Hussain writes: "A policy paper issued by the Air Force Research Laboratory
includes a chapter setting forth controversial and unsubstantiated theories
of radicalization, including the idea that support for militant groups is
driven by 'sexual deprivation' and that headscarves worn by Muslim women
represent a form of 'passive terrorism.'"
Woman wearing a hijab looks in the mirror. (photo: M. Spencer Green/AP)
US Military White Paper Describes Wearing Hijab as "Passive Terrorism"
By Murtaza Hussain, The Intercept
24 February 16
A policy paper issued by the Air Force Research Laboratory, titled
Countering Violent Extremism: Scientific Methods & Strategies, includes a
chapter setting forth controversial and unsubstantiated theories of
radicalization, including the idea that support for militant groups is
driven by "sexual deprivation" and that headscarves worn by Muslim women
represent a form of "passive terrorism."
The paper, first published in 2011, was reissued by the Air Force lab this
past summer following President Obama's announcement of a national
counter-extremism strategy. This January, the revised copy was published
online by the open source research website Public Intelligence. A preface
for the revised report cites a summit convened by Obama on extremism as a
reason for revisiting the subject, adding that "the wisdom contained in this
paper collection is more relevant than ever."
Many of the articles contained in the document have scholarly merit and are
written by academics and researchers in the field of counterterrorism. But a
chapter titled "A Strategic Plan to Defeat Radical Islam," written by Dr.
Tawfik Hamid, a self-described former Islamic extremist and fellow at the
Potomac Institute for Policy Studies, contains a number of bizarre
prescriptions for how to defeat terrorism, few of which appear to be
supported by empirical evidence
Among Hamid's claims are that support for militancy is primarily a product
of sexual deprivation and that terrorism bears relation to religious dress.
His ideas for combating terrorism thus include "addressing the factors
underlying [sexual] deprivation" among young men, as well as "weakening the
hijab phenomenon." Hamid further claims that, along with fundamentalist
ideology, the "hijab contribute[s] to the idea of passive terrorism" and
represents an implicit refusal to "speak against or actively resist
terrorism."
Hamid does not make clear how he reaches these conclusions. On his personal
website, he describes himself as "an Islamic thinker and reformer" and says
he has a medical degree in internal medicine from Cairo University and a
master's degree in cognitive psychology and educational techniques from the
University of Auckland. He also claims credit "for developing one of the
most innovative Cognitive Psychology models, the Multi-Dimensional Learning
Model."
Two terrorism experts and a professor of Islamic Studies questioned the
assertions in Hamid's chapter of the Air Force white paper, calling them
unsubstantiated.
"This characterization of the hijab demonizes millions of women whose
reasons for covering have nothing to do with the advocacy of political
violence," says Arun Kundnani, a lecturer on terrorism studies at New York
University. "The document as a whole includes some scholars who are serious
researchers. However it appears the purpose of this chapter by Hamid is not
a genuine investigation of the roots of violence, but rather an attempt to
supply national security agencies with bogus surveillance rubrics."
Hamid's theory of radicalization states that terrorism stems from a lack of
sexual activity among young men and that addressing this issue is key to
reducing support for militant groups. "I believe young Muslims are motivated
to join radical groups because of sexual deprivation," he writes, claiming
further that "addressing the factors causing deprivation in this life can
interrupt the radicalization process and reduce the number of suicide
attacks by jihadists."
An expert on the subject of foreign fighters disagrees. "There is virtually
no evidence that sexual deprivation is somehow a cause of radicalization, or
suicide attacks," says Amarnath Amarasingam, a fellow at George Washington
University's Program on Extremism. "From my interviews with jihadists in
various organizations, it is clear that they are there for a complex variety
of reasons. To simply attribute their motivations to sexual depravity is to
miss the point entirely."
An accompanying chart that describes Hamid's purported theory of
radicalization is similarly unfounded. "One thing that is absolutely clear
from studies of radicalization is that this conveyor belt model from
'conservative beliefs' to 'violence' is incorrect," Amarasingam says.
Ingrid Mattson, a professor of Islamic Studies at the University of Western
Ontario, said Hamid's comments about the hijab are baffling. She pointed out
that the garment is worn by an incredibly diverse array of women, including
Nobel Peace Prize recipient Malala Yousafzai, who was the subject of a
Taliban assassination attempt after she campaigned for women's rights in
northwest Pakistan.
"Is hijab any Muslim woman's headcover? Any style, any country? Because
covering the head is very widely observed among Muslim women," Mattson says.
"There is no logic here. Is Malala, who wears a hijab and was shot by the
Taliban, a terrorist? There is nothing, sadly, more banal than for powerful
people to tell women to take their clothes off."
Hamid's article also expresses a striking faith in the power of government
public relations efforts to overcome deeply unpopular policies toward the
Middle East.
It claims that improvements in the U.S.' reputation in the Mideast "will not
come from drastic changes in policy," but instead from government PR
campaigns. "For example," Hamid writes, "during the late 1970s and early
1980s, the U.S. Agency for International Development sent food aid to Egypt.
