STAYING THE WRONG COURSE

The majority of us now understand that the Iraq venture was a bad mistake. People do stupid things out of fear. And it was fear aided by misinformation that got us into Iraq. Just as it was fear (of communism) that got us bogged down in Viet Nam. Communism doesn't work, can't work, and is evolving into something else every-where it has reigned. Our fear of it ignored that basic fact.
Islam is also evolving, and will, eventually, move toward more personal freedom and representative government. Education does that. (Trust me on this, I have a Ph. D. in world religions). There are one billion, three hundred million Muslims, and as many differences among them as there are within any other religion. Our greatest danger is not terrorism, but that the fear of terrorism will continue to make us do stupid things that alienate ever larger numbers of Muslims. We need the help of that world, and cooperation with it, if we are to successfully deal with terrorism. We saw that in Pakistan's part in uncovering the plot in England to blow up American airliners over the Atlantic. Successful world-wide intelligence sharing is the only way terrorism can be stopped!
To work effectively with the Muslim world, we must seek continuously to understand it, it's divisions and concerns. We have to read a lot and learn to listen.
Most Muslims are secular in outlook, as are most Christians. Both religions however
include sizeable factions that are devout and zealous about their faith. These people are frequently "fundamentalists," meaning they tend to interpret their holy Scriptures
literally. That means if it says adulterers are to be stoned, they want to go out and do it (usually only to women, however).
For Muslim literalists, the preferred form of government is theocracy. That's what Muhammad established in his day, and is the ideal system, they believe. After all, if God has given us a perfect law, why would we want to substitute man-made laws? (By the way, there are growing numbers of Christians in the U. S. that think that way too.)

The folks who want to establish theocratic rule in Muslim countries are called Islamists. That, however, does not include all Moslems, or even the majority of them. But it is a growing number, and probably a majority in key (and critical) countries like Pakistan and Egypt (both ruled by military dictators friendly to the U.S.) Now, not all Islamists advocate or support violence in pursuing their theocratic goals. Many, in fact, are opposed to violent means of achieving political change. We need to support and encourage those folks, while opposing intelligently the increase in numbers of the violent ones. More on this later.

What do you think? Let me know at:
jgoodwin004@centuryTel.net