The Reaper
12-16-2009, 16:37
From the RCP blog:
http://realclearpolitics.blogs.time.com/2009/12/16/waiting-in-vain-for-the-islamic-reformation/
December 16th, 2009
Waiting in Vain for the Islamic Reformation
Posted by Tom Bevan | Email This | Permalink | Email Author
Tom Friedman, hopeless optimist:
Let's not fool ourselves. Whatever threat the real Afghanistan poses to U.S. national security, the “Virtual Afghanistan” now poses just as big a threat. The Virtual Afghanistan is the network of hundreds of jihadist Web sites that inspire, train, educate and recruit young Muslims to engage in jihad against America and the West. Whatever surge we do in the real Afghanistan has no chance of being a self-sustaining success, unless there is a parallel surge — by Arab and Muslim political and religious leaders — against those who promote violent jihadism on the ground in Muslim lands and online in the Virtual Afghanistan.
Note to Tom: don't hold your breath. We're now eight years removed from 9/11, and the only thing the last 3,016 days have taught us is that there is no Islamic reformation coming any time soon, no budding civil war from which moderate Islam will emerge victorious.
As an aside, it certainly doesn't help matters that despite nearly a decade peppered with additional acts of terrorism by Islamic fundamentalists, much of the media and the liberal intellectual elite of the Western world (among them, Mr. Friedman himself) continue to cling to a doctrine of political correctness that prevents the kind of unvarnished dialogue the matter requires. One need look no further than the terrorist attack at Fort Hood last month for a good example of what I'm talking about.
Like Friedman, I was once an optimist for the cause of moderate Muslims as well. No longer. Nearly four years ago I wrote a column similar to the one Friedman wrote today, calling on moderate Muslims to step up and reclaim the mantle of Islam as a religion of peace and tolerance:
February 8, 2006
Still Waiting For Moderate Muslims....
By Tom Bevan
Six days after September 11, President Bush went to the Islamic Center in Washington, D.C., to deliver a message to a shocked, grieving nation: “These acts of violence against innocents violate the fundamental tenets of the Islamic faith.” “Islam,” the President continued, “is peace.”
Five years later, after bombings in Bali, Turkey, Madrid, London, Israel, Iraq, and Amman (to name a few), the savage killing of Theo van Gogh, the murdering of children in Beslan, the burning of thousands of cars in Paris, and now a global conflagration over a few lame cartoons published in a Danish newspaper months ago, it is more than understandable the world is starting to question whether President Bush's proclamation was more wishful thinking than fact.
(cont. at link)
http://realclearpolitics.blogs.time.com/2009/12/16/waiting-in-vain-for-the-islamic-reformation/
December 16th, 2009
Waiting in Vain for the Islamic Reformation
Posted by Tom Bevan | Email This | Permalink | Email Author
Tom Friedman, hopeless optimist:
Let's not fool ourselves. Whatever threat the real Afghanistan poses to U.S. national security, the “Virtual Afghanistan” now poses just as big a threat. The Virtual Afghanistan is the network of hundreds of jihadist Web sites that inspire, train, educate and recruit young Muslims to engage in jihad against America and the West. Whatever surge we do in the real Afghanistan has no chance of being a self-sustaining success, unless there is a parallel surge — by Arab and Muslim political and religious leaders — against those who promote violent jihadism on the ground in Muslim lands and online in the Virtual Afghanistan.
Note to Tom: don't hold your breath. We're now eight years removed from 9/11, and the only thing the last 3,016 days have taught us is that there is no Islamic reformation coming any time soon, no budding civil war from which moderate Islam will emerge victorious.
As an aside, it certainly doesn't help matters that despite nearly a decade peppered with additional acts of terrorism by Islamic fundamentalists, much of the media and the liberal intellectual elite of the Western world (among them, Mr. Friedman himself) continue to cling to a doctrine of political correctness that prevents the kind of unvarnished dialogue the matter requires. One need look no further than the terrorist attack at Fort Hood last month for a good example of what I'm talking about.
Like Friedman, I was once an optimist for the cause of moderate Muslims as well. No longer. Nearly four years ago I wrote a column similar to the one Friedman wrote today, calling on moderate Muslims to step up and reclaim the mantle of Islam as a religion of peace and tolerance:
February 8, 2006
Still Waiting For Moderate Muslims....
By Tom Bevan
Six days after September 11, President Bush went to the Islamic Center in Washington, D.C., to deliver a message to a shocked, grieving nation: “These acts of violence against innocents violate the fundamental tenets of the Islamic faith.” “Islam,” the President continued, “is peace.”
Five years later, after bombings in Bali, Turkey, Madrid, London, Israel, Iraq, and Amman (to name a few), the savage killing of Theo van Gogh, the murdering of children in Beslan, the burning of thousands of cars in Paris, and now a global conflagration over a few lame cartoons published in a Danish newspaper months ago, it is more than understandable the world is starting to question whether President Bush's proclamation was more wishful thinking than fact.
(cont. at link)