Images of chickens wrapped in bags adorned with the U.S. flag significantly
improved Egypt's perceptions of the U.S., even though it had not altered its
pro-Israel policies."
Hamid repeated his theory about the power of food aid in 2011 testimony to
the House Armed Services Committee in which he claimed that such efforts
had, among Egyptians, "created a link in the human brain between the word
'U.S.A' and the good taste [of chicken]."
Hamid's theories seem to contradict a Rumsfeld-era study commissioned by the
Pentagon's Defense Science Board Task Force. That study traced the poor
reputation of the U.S. in the Middle East to government policies, not to
insufficient PR. Arguing that "Muslims do not 'hate our freedom,' but
rather, they hate our policies," the report cited the U.S.' support for
dictatorial regimes, its military occupations of countries like Iraq and
Afghanistan, and its "one-sided support in favor of Israel" as the primary
factors behind its poor reputation in Muslim countries.
Still, Hamid's thoughts are apparently influential in government; he says on
his website that his opinion has been solicited by a wide range of
government agencies, including the Department of Defense, the National
Security Agency, the Special Operations Command, and the Office of the
Director of National Intelligence. It is not clear if he has been paid for
his appearances at such agencies.
Hamid is currently a writer at the right-wing website Newsmax, where he
publishes a running column titled "Inside Islam." In recent weeks, he has
written several articles lavishly praising Republican presidential
candidates Donald Trump and Ben Carson for their vituperative public
statements about Muslim Americans.
Hamid did not respond to requests for comment.
The updated version of Countering Violent Extremism: Scientific Methods &
Strategies includes a preface that credits Hamid with providing a "soup to
nuts strategic plan" for combating radicalism that "addresses the components
of the Islamist terrorism cycle at ideological, psychological, social, and
economic levels." The original version of the report was cited by the FBI in
the development of its own anti-extremism strategy in 2014. Both the
original and revised versions contain Hamid's chapter on radicalization.
Hamid's section ends with an unsettling argument for using harsh military
force to fight terrorism, comparing it to the use of chemotherapy to fight
cancer. "Nobody supports the intentional killing of innocent civilians," he
says, "but in war, as in medicine, good cells die when we treat bad ones. .
It is unfair to blame the doctor for killing good cells."
Hamid's chapter "is no more than Islamophobic propaganda and should not have
been included in any kind of government training material or published
research," Kundnani said.
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Woman wearing a hijab looks in the mirror. (photo: M. Spencer Green/AP)
https://theintercept.com/2016/02/23/department-of-defense-white-paper-descri
bes-wearing-hijab-as-passive-terrorism/https://theintercept.com/2016/02/23/d
epartment-of-defense-white-paper-describes-wearing-hijab-as-passive-terroris
m/
US Military White Paper Describes Wearing Hijab as "Passive Terrorism"
By Murtaza Hussain, The Intercept
24 February 16
policy paper issued by the Air Force Research Laboratory, titled Countering
Violent Extremism: Scientific Methods & Strategies, includes a chapter
setting forth controversial and unsubstantiated theories of radicalization,
including the idea that support for militant groups is driven by "sexual
deprivation" and that headscarves worn by Muslim women represent a form of
"passive terrorism."
The paper, first published in 2011, was reissued by the Air Force lab this
past summer following President Obama's announcement of a national
counter-extremism strategy. This January, the revised copy was published
online by the open source research website Public Intelligence. A preface
for the revised report cites a summit convened by Obama on extremism as a
reason for revisiting the subject, adding that "the wisdom contained in this
paper collection is more relevant than ever."
Many of the articles contained in the document have scholarly merit and are
written by academics and researchers in the field of counterterrorism. But a
chapter titled "A Strategic Plan to Defeat Radical Islam," written by Dr.
Tawfik Hamid, a self-described former Islamic extremist and fellow at the
Potomac Institute for Policy Studies, contains a number of bizarre
prescriptions for how to defeat terrorism, few of which appear to be
supported by empirical evidence
Among Hamid's claims are that support for militancy is primarily a product
of sexual deprivation and that terrorism bears relation to religious dress.
His ideas for combating terrorism thus include "addressing the factors
underlying [sexual] deprivation" among young men, as well as "weakening the
hijab phenomenon." Hamid further claims that, along with fundamentalist
ideology, the "hijab contribute[s] to the idea of passive terrorism" and
represents an implicit refusal to "speak against or actively resist
terrorism."
Hamid does not make clear how he reaches these conclusions. On his personal
website, he describes himself as "an Islamic thinker and reformer" and says
he has a medical degree in internal medicine from Cairo University and a
master's degree in cognitive psychology and educational techniques from the
University of Auckland. He also claims credit "for developing one of the
most innovative Cognitive Psychology models, the Multi-Dimensional Learning
Model."
Two terrorism experts and a professor of Islamic Studies questioned the
assertions in Hamid's chapter of the Air Force white paper, calling them
unsubstantiated.
