Obama admin needs clearer strategy in Middle East, analysts say

As terrorist groups have multiplied and spread throughout Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, analysts stressed Wednesday the need for the Obama administration to communicate a stronger strategy to Americans and allies in the region.

Mary Beth Long, a former assistant secretary of defense, said allies in the region don’t know where they fit into the U.S. strategy in the Middle East since the administration has not created and shared its plan. While the allies may not have always agreed with the decisions of past administrations, Ms. Long said they always knew where they stood in a way that they don’t under Obama.

“If you’re not present and you’re not strong, you’re not there. And if you’re not there, you’re not credible,” she said at a Foundation for the Defense of Democracies conference.

Fran Townsend, a former homeland security adviser to President George W. Bush, said the lack of a clear-cut strategy will ensure the conflict stretches on for generations.

“I promise you, our children and our grand children are in for this fight,” she said. “You are at war for the next 20 years with this for lack of a strategy.”

The fight against terrorism has become more difficult in recent years as extremist groups have multiplied, spread geographically and developed propaganda to recruit around the world, the analysts said.

“The threat has become so much more complex over the last several years,” Matthew Olsen, former director of National Counterterrorism Center said. “If we’d had this conversation a couple years ago, we would have been talking about just core al Qaeda. Now it’s [al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula,] al Qaeda-affiliated groups, [the Islamic State,] Boko Haram.”

While al Qaeda used to try to stay out of the spotlight and conduct its work in the shadows, Ms. Townsend said the Islamic State is using America’s own social media networks to recruit fighters with propaganda “that al Qaeda could only have dreamed of.”

“They can recruit, they can raise money, it is a very sophisticated enemy,” she said. “No longer do they hide in the shadows…these guys actually brag about their accomplishments sand issue propaganda and beheading videos publicly.”