Ten reasons why the war on Islamist terror is ineffective…
As I posted the tiny but important excerpt from Milton Friedman’s interview in my last post, I was reminded of this powerful, compelling and scary essay from The Times, “Can the West defeat the Islamist hreat? Here are ten reasons why not”, by David Selbourne published late last year (Sept 09, ’06).
David gives 10 reasons why the war on Islamist terror is proving to be ineffective: Read the full article here: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,1072-2349195,00.html
A few excerpts:
“LET US SUPPOSE, for the sake of argument, that the war declared by al-Qaeda and other Islamists is under way. Let us further suppose that thousands of “terrorist” attacks carried out in Islam’s name during the past decades form part of this war…
If such war is under way, there are ten good reasons why, as things stand, Islam will not be defeated in it.
1) The first is the extent of political division in the non-Muslim world about what is afoot…
2) The second reason why, as things stand, Islam will not be defeated is that the strengths of the world community of Muslims are being underestimated, and the nature of Islam misunderstood. It is neither a “religion of peace” nor a “religion hijacked” or “perverted” by “the few”…
Islam is not even a religion in the conventional sense of the term. It is a transnational political and ethical movement that believes that it holds the solution to mankind’s problems. It therefore holds that it is in mankind’s own interests to be subdued under Islam’s rule.
3) Indeed, the third reason why Islam will not be defeated, as things stand, is the low level of Western leadership*…
During the half-century of the Islamic revival, it (US, read + India & others) has shown itself at sixes and sevens both diplomatically and militarily. It has been without a sense of strategic direction…
4) Next is the contribution to the disarray of Western policy-making
5) The fifth disablement is to be found in the confusion of “progressives” about the Islamic advance.
6) The sixth reason for Islam’s growing strength is the vicarious satisfaction felt by many non-Muslims at America’s reverses…
7) The seventh reason lies in the moral poverty of the West’s, and especially America’s, own value system**….
8) The next indication that Islam’s advance will continue lies in the skilful use being made of the media and of the world wide web in the service both of the “electronic jihad” and the bamboozling of Western opinion by Muslim spokesmen. It is also a political enterprise in which Muslims and non-Muslims can now be found acting together in furthering the reach of Islam’s world view; the help being given by Western producers and broadcasters to al-Jazeera is the most notable instance of it.
9) The ninth factor guaranteeing Islam’s onward march is the West’s dependency on the material resources of Arab and Muslim countries.
10) Finally, the West is convinced that its notions of technology-driven modernity and market-driven progress are innately superior to the ideals of “backward” Islam. This is an old delusion. In 1899, Winston Churchill asserted that there was “no stronger retrograde force in the world” than Islam.
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David Selbourne is the author of The Losing Battle with Islam which was published in the United States in November last year
* I would add our own leadership in that category…in fact the words that David has used to describe US’ behaviour can be applied in toto to Indian leadership…
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