"This characterization of the hijab demonizes millions of women whose
reasons for covering have nothing to do with the advocacy of political
violence," says Arun Kundnani, a lecturer on terrorism studies at New York
University. "The document as a whole includes some scholars who are serious
researchers. However it appears the purpose of this chapter by Hamid is not
a genuine investigation of the roots of violence, but rather an attempt to
supply national security agencies with bogus surveillance rubrics."
Hamid's theory of radicalization states that terrorism stems from a lack of
sexual activity among young men and that addressing this issue is key to
reducing support for militant groups. "I believe young Muslims are motivated
to join radical groups because of sexual deprivation," he writes, claiming
further that "addressing the factors causing deprivation in this life can
interrupt the radicalization process and reduce the number of suicide
attacks by jihadists."
An expert on the subject of foreign fighters disagrees. "There is virtually
no evidence that sexual deprivation is somehow a cause of radicalization, or
suicide attacks," says Amarnath Amarasingam, a fellow at George Washington
University's Program on Extremism. "From my interviews with jihadists in
various organizations, it is clear that they are there for a complex variety
of reasons. To simply attribute their motivations to sexual depravity is to
miss the point entirely."
An accompanying chart that describes Hamid's purported theory of
radicalization is similarly unfounded. "One thing that is absolutely clear
from studies of radicalization is that this conveyor belt model from
'conservative beliefs' to 'violence' is incorrect," Amarasingam says.
Ingrid Mattson, a professor of Islamic Studies at the University of Western
Ontario, said Hamid's comments about the hijab are baffling. She pointed out
that the garment is worn by an incredibly diverse array of women, including
Nobel Peace Prize recipient Malala Yousafzai, who was the subject of a
Taliban assassination attempt after she campaigned for women's rights in
northwest Pakistan.
"Is hijab any Muslim woman's headcover? Any style, any country? Because
covering the head is very widely observed among Muslim women," Mattson says.
"There is no logic here. Is Malala, who wears a hijab and was shot by the
Taliban, a terrorist? There is nothing, sadly, more banal than for powerful
people to tell women to take their clothes off."
Hamid's article also expresses a striking faith in the power of government
public relations efforts to overcome deeply unpopular policies toward the
Middle East.
It claims that improvements in the U.S.' reputation in the Mideast "will not
come from drastic changes in policy," but instead from government PR
campaigns. "For example," Hamid writes, "during the late 1970s and early
1980s, the U.S. Agency for International Development sent food aid to Egypt.
Images of chickens wrapped in bags adorned with the U.S. flag significantly
improved Egypt's perceptions of the U.S., even though it had not altered its
pro-Israel policies."
Hamid repeated his theory about the power of food aid in 2011 testimony to
the House Armed Services Committee in which he claimed that such efforts
had, among Egyptians, "created a link in the human brain between the word
'U.S.A' and the good taste [of chicken]."
Hamid's theories seem to contradict a Rumsfeld-era study commissioned by the
Pentagon's Defense Science Board Task Force. That study traced the poor
reputation of the U.S. in the Middle East to government policies, not to
insufficient PR. Arguing that "Muslims do not 'hate our freedom,' but
rather, they hate our policies," the report cited the U.S.' support for
dictatorial regimes, its military occupations of countries like Iraq and
Afghanistan, and its "one-sided support in favor of Israel" as the primary
factors behind its poor reputation in Muslim countries.
Still, Hamid's thoughts are apparently influential in government; he says on
his website that his opinion has been solicited by a wide range of
government agencies, including the Department of Defense, the National
Security Agency, the Special Operations Command, and the Office of the
Director of National Intelligence. It is not clear if he has been paid for
his appearances at such agencies.
Hamid is currently a writer at the right-wing website Newsmax, where he
publishes a running column titled "Inside Islam." In recent weeks, he has
written several articles lavishly praising Republican presidential
candidates Donald Trump and Ben Carson for their vituperative public
statements about Muslim Americans.
Hamid did not respond to requests for comment.
The updated version of Countering Violent Extremism: Scientific Methods &
Strategies includes a preface that credits Hamid with providing a "soup to
nuts strategic plan" for combating radicalism that "addresses the components
of the Islamist terrorism cycle at ideological, psychological, social, and
economic levels." The original version of the report was cited by the FBI in
the development of its own anti-extremism strategy in 2014. Both the
original and revised versions contain Hamid's chapter on radicalization.
Hamid's section ends with an unsettling argument for using harsh military
force to fight terrorism, comparing it to the use of chemotherapy to fight
cancer. "Nobody supports the intentional killing of innocent civilians," he
says, "but in war, as in medicine, good cells die when we treat bad ones. .
It is unfair to blame the doctor for killing good cells."
Hamid's chapter "is no more than Islamophobic propaganda and should not have
been included in any kind of government training material or published
research," Kundnani said.
http://e-max.it/posizionamento-siti-web/socialize
http://e-max.it/posizionamento-siti-web/socialize
