policy Responses Chapter 2 Intelligence, Political Islam, and Policymakers Intelligence and Policy: Roots of Tension Politics Trumps National Security Building Expertise Academic Outreach Training of Analysts Cultural Expertise and Intelligence Analysis Open-Source Data Mining Visiting Muslim Countries Analytic Products, Briefings, and Policymakers’ Response Iraq: Critical Briefings before and after the Invasion Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas, and the American Response

1 4 8 12 14 17 20 23 26 30 33 37 38 40 41 43 46 47 50 51 53 54 61

viii

CONTENTS

Authoritarian Regimes and Political Reform Bureaucratic Impediments Collecting Data on Political Islam Chapter 3 Public Diplomacy: Issues and Attitudes Polls and Attitudes Global War on Terror Invading Muslim Countries Democratization The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: An “Honest Broker” Role? Unilateralism Resonates Poorly

64 66 68 71 73 80 84 90 94 98

Chapter 4 Public Diplomacy: A Blueprint Caveats and Challenges Secularists and Modernists Traditionalists and Radical Salafis Core Themes A Blueprint

101 105 107 112 120 125

Conclusion Looking Ahead

140

Acknowledgments

145

Glossary

147

Sources Cited

151

Index

155

AUTHOR’S NOTE

This book’s analysis of political Islam and Islamic activism is informed by the author’s experience at the Central Intelligence Agency, his expertise in Islam, the rise of Islamization in the past two decades, and discussions with Muslim interlocutors across the Muslim world. Thus, it is not a work of scholarship in the traditional sense, although it is intended to contribute to scholarship, policy, and a wider understanding of the role of political intelligence in policy decisions. The book offers a blueprint, with specific recommendations, about how to design a public diplomacy directed toward Muslims; the ideas and arguments presented in the book are intended to contribute to a national debate on relations between the United States and Islamic countries. Hence, the book is written for policymakers, students of Islam, and an educated general audience, both in the United States and overseas. I do not follow the traditional scholarly method of quoting sources and footnoting although in a separate section I cite the sources consulted while writing the book, including newspaper reports, magazine articles, and public opinion polls. I acknowledge some people who helped me during the writing and production of the book but do not mention the names of three groups of people I had the privilege to interview and work with in recent years: Muslim interlocutors across the Islamic world; policymakers, diplomats, and field intelligence officers; and my former colleagues in the intelligence community and elsewhere. The book uses such terms as “political Islam” and “Islamization” to describe the process of Muslims discovering their Islamic identity and acting in light of that discovery. The book does not use the terms “Islamist,” “Islamists,” “Islamism,” or “fundamentalism,” because in the author’s view these terms are mostly media creations that do not constructively inform the debate about this phenomenon; instead, the author uses the more descriptive terms “Islamic activists” and “Islamic activ-

x

AUTHOR’S NOTE

ism.” The terms “Jihadists” and “radical Salafis” are used in the book to describe those who advocate, condone, and participate in violence and terrorism. “Wahhabism” describes a narrow, exclusivist, and particularly Sunni interpretation of Islam prevalent mostly in Saudi Arabia. The book also uses a number of Arabic words where appropriate in order to further explain the English usage or to inform the reader of the original word used by Muslim activists and interlocutors. “Islamic” and “Muslim” are used interchangeably throughout the book. I have also followed a simplified spelling of Arabic words such as Sharia. Shia is used in one form only; no “Shi