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The Iraq Effect? Muslim anti-Americanism is a reassuringly nuanced creed.
Wall Street Journal ^ | December 7, 2004 | MICHAEL SCOTT DORAN

Posted on 12/07/2004 6:05:00 AM PST by OESY

...Any serious evaluation of the war on terror must gauge the balance of power between the U.S. and its enemies, not the level of American popularity with the Arab public. It is a fatal miscalculation to treat the war as a zero-sum game, with every mistake by the Bush administration somehow translating into a victory for Osama bin Laden. In order to win the war, America need not be popular. In fact, it can afford to be hated. What it cannot tolerate is a global balance of power that favors al Qaeda, kindred groups, and rogue regimes that might be tempted to supply them with nuclear weapons. In this balance, many Muslims who flaunt their anti-Americanism are either neutral, or actively engaged in the struggle against the enemies of the U.S....

[T]he Saudis use the debate about America as a proxy for their own conflicts, which at base have little if anything to do with the Bush foreign policy....

The very trajectory of Saudi politics over the last 18 months destroys the thesis that the Sunnis are lining up to join al Qaeda. Anti-Americanism may have soared in the kingdom, but al Qaeda's fortunes have plummeted. After the fall of the Taliban, the greatest blow that al Qaeda has received has been at the hands of the Saudi security services. Since May 2003, a month after Saddam's fall, they have arrested hundreds of militants, confiscated huge weapons caches, stemmed the flow of money to al Qaeda, and established formal mechanisms for exchanging intelligence with the U.S....

A backlash is developing against unbridled anti-Americanism. Those who argue that the Iraq war has been a great boon to al Qaeda are selectively reading the talk coming out of the Arab world, and paying no attention to its actions....

(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Editorial; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: 2004; 200412; alqaeda; arab; awdah; binnayef; chirac; fallujah; iraq; musharraf; muslims; nayef; osama; qaeda; saddam; saudiarabia; shiites; sunnis; wahabbis; watan
Mr. Doran is assistant professor at Princeton's Department of Near Eastern Studies.
1 posted on 12/07/2004 6:05:00 AM PST by OESY
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To: OESY

The only reassuringly nuanced creed of anti-American Muslims I want to hear about is that they stop coming here, and the ones who are here go home to their lovely, prosperous, native countries. And stay there. They are our enemy, no matter how nuanced they paint themselves.


2 posted on 12/07/2004 6:17:47 AM PST by 3AngelaD
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To: 3AngelaD

I'm with ya. And furthermore, once we get hydrogen figured out, they can sit on their sand and their oil with no entry into the world economy whatsoever.


3 posted on 12/07/2004 6:32:37 AM PST by yldstrk (My heros have always been cowboys-Reagan and Bush)
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To: OESY

Wow. An academic who understands.

And at Princeton, no less.


4 posted on 12/07/2004 6:33:03 AM PST by tsomer
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To: OESY

I don't personally give a fvck if muslims hate me;

puts us on an even footing.


5 posted on 12/07/2004 6:52:12 AM PST by Redbob
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To: tsomer

I'm willing to bet that many of these ultra-liberal profs know Bush is right about terrorism but won't admit it for fear of being ostracized by fellow lefties. Occasionally one will have the courage to admit that we have to fight the Islamo-fascists. To be sure there are still plenty of blind, leftist screwballs in academia and elsewhere who would rather see western civilization destroyed than admit that a Republican did anything right.


6 posted on 12/07/2004 6:53:32 AM PST by driftless ( For life-long happiness, learn how to play the accordion.)
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To: yldstrk

Except that hydrocarbons are an excellent source for hydrogen. They'd be able to make a contribution, but they'd never again have the world economy by the short hairs like they currently do.


7 posted on 12/07/2004 7:09:56 AM PST by Little Pig (Is it time for "Cowboys and Muslims" yet?)
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To: yldstrk

once we get hydrogen figured out, they can sit on their sand and their oil

You do of course understand that is not just used of gas. Oil is in darn near everything we use.


8 posted on 12/07/2004 9:42:58 AM PST by Valin (Out Of My Mind; Back In Five Minutes)
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To: 3AngelaD

Hate you they do. Annoy a civilization-hating muslim today and post YOUR comments on THEIR blogs. Here's one to start:

http://izzymo.blogspot.com/


9 posted on 12/07/2004 10:35:33 AM PST by Dr. Luv
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To: 3AngelaD

right you are. i have no problem with inturnment camps to "vett" those musloons in our country now. and to those outside looking in , may a pig fat soaked bullet find your
sick freakin skull and pop it like a mellon.
islam is the enemy, they can never be peaceful. EVER!


10 posted on 12/07/2004 4:09:55 PM PST by 537cant be wrong (no kittie! thats my pot pie!)
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To: Dr. Luv

i believe a heart felt PORK AKBAR
is in order.


11 posted on 12/07/2004 4:22:29 PM PST by 537cant be wrong (no kittie! thats my pot pie!)
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