"I am strongly of the view that what we are witnessing, what we have been drawn into, is a war for the soul of Islam," Sir Richard Billing Dearlove told an audience in Cabot 205 yesterday.
Dearlove's address on the current wars and violence in the Middle East was part of the Charles Francis Adams Lecture Series, which is sponsored by the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.
Dearlove was head of the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) from 1999 until 2004, where he oversaw British intelligence as President George W. Bush, along with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, pushed towards war with Iraq.
The solutions he offered to ameliorate the ongoing conflict focused primarily on moral foundations and relationships with moderate Muslim nations.
Dearlove was particularly concerned about certain U.S. policies, including rendition, which sends terrorist suspects to other countries for questioning.
Although he acknowledged that the gathering of wartime intelligence is necessary, Dearlove called for a more scrupulous, legality-focused approach than the one currently being employed.
Although extralegal methods may bring tactical success, they sacrifice principled justification, Dearlove said.
"Tactical success against Al-Qaida has caused it to mutate into something more sinister and more difficult to deal with," he said.
Dearlove cited the negative portrayal of American actions by media outlets, particularly Arabic broadcasting giant Al Jazeera, as a source of outrage that works against American interests.
Dearlove therefore urged American officials to act within legal boundaries whenever possible. If laws must be bent, he argued, they must be altered in an open, transparent manner.
"There's an element about the moral high ground which is unchangeable, which for me is legality," Dearlove said.
He said that moral capital is especially important now, considering the poor perception of American efforts that abounds in the Middle East.
"The U.S.'s credibility and moral authority in the Middle East are unfortunately at a low ebb," he said.
Dearlove linked this approach with the need to support moderate Muslim governments. In a war between those who completely reject Western culture and those who want to assimilate, he said, moderates are often intimidated into silence.
"It's very much about not allowing regimes to be intimidated," he said.
Dearlove named Algeria, Libya, and Egypt as examples of countries in which the United States should support moderate Muslims.
"We must empower moderate Muslims - the silent majority, in my view," he said.
With moderates as allies, Dearlove said, America can gain a deeper understanding of many of the issues that are central to the war.
"We need more ability to understand the ideas we're up against. We need more ability to articulate our response," Dearlove said. "We're not well qualified to enter into this debate, but some of our allies are."
He also said that the United States should work to end those of its allies' intelligence practices that involve torture.
Although he admitted that a complete overhaul of intelligence-gathering is not feasible, Dearlove expressed confidence that pressure will move many countries in the right direction.
"I think that constant pressure over time on these issues does make a difference," he said.
Dearlove said that by promoting legality, America can more readily gain access to intelligence.
"When you do occupy the moral high ground... it's much easier to recruit human sources of intelligence," he said.
He cited American intelligence during the Cold War as an example. When America was perceived to be on the side of morality, sources were readily available and "presented themselves thick and fast," he said.
Although such sources may not come forward directly to the United States, they could approach moderate Muslim regimes, he said.
Reactions to the speech were mostly positive. Katy Bondy, a first-year Fletcher student, said that the presentation was interesting and "covered a good range of topics dealing with security."
She did, however, feel that more specific examples related to Iraq and Afghanistan would have been helpful.
"I wish he had more concrete examples," she said.
Andrea Dew, a Ph.D. candidate at Fletcher who helped organize the lecture, felt that Dearlove offered excellent analysis.
"I think he did an incredibly professional job. One of his skills is to bring many, many complex themes together," she said.
