Extremist Religious Ideologies and Military Strategy

There are literally hundreds of factions in various countries all over the world that support or have religious ideologies that are considered extreme. They are extreme because they conduct or sponsor violent acts and because they seek to undermine the legitimacy of a nation's government while instilling fear in the hearts and minds of the population. These factions or groups have often used a distorted view of religion to propagate their agenda. At the top of the agenda for some and one of the greatest concerns for America is transnational terrorism and those that use extremist religious ideologies to export it. It is important for military planners to know why extremist religious ideologies exist and why the ideology behind the threat resonates among its supporters. However, the problem is one that has already saturated the contemporary operational environment (COE). Military planners must consider every implication pertaining to extremist ideologies, including extremist religious ideologies in order to develop better strategies that enable successful operations with the COE.