What the West should have learned from its ‘war on terror’

What binds two interlocking battles against militancy — to stop attacks in the West and stabilise the conflict areas — is integration, writes Peter Apps

Behind US President Barack Obama’s weekend state of the nation speech lies an awkward reality. Ever since the September 11 attacks , the West has been fighting two, in some ways separate, but deeply intertwined battles against Islamist militancy.

One — to protect the West from attack — has actually gone remarkably well. The other, however — to shape events in the Middle East and surrounding regions and push back radical militant groups — has been something of a disaster. Somehow, those two campaigns must be reconciled if groups like Islamic State (IS) and its ideology are to be defeated.