Having recently finished reading CDR Youssef Aboul-Enein’s book, Militant Islamist Ideology: Understanding the Global Threat, published by the Naval Institute Press (2010), one can see why U.S. leadership is clueless on the Islamist threat.
Not only does Aboul-Enein — “a top adviser at the Joint Intelligence Task Force for Combating Terrorism” who “has advised at the highest levels of the defense department and intelligence community” — argue that only “militant” Islamists (as opposed to run-of-the-mill Islamists) pose a threat to the U.S., but he recommends things like, if ever an American soldier desecrates a Koran, U.S. leadership must relieve the soldier of duty, offer “unconditional apologies,” and emulate the words of Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Hammond: “I come before you [Muslims] seeking your forgiveness, in the most humble manner I look in your eyes today, and say please forgive me and my soldiers,” followed by abjectly kissing a new Koran and “ceremoniously” presenting it to Muslims.
Read more on his flat out wrong assertions and distortions concerning Muslim doctrine and history in my review of his book.