Retired Marine Gen. John R. Allen, Obama's new envoy to the "anti-ISIS coalition," was much in mind while I was writing this week's column even if he is not part of the column's short roll call for the pandering to Islam that is codifed in COIN.
Now Allen gets his own story (below). Note his anti-ISIS deputy: Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Bret McGurk. McGurk withdrew his nomination to be ambassador to Iraq after a series of inappropriate emails to a woman not his wife (and WSJ reporter) were leaked to media. Allen withdrew his nomination to be supreme allied commander in Europe, after thousands of pages of emails to a woman not his wife were discovered in an FBI investigation.
... The thing is, this isn't a joke. Or, if it is, the laugh's definitely on us.
From CNSNews.com (links from the original):
A global effort to counter claims by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS/ISIL) that it is acting in the name of Islam must include a counter-narrative that highlights “our profound respect” for the religion, the administration’s point man in the anti-ISIS coalition said this week.
Retired Marine Corps Gen. John Allen was speaking in Kuwait, where representatives of more than a dozen Islamic and Western met to discuss using public communications to combat ISIS (also known as Da’esh – an acronym for the Arabic rendering of the group’s name, ad-Dawlah al-Islamiyah fil-Iraq wa ash-Sham).
“As we seek to expose Da’esh’s true nature,” Allen told the gathering on Monday, “we must also tell a positive story, one that highlights our respect – our profound respect for Islam’s proud traditions, its rich history, and celebration of scholarship and family and community.”
“We must work with clerics and scholars and teachers and parents to tell the story of how we celebrate Islam, even as we show that Da’esh perverts it.” ...
Allen said that ISIS propaganda serves both to attract recruits and “perverts the innocent.”
“It is only when we contest Da’esh’s presence online and deny the legitimacy of its message – the message that it sends to vulnerable young people – and as we expose Da’esh for the un-Islamic, criminal cult of violence that it really is, it is only then that Da’esh will be truly defeated.”
He said every member of the coalition had a role to play in combating the image ISIS portrays of itself.
“Da’esh’s online messengers present themselves as the true and victorious representatives of Islam. They seek to portray themselves as winners, true leaders worthy of financial support that attracts and radicalizes foreign fighters,” he said.
“I believe every coalition partner, every one, has a unique and a vital role to play in striking down this image – this image within the context of our respective cultural, religious, and national norms.” ...
The administration last month appointed Allen as special presidential envoy for the anti-ISIS coalition, with Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Brett McGurk, an Iraq specialist, serving as his deputy.