Marshall Plan needed post-election to defeat Daesh

A Dubai-based Arab researcher has called for something similar to the Marshall Plan to tackle the root causes of extremism and defeat Daesh decisively. 
“For anyone to get rid of Daesh once and for all, we need something similar to a Marshall Plan. What is needed is a plan to remove the reasons for the existence of these terrorist groups,” said Dr. Dania Koleilat Khatib, a political adviser to the UAE-based think-tank Al-Istishari Al-Strategy Center for Economic and Future Studies and author of “The Arab Lobby: Factors for Success and Factors for Failure.”
During an interview with Arab News on Saturday, she was referring to the American initiative after World War II that led to the recovery of Europe and saw Washington invest $12 billion to help rebuild western European economies.
Khatib’s suggestion was in line with that of former senior US Gen. John Allen and former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
Driving her point home, she said the liberation of Mosul was good news, “but remember that Al-Qaeda in Iraq went underground when the Awakening group was created. When an opportunity arose and there was a vacuum, Al-Qaeda emerged as Daesh.”
Khatib, who studied for her doctorate in philosophy in political science at the University of Exeter in 2014, feels that were Hillary Clinton elected president, she would be more suited to implement this kind of program.
“I don’t know if she would do it and she has not said she would do it, but I think she is more suited to doing it,” said Khatib. “Clinton realizes that she needs to go to the source of the problem. You cannot deal with this region haphazardly or on a piecemeal basis.”
What if Donald Trump wins the election? “He will not do anything. He will let Russian President Vladimir Putin go after Daesh. He once said that he had a secret plan (for dealing with Daesh) but we have no idea what his plan is. I don’t think he has a plan. He will focus less on Daesh and more on homeland security. He will not want to go after the source of the problem,” she said.
She thinks Clinton will win on Tuesday.
“The reopening of the investigation into Clinton’s e-mails by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has affected the polls as is evident from the RealClearPolitics average of polls. Clinton now leads Trump by an average of just 1.7 percentage points. Less than three weeks ago, she was leading by 7 points on the same model. The margin has really shrunk but I still think she is going to win,” Khatib said.
She said people were shocked by the politically inexperienced Trump’s rise against an opponent with more than 30 years of active public life — as former First Lady, former secretary of state and former senator.
“When he first announced his candidacy for president, everyone was laughing. They said Trump would not make it, especially since he was vying for the Republican nomination against seasoned politicians. Trump has reached where he is today because of his populist rhetoric. He is riding on a wave of populism. He doesn’t care about political correctness. He has played to the fears of a large group of relatively uneducated white American men. This is the group that is frightened of an influx of Mexican workers. That group is very happy to hear that Trump is going to build a wall. Of course it is not feasible; you cannot build a wall similar to the Great Wall of China because it is simply not possible. When Trump says that he will not let Muslims enter the US, the average uninformed white American, who sees anyone who is Muslim as a terrorist, thinks, “Yes, we will protect our country.” Trump had the guts to say what the average uneducated white American — the masses — wanted to hear.”
Khatib does not think either candidate would be good for the region.
“But I think Clinton would be better than Trump,” she said. “Trump is isolationist. He wants to isolate America (from the rest of the world). He does not want to interfere in Syria. When he was asked, he said, “We shouldn’t do anything in Syria. Look, we went to Iraq and created a mess.” He does not want to do anything in the region. He is happy with what Putin is doing. He has no real grasp of politics or Middle Eastern issues. When he was asked about Putin during one of the three debates, he said, ‘Yes, Putin is bombing these terrorists.’ He has no real grasp whereas Clinton understands Middle Eastern politics.”
According to Khatib, Clinton realizes that America cannot totally disengage from the region.
“She is fully aware that American disengagement from the region would lead to more problems — for the region and the world. One of the reasons we have Daesh is because of the premature US withdrawal from Iraq. That led to a vacuum which in turn produced ISIS. I think Clinton will try to check Russia which has become very aggressive in the Middle East because of American retrenchment.”
Khatib said that US-Gulf relationship will never be what it once was.
“The cooling of US-Gulf relations has nothing to do with Clinton or Trump. The relations between the US and the Arab Gulf states in general will never be the way they were before simply because the foundation of the relationship is gone. Oil was the reason for the strategic relationship and oil is no longer as important to the US as it was before the discovery of shale oil. Of course, there are other things and interests and we don’t see the Americans packing up and leaving, but I doubt the relationship will reach the level it once was,” she said.
She said the results of the Arab News/YouGov MENA poll were along expected lines.
“On some issues, the Arabs are pro-Trump. Since the Arabs are more conservative, they are anti-abortion. On Middle Eastern issues, however, they are pro-Clinton. Arabs in general are very disappointed with the US. No one is voicing great expectations. The Arab News/YouGov poll was very good and the fact that you asked questions by removing the names of the candidates was also very good,” she said.
In the opinion of Khatib, JASTA is not going to go away.
“You just cannot say publicly that you are with a foreign country against your own people. JASTA, I think, will not go away because it is domestically very popular. What I think will happen is that its enforcement will be limited. The limitation was being talked about even before it was passed. People were saying, “Well, we voted for it but you know it will hurt our country.” So I think its enforcement will be limited,” she explained.
Khatib feels Clinton’s viewpoint on Iran is closer to that of the region.
“Trump says he does not want the nuclear deal but he does not offer any alternatives. I think he will scrap the deal and leave them (the Iranians) to do whatever they want to do. On the other hand, Clinton wants to keep the nuclear deal. The problem with the nuclear deal is that it does not take into account the political ramifications. The deal focused on technical details, like lowering the enrichment of uranium. The deal did not discuss the Iranian role in Iraq, Syria, etc.”
According to her, Clinton realizes that Iranian meddling is very dangerous for the region and is driving extremism.
“When the Shiite militias kill the Sunni population, that drives the Sunnis to join the ranks of Daesh. Iranian meddling is creating chaos in the region. Clinton understands and therefore she will be bolder in taking a tough stand against Iran,” she said.
 
On Syria, Khatib said Clinton’s proposal for enforcing a no-fly zone was a good one.
“Trump will simply allow Putin do what he is doing. Clinton will try to limit Russia’s role; she will work on enforcing a no-fly zone. Of course, creating and maintaining a no-fly zone is an expensive proposition but a no-fly zone would bring an end to the war. It would put an end to the indiscriminate bombing by Assad and the Russians. If this indiscriminate bombing is stopped, then a solution to the Syrian crisis might be possible,” she said. 
 
She called for an effective Arab lobby in the US. “We should not pin great hopes on the next US president. What we should have is an effective lobby in the US, like the Armenian or the Israeli lobby, in order to have a voice. What Arabs think does not really matter to the US and it does not have any effect on US elections. We don’t have any domestic group representing Arab interests,” she said. “We need one.”

Source: Arab News