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On May 26, 2010, John Brennan, deputy national security advisor for homeland security, delivered a speech ' at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washingtonbased think tank
The speech reads as something of a paean to Barack Obamafrom whom all inspiration for current security policies is deemed to flow (and, as such, echoes a speech Brennan delivered to the same center on August 6, 20092). It draws on themes that Obama enunciated in Cairo in June 20093 when he tried to mollify Arab and Muslim opinion. He distinguished between "violent extremists " and "true Muslims "; he vaunted "centuries of coexistence " without mention of jihad or crusades, and he blamed recent tensions solely on "colonialism. " He spoke of Islamic tolerance without any hint of rampant and extreme religious intolerance in Muslim countries. Islam, Obama argued, "is not part of the problem in combating violent extremism - it is an important pari of promoting peace. "
Brennan 's speeches extend these themes and thereby vividly demonstrate the distance the U.S. government has traveled in its counterterrorism policies. Excerpts from Brennan 's May 26, 2010 speech follow with commentary by the editors.
JIHAD IS NOT A PROBLEM
John Brennan: The President's strategy is absolutely clear about the threat we face. Our enemy is not "terrorism" because terrorism is but a tactic. Our enemy is not "terror" because terror is a state of mind, and as Americans we refuse to live in fear. Nor do we describe our enemy as "jihadists" or "Islamists" because jihad is a holy struggle, a legitimate tenet of Islam, meaning to purify oneself or one's community, and there is nothing holy or legitimate or Islamic about murdering innocent men, women, and children.
Middle East Quarterly: To speak of jihad exclusively as a means of purifying oneself or one 's community reveals either ignorance or deliberate obfuscation on Brennan 's part. Jihad through war against unbelievers is rooted in the Qw 'an and the Hadith (reports on the sayings and acts of Muhammad). Historian Michael Bonner in his authoritative study of jihad, Jihad in Islamic History, as well as other writers, has shown that throughout history there has been an inordinate emphasis on armed jihad in the context of invasions...