A One-Day Conference – Friday, September 6th, 2013 9:00 a.m. – 2:15 p.m.
U.S. Capitol Visitor Center – Room HVC 201
Recent events in Egypt, Syria, Benghazi, Mali, and Nigeria demonstrated that U.S. policy in the Middle East and Africa was failing—neither was it making Americans safer nor was it helping to bring about regional peace and democracy. The U.S. government built its strategy on the belief that supporting “non-violent” Islamists, notably the Muslim Brotherhood, would weaken the violent Islamists—Al Qaeda and all affiliated movements. With the violence throughout the region signaling a clear failure of this strategy, the United States must radically reassess its strategic approach. This conference brought together leading experts on Islamist ideology, terrorism, and the Middle East, to lay out a new U.S. strategy which will increase domestic security at home, undermine al Qaeda, and stabilize the region.
SPEAKERS
Dr. Patrick Sookhdeo, The Role of Religion in the Battle Space since 9/11
Tawfik Hamid, Psychology and Ideology of Islamist Extremism
Dr. J. Michael Waller, The Muslim Brotherhood and the Mobilizational Power of Ideology
Stephen Ulph, The Importance of Muslim Reformers
Robert R. Reilly, Information Operations: Successes and Failures
Walid Phares, A New U.S. Response to Upheaval in the Middle East
Diana West, Countering Subversion: Lessons from History
Katharine C. Gorka, The OIC’s Political Warfare
Dr. Sebastian Gorka, A New American Strategy