The Islamic State, terror and the Muslim world

The Obama administration is leading a multi-front offensive against the Islamic State (IS), a terrorist movement in the Middle East that has seized large areas of both Iraq and Syria, in the name of re-establishing a single caliphate -- a government combining religious and political authority -- over all Muslims.

The U.S.-led effort combines air strikes in Iraq and Syria, direct support to Kurdish pesh merga militias in Iraq, more than 1,000 U.S. military personnel on the ground in Iraq to assist the Kurds and Iraqi government forces, indirect support to armed groups fighting both the IS and Syrian dictatorship of Basher Al Assad, and international efforts to shut off the flow of money and volunteers to the Islamic State.

The final measure, approved by Congress and signed by the president, puts in place congressional oversight on support to the Syrian rebels -- the most problematic elements of this strategy -- an improvement over the previous policy, which was entirely driven by the White House through covert operations.

While there remain questions about how the vetting and review of rebel forces will proceed, especially given how decimated this movement has been under attacks by both IS and the Syrian regime, they are a necessary part of the campaign against the Islamic State.

President Obama has succeeded in creating a coalition of more than 40 nations for the components of this strategy, including not just traditional European allies such as the UK, France, the Netherlands, Denmark, and other NATO partners, but also key regional Muslim states.

Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Kuwait and other Muslim states are not only lending moral support, they are contributing strike aircraft and pilots, air bases, information about IS locations and supply lines, and aid to the movements fighting against the Islamic State.

Some have questioned the value of these allies, accusing these governments of having divided loyalties, with sympathy for the IS among their populations limiting their ability to respond.

While there have been individuals throughout the Muslim world who have provided aid to IS, and hundreds of foreign volunteers have made their way to Syria and Iraq to join this insurgency, the resolve -- and self-interest -- of states such as Jordan, Saudi Arabia and other Muslim governments is clear and publicly transparent.

For many years before the U.S. responded seriously to Al Qaeda and, now, to the IS, populations in the Middle East were not only the primary victims of terrorism, but also the primary fighters against it.

While state-sponsored violence has long been a tactic used by governments, it was a secretive movement of Shia Ismailis, known in the West as the Assassins, which in late 11th century practiced wide-scale terrorism, with the goal of preventing any single Sunni or Shia dynasty from consolidating unified rule over the Middle East. Sometimes in collaboration with European Crusaders, and at other times in opposition to them, the Assassins killed so many Muslims that their names itself became synonymous with pre-meditated political murder.

Early in its existence, Saudi Arabia itself was threatened by a movement that resembled the Islamic State; the Ikhwan (Brotherhood). Founded just before World War I by Wahhabi Muslim clergy in Arabia, it originally was in alliance with the Saudi dynasty, with both fighting to expel the Ottoman Turks and create a single monarchy over the Arabian Peninsula.

With the success of this effort by the early 1920s, however, the Ikhwan broke with the state established by King Ibn Saud, demanding continued warfare against other Muslim states, and refusing to allow European and American trade and influence.

King Ibn Saud refused their radical demands, which would have led to war against the British and other nations, massacres of Shia Muslims and others under Saudi authority, and created a state more extreme than even the most conservative members of the Saudi family could accept.

A brief civil war ensued, ended with the destruction of the Ikhwan movement. Although Saudi Arabia is without question religiously and politically conservative, from its origins it has opposed the fanatical view that the West is an enemy.

Jordan, as well, has faced continual threats from terrorist groups. In 1970, King Hussein of Jordan faced an uprising from Palestinians. Faced with a wave of assassinations, airline hijackings, bombings and other terrorist attacks, the Jordanians launched a nationwide counter-insurgency against the more extreme elements of the Palestinian Liberation Organization.

Expelled from Jordan, many of these terrorists reorganized, with the most infamous being Black September, which launched the massacre of Israeli athletes and the 1972 Munich Olympics.

Some states in the Middle East have also seen their previous support for terrorism return with a vengeance. Syria, in particular, has long played host to Hamas, Hezbollah and other terrorist movements.

It is thus hard to be sympathetic to the regime in Damascus as it bemoans attacks by the Islamic State against it, having provided refugee to equally brutal movements, with many of the same goals, over the years.

The United States should welcome the support of the nations currently aligned against the Islamic State; this coalition that includes Saudi Arabia and Jordan, as well as indispensable allies such as the Kurdish pesh merga, has a depth of experience in the war on terror that will prove quite helpful.

Even though U.S. efforts against terror do pre-date 9/11, many of our allies in the Middle East have faced enemies such as these many times over. These prior conflicts, and victories over more extreme movements, should give encouragement in the present fight. However, they also serve as a reminder that, even though this current struggle will end with the destruction of the Islamic State, there will be return engagements.

Wayne Bowen, a U.S. Army veteran, received his Ph.D. in history from Northwestern University. He resides in Cape Girardeau.