A new nonprofit that was established Monday seeks to “name and shame” the sources of financing for Islamist extremist groups and bring public pressure to cut them off.
“This is a problem that can’t be attacked by government alone. … The private sector not only has a role but a responsibility to play along actively,” former homeland security adviser Frances Townsend said at a news conference announcing the formation of the Counter Extremism Project. She is the group’s president.
The group’s efforts are modeled on the work of another nonprofit, United Against Nuclear Iran, with whom it shares a CEO: Mark Wallace, head of a New York investment-management firm that specializes in natural resources development. Plans include creating a comprehensive database of extremist groups and their support networks.
Concerns about funding the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria have focused on contributions from governments and rich individuals in the Middle East that started with support for rebels fighting the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad. There’s also the problem of the group’s control of oil resources in Syria and Iraq, which it seems to have no problem selling on the world market.
“Anytime someone’s got oil to sell in this world, they can find a market,” retired Marine Gen. James Mattis, former commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East, told the House Intelligence Committee last week.
The Counter Extremism Project also aims to counter the Islamic State’s sophisticated media campaign, which most recently was made evident in the release of a 55-minute recruiting video, “Flames of War,” which promises a “direct confrontation” with the West, including the United States.
Wallace said the group’s researchers would produce translations of extremist communications and news about them in English and other Western languages so they can reach a wider audience. Plans also include campaigns to counter the extremists’ messages on social media and in the news.
“We’ll work with everyone who wants to counter this narrative.” Townsend said.
Though extremists make up a small minority of Muslims worldwide — a 2008 Gallup study found that 7 percent of the 1.5 billion Muslims worldwide were “politically radicalized” — they have sufficient numbers and funding to push Muslim-majority nations to the brink of crisis, just as the Islamic State has done in Iraq.
“The real hope is to empower the majority within the Muslim world … to stand up and fight back.” said former Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., a leader of the new group.
Other leaders of the group include former House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman, D-Calif., former State Department official and George W. Bush adviser Elliott Abrams, Dennis Ross, President Bill Clinton’s top Middle East peace negotiator, and August Hanning, a former director of Germany’s national intelligence service, the BND.
Wallace said the new nonprofit has chosen to keep its donors secret for safety reasons. “We have a duty to protect those who want to suit up and challenge” the extremist message, he said.
