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Islam of today, after billions of dollars of effort to radicalize it is bad indeed. Islam, as a religion in and of itself is a bad bunch of nonsensical theology. However, if you reflect back before Saudi Arabia, and Iran infused billions on pushing the fanatical aspect of Islam, you would realize that many Moslem nations had liberal population. Moslem women in miniskirts were all over Arab capitals in the sixties! Thinkers and observers who really know what they are talking about like Mr. Pipes, and myself (at the risk of sounding conceded) can attest to that wave of fanaticism/radicalization as a fairly recent phenomenon. It is reversible only if we put our minds, determination, and money to do it. Today with wall to wall coverage of the Islamic terrorism there is hardly one single observer/reporter who brings up the history of Islamic radicalization of late, and ties up to the Iranian revolution funding, and the sudden petrodollars windfall in Saudi Arabia after the oil embargo.

The "war on terror" is a failure if we do not use orchestrated ideological war. The military will win a battle, but as they say how you going to win the peace. Or as Mr. Freedman of the N.Y. Times said it before our invasion: "I am sure that we will win over Saddam, but then after we occupy Iraq, how are we going to deal with its population"? He also said: it is similar to a dog running after a car, when he catches up with the car, what is he going to do about it?

>Thinkers and observers who really know what they
>are talking about like Mr. Pipes, and myself (at
>the risk of sounding conceded) can attest to that
>wave of fanaticism/radicalization as a fairly
>recent phenomenon.

Wahhabism is over 200 years old. The new feature is not fanaticism, but the mullahs getting their hands on the petro-dollars.

>The military will win a battle, but as they say how
>you going to win the peace.

The implicit belief here is 'objective distance'. There isn't any distance. The battle field is global. The front is your door step. The 'peace' is a delusion engendered by our enemies.

We have two choices, hide behind a wall or separate the mullahs from their petro-dollars. You seem to be suggesting the wall exists and is secure. I disagree. The world is global village. Walls will not protect us. We must un-fund the mullahs.

You'll forgive me if I don't concede to your conceit ;-)

Radical Islam is hardly new but a recuring theme - Muhammad himself, the Khajarites of the 8th Century, the Fatimids of the 11th Century, the Mameluks of the 13th Century, the rise of the first wave of radical madrasas under the Ottomans and finally the Wahhabis of the last two centuries.

The problem is the Qur'an. It says (as one example):
[9.29] Fight those who do not believe in Allah, nor in the latter day, nor do they prohibit what Allah and His Apostle have prohibited, nor follow the religion of truth, out of those who have been given the Book, until they pay the tax in acknowledgment of superiority and they are in a state of subjection.
[9.30] And the Jews say: Uzair is the son of Allah; and the Christians say: The Messiah is the son of Allah; these are the words of their mouths; they imitate the saying of those who disbelieved before; may Allah destroy them; how they are turned away!
[9.31] They have taken their doctors of law and their monks for lords besides Allah, and (also) the Messiah son of Marium and they were enjoined that they should serve one God only, there is no god but He; far from His glory be what they set up (with Him).
[9.32] They desire to put out the light of Allah with their mouths, and Allah will not consent save to perfect His light, though the unbelievers are averse.

Islamic scholars from time to time paper it over or sweeten it up, but there it is. The scholars get declared apostates and the cycle goes round again.

How to deal with the population?

Islam today is like a radioactive material. The material itself is not harmful. But the particles that shoot out of it are deadly. One of those particles took down the twin towers. There's ordinarily nothing you can do with radioactive material but smother it in lead or concrete until the radioactivity dies out. At that point it is no longer Islam.