Containment: A Viable Strategy for Success in the Gwot

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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 . 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 sec