Containment

The purpose of this monograph is to investigate the nature of militant Islam in the context of a global ideological threat; to further examine the strategic concepts associated with the theory of containment developed to win the Cold War; and propose an alternative national strategy of containment to successfully execute the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT). The first section defines the nature of the global threat of militant Islamic fundamentalism, and its goals regarding expansion and the threat to the US and the West. The defined threat was derived through research of current US national strategy documents and the declassified national intelligence assessment, recent academic publications, and released statements and publications of militant leaders such as Osama bin Laden and Ayman Zawahiri. Once defined, key similarities of this current and future threat and the Cold War threat of Soviet Communism are identified from primary documents on American policy and strategy from 1945-1950, and secondary sources associated with the strategy of containment. The critical aspect of this comparison is the analysis of regional and global aims of the threat, and intentions for expansion. This comparison is not exhaustive, but merely adequate to ensure that a counter-strategy of containment is worth pursuit. The key element is the comparison of the similarities of ideological threats across all spectrums of international power and influence. The second section analyzes the successful Cold War strategy of containment and identifies key concepts that can be successful in the containment of militant Islam. The analysis focuses on former national programs designed to leverage the elements of power in support of containment of Soviet communism. Sources for this section are documents on American policy and strategy that originated between 1945 and 1950 that focus on containment strategy and secondary sources that analyze the concepts and doctrine of containment itself. The third secThis work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.