WASHINGTON, Sept. 11 (UPI) -- The best way to combat jihadist terror is to nip it in the bud by stopping the spread of radical Islamic ideas, terrorism expert Brian Michael Jenkins said in an interview for the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.
"Unless we can really break that front end, that process that inspires and instructs young men to turn themselves into weapons, then we are going to be obliged to try to thwart terrorist plots forever," Jenkins said.
"You're looking at a strategy that's akin to stepping on cockroaches one at a time," said Jenkins. "We'll be doing this forever."
Jenkins, who is senior advisor to the president of the RAND Corporation, a nonprofit research and analysis institute, has nearly forty years of experience in the areas of terrorism and homeland security.
He served as a captain in the Green Berets in both the Dominican Republic and in Vietnam, and has since worn many hats. He was an advisor for the pre-Sept. 11 National Commission on Terrorism, known as the Gilmore commission, and for the International Chamber of Commerce, and was appointed to the White House Commission on Aviation Safety and Security by President Bill Clinton.
Jenkins' new book, "Unconquerable Nation: Knowing Our Enemy, Strengthening Ourselves," expands upon the idea that the key to fighting terrorism lies in targeting its root mentality and ideals, and suggests ways that America can start to do so while renewing its commitment to its core values and ideals.
He believes that America is safer today than it was before Sept. 11 on certain fronts, but he does not play down the risk that still remains.
"We are safer and we're safer primarily because we have reduced the grade of the operational capabilities of the terrorist enterprise that was responsible for Sept. 11," he said, referring to the al-Qaida network.
"At the same time, we have to be realistic. Since Sept. 11 the jihadist enterprise has carried out more than 30 large-scale attacks around the world," he said, referring to terrorist attacks against such targets as a Bali nightclub and Madrid's and London's train systems, and excluding attacks in Afghanistan or Iraq.
"If we looked at the targets in those attacks we would have to admit that those categories of targets are equally vulnerable in this country, so that if someone in this country were determined to strap explosives to themselves and carry out a bombing like these other bombings that we have seen, they probably would be able to do so," he said.
In other words, in order to stop another Sept. 11, Jenkins says, it is important to understand the mindset which leads to such radicalism, and to work, starting at the lowest grassroots levels, to stop the cycle.
Jenkins warned that during the war on terror, America must keep at heart what he described as some of its most essential principles: protecting civil rights and liberties and limiting government power.
Speaking at the RAND Corporation last week, Jenkins said American strategy towards Iraq needs to be based upon setting certain guiding "principles" which can be followed consistently for a period of years, and -- he implied -- through several election cycles.
The Iraq conflict will most likely drag on for many years, he said, and added that Americans should not be surprised if there is still some need for a limited military force in Iraq in 25 years.
He also said that it will be hard to reconcile the ongoing occupation of Iraq with the wishes of many Muslims in Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East for withdrawal of foreign troops.
"You don't square it easily," Jenkins said. "It's going to be a source of tension."
He did, however, offer two examples of scenarios where such an occupation may be less offensive to Iraqi citizens.
"We do have access to military facilities in Turkey and a number of the Gulf Kingdoms," he said. "So if we are down to relatively small garrisons or bases at the invitation of a local sovereign government; that may be acceptable. If also there is something approaching a sectarian civil war and we are there to protect populations, then that could be (perceived as) OK (by Muslims)."
But radical jihadists will most likely find any number of American troops in the region to be "completely unacceptable," Jenkins said.
"It's not a lost cause," he said about the Iraq war last week. "It's getting close."
