Big Think

 Paul Cruickshank: Well I think that the . . .  One of the Bush administrations’ mantras, which is, “You’re either with us or you’re against us,” has been incredibly ineffective in the fight against terrorism.  Also the military approach of the Bush administration and the United States has used has been counterproductive because the Iraq war has really allowed Al Qaeda to generate capabilities around the world, and has been a powerful recruiting tool for the organization.  So the military option has not been successful at all, and it’s made the problem worse frankly.  U.S. intelligence agencies have had a very good track record in going after terrorists and finding them.  They’ve cooperated with . . . with agencies across the world.  They’ve captured much of the leadership.  Of course that leadership carries on being regenerated.  And the crucial thing really is to look at the root causes, and what causes terrorism, and what causes people to be recruited into these terrorist organizations.  Well that doesn’t mean you don’t go after the cell.  You don’t disrupt terrorist activity.  That’s also incredibly important, but so are the root causes.  And European counterterrorism efforts have maybe been more cognizant of the need to win over the wider Muslim population.  Certainly Europe has a larger struggle on its hands than the United States.  We have not really seen a local, domestic problem in the United States with Islamic radicalization.  In Europe you have thousands of people in different countries who are basically supportive of Al Qaeda.  And there’s real concern over what they might do, so there’s been a real challenge for European counter-terrorism officials in Britain.  There’s been the reliance on sort of a partnership with the Islamic community to win their trust so that they can gain intelligence on the radicals if they do emerge either here or there within the communities in the United Kingdom.  And that has borne many fruits in the UK, and there’s a real partnership now between the British police and the Muslim community within that country.  And certainly it shows how a lower enforcement approach can be very, very successful.

Recorded on: Jan 14 2008