U.S. National Security Adviser Michael Flynn Wants To Bring The War Against Radical Islam To The Schools And Social Media

National Security Adviser Michael Flynn (Reuters)

Paul Sperry, New York Post: Flynn’s plan to beat radical Islam starts with schools and social media

President Trump’s national security adviser wants to fight not just Islamic terrorists but the “radical ideology of Islam,” and he plans to do it from the grass roots up, starting with our children at schools while also using social media.

Dealing with the global Islamist threat on a tactical level through drone strikes and arrests hasn’t worked, retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn argues, according to his largely overlooked 2016 book, “The Field of Fight: How We Can Win the Global War Against Radical Islam and Its Allies.” He wants to combat it more broadly, using informational warfare, among other things, on a scale not seen since World War II.

But first, he writes, the government has to overcome the political taboo of tying Islamic violence to the religion of Islam, including its sacred texts, which he says the enemy is using as a manual of warfare.

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WNU Editor: National Security Adviser Michael Flynn is taking the same approach that the Kremlin decided to take after the Beslam School massacre .... to not only directly fight Islamic terror groups, but to also deligitimize the radical Islamic ideology that it espouses. In this type of battle the Russian approach is to treat this as information warfare .... starting with the Koran itself which many radical Islamists use as their manual and reason to fight. This Russian approach first starts by discrediting the Islamic rewards for martyrdom (or suicidal terrorism) and the totalitarian tenets of Sharia .... starting with how women have been treated by radical Islamists, to what life is actually like for those who live in such societies. Has this Russian strategy been successfully .... yes and no. In the Caucasus radical Islam does not hold the allure that it once did .... but it is an ideology that is still there, and supported by many. In regards to U.S. policy and strategy .... in my opinion information warfare is where the U.S. has been lacking in its fight against extremist groups in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere .... and what little has been done has been a costly failure .... US government spent over $500m on fake Al-Qaeda propaganda videos that tracked location of viewers (The Independent). That is why National Security Adviser Michael Flynn remarks are a positive development .... especially his belief that the focus in this "information war" should be on the schools and on social media, while working with "moderate Islamists" to preach a more tolerant and peaceful Islam. But this is an involvement that will take years to take hold .... while facing many Islamists who are hostile to this "pacified" Islam .... starting with our closest Arab ally Saudi Arabia.

Update: Speaking of our allies .... Erdogan tells off Merkel for using phrase 'Islamist terrorism' (AFP). More here .... ‘Islam is a religion of peace’: Erdogan rebukes Merkel for 'Islamist terrorism' phrase (RT).