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SOCom aims for building bridges

At a workshop with military officers from all over the world, SOCom discusses a global neighborhood watch.

By ALEXANDRA ZAYAS
Published October 20, 2005

TAMPA - Special Operations Command, which oversees the nation's secret commandos, welcomed military officers from more than 60 countries Wednesday to a two-day workshop at MacDill Air Force Base to encourage more collaboration in the war on terror.

Directed to "synchronize" the war on terror by President Bush, the "closed society" is opening up in ways it never has before, said Stanley N. Schrager, SOCom's public diplomacy adviser. In conjunction with Strategic Command, SOCom held the international workshop not to speak to foreign leaders about what America needed from them, but to listen to what they had to say, Schrager said.

"We really want to have this be the beginning of a continued dialogue," he said.

The terrorists have already established their own networks, said Rohan Gunaratna, head of the International Center for Political Violence and Terrorism Research in Singapore. That's why the sovereign nations of the world need to network, he told the officers attending the conference. In its attacks on the United States on Sept. 11, 2001, al-Qaida didn't gain the support of the Muslim community worldwide, but it did gain a following among 30 to 40 jihad groups, Gunaratna said.

Those groups, he said, have now received al-Qaida funding, ideological indoctrination, and guidance on tactics and technology. The small group once led by Osama bin Laden has branched into a "global jihad movement," shifting its attacks from local to Western targets.

The spreading movement can't be stopped by just bombs and bullets, Schrager said.

"There's no military solution to this particular conflict," he said. "It's a war of ideology and it's a war for the hearts and minds of people. What we're trying to do is explore new avenues here as an outgrowth of this SOCom mission."

SOCom presented GRIP: a Global Rewards Information Program, which Schrager compared to the television show America's Most Wanted.

In the show, the FBI teams up with the media to make the public aware of certain criminals. Viewers who cooperate in turning in the criminals are monetarily rewarded. With GRIP, nations would implement reward programs consistent with their own cultures to create a kind of global neighborhood watch.

The two-day conference at MacDill continues with a session today in which foreign leaders will break into groups and discuss what counterterrorism tactics have worked for them, how cultural differences play into the war and what the United States needs to improve in its own efforts.

Gunaratna said he will offer the United States one suggestion: "I think the United States needs to invest more in the Muslim world." It is crucial to recognize the distinction between Muslim culture and the terrorists, he said.

"Terrorism is supported by less than one percent of the Muslim population," he said. "But in order to target the terrorist groups and the terrorist supporters, you need to have the total support of the Muslim population."

Alexandra Zayas can be reached at 813 226-3354 or at azayas@sptimes.com

[Last modified October 20, 2005, 01:19:18]