Question 23: Mr. Jim Saxton (R-NJ):
Summary: Can you comment on this paragraph in your book regarding the mindset of the men and women in the Islamic world?
(question summary by incap)
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Response from Richard Perle (not transcribed but available on audio)
Question 24: Mr. Jim Saxton (R-NJ):
Summary: What do you see transpiring in the Middle Eastern societies who are developing the kind of governments we are aiming to promote, and the influence of groups like Hezbollah and Hammas?
(question summary by incap)
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Response from General Wesley Clark
transcript by Reg NYC
Just to follow up on that.
There are organizations, many of them taking active work inside countries in the Middle East right now. The National Endowment for Democracy is one that's very active there. There are a number of other institutions. They deserve the support of the American people.
And we need to encourage our allies and friends around the world to join in these efforts. It's one of the reasons why I believe we should be talking with governments, because when we talk with governments it lets us facilitate the support of human rights workers and Democracy organizations around the world.
But there's another issue that Richard has brought up that he didn't fully come back to that I'd like to stress in front of the committee. When we're fighting terrorism, we are fighting a battle for the minds of the men and women. But it's not a battle that's necessarily going to be won by improving their, either their participation in government or their material conditions.
Rather than simply jailing terrorists and holding them there without release or shooting them, what at least one government in the Middle East has begun to do is send in Islamic clerics to talk with them.
Many of the people who are terrorists against us, who are so committed to what they believe that they're willing to sacrifice their lives for it, are people who have strong religious beliefs that can be argued. And so, there are examples of terrorists actually being argued with for days and days and days, and renouncing their previous convictions that the Q'oran suggested they should use force.
So, I just want to underscore to the committee that when we're talking about the threats we face, this threat of terrorism is an ideological challenge to the United States and what we believe in about the rights of man and human dignity, no different in the challenge than the threat of Communism was. And just as we fought against Communism on an ideological basis as well as on a material basis, we need to encourage our friends in the Islamic world to use the appropriate ideological combat to change the minds of men and women.
It can work, and it might even- if we did it in Guantanamo- it might even provide a solution to the vexing problem of what we're going to do with these people we're holding in Guantanamo.
Response from Richard Perle (not transcribed but available on audio)
