Middle East Scholar criticizes U.S. ISIS policy at CSU lecture

The United States has been misguided in its efforts to fight terrorism the past 14 years, a Middle East expert said Monday.

Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, brought that message to Columbus as the guest speaker for the Col. Richard R. Hallock Lecture Series at Columbus State University. The event was held at the Cunningham Center, drawing about 100 people.

"When you look at how the U.S. has been approaching this region -- the Middle East and North Africa -- we need to begin with the question of: How is it that we have gotten to this point? How is it that we've gotten it so wrong? And the promise that we saw four and a half years ago, of what was then known as the Arab Spring, seems to have passed us by."

In his presentation, Gartenstein-Ross emphasized three factors to consider when assessing the current state of affairs in Syria and other countries:

The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria's success and over-the-top brutality.

The re-branding of al-Qaida.

And, more broadly, the shifting place of violent non-state actors in the world.

"This isn't a momentary challenge," he said of the third factor. "This is, at least for the foreseeable future, a permanent change to the landscape and one which we are going to be forced to adapt to, hopefully in a much more successful way than we have thus far."

Gartenstein-Ross, an adjunct professor in Georgetown University's security studies program, was born in the United States and converted to Islam while in college. In the year following graduation, he went to work for the al-Haramain Islamic Foundation, a charity dedicated to supporting many terrorist groups, including al-Qaida.

Gartenstein-Ross later abandoned his radical ways and wrote a memoir titled, "My Year Inside Radical Islam," which tells the story of his religious journey.

He is now a distinguished expert on al-Qaida, ISIS and other jihadist organizations.

Gartenstein-Ross said America has been fighting al-Qaida as a terrorist group even though it has morphed into an insurgency. He said the U.S. has failed to adjust to the changing landscape, where violent non-state actors like ISIS are becoming more prevalent.

He said ISIS has raised the bar for brutality and organizations like al-Qaida disagree with the approach, which is creating many divisions in the region.

Gartenstein-Ross said the U.S. has supported al-Qaida groups in an attempt to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, which has only made matters worse. He said both the Obama and Bush administrations have misinterpreted the scenario in the Middle East and made significant mistakes in the region.

"Generally, I think the United States is on the side of angels, but I also think we are blunderingly on the side of angels," he said. "And that's a problem."

Alva James-Johnson, 706-571-8521. Reach her on Facebook at AlvaJamesJohnsonLedger.

This story was originally published October 12, 2015 at 10:32 PM with the headline "Middle East Scholar criticizes U.S. ISIS policy at CSU lecture."