2004: Defense Department Reports US Is Fueling Islamist Militancy by Propping up Authoritarian Regimes in Middle East

The Defense Science Board, a Defense Department task force commissioned to examine the war on terrorism, reports: “If there is one overarching goal [Islamist militant groups] share, it is the overthrow of what Islamists call the ‘apostate’ regimes: the tyrannies of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Jordan and the gulf states… . The United States finds itself in the strategically awkward – and potentially dangerous – situation of being the longstanding prop and alliance partner of these authoritarian regimes. Without the US, these regimes could not survive. Thus the US has strongly taken sides in a desperate struggle that is both broadly cast for all Muslims and country-specific.” [New York Times Magazine, 9/11/2005]