The “Caliph-Strophic” Debate

Newsweek ^ | October 24, 2006 | Dr. Walid Phares

[John Carey]

It seems that the US is having a hard time winning the hearts and minds of Arabs and Muslims, but an equally serious problem can be observed in the intellectual circles of America where some have had a difficulty coming to terms with the terminology of the War of Ideas. If the educated elite of the United States is incapable of identifying the ideology and the strategy of the Jihadists five years after 9/11, we not only have a problem with handling the War in Iraq, but also with the future of American national security as a whole.

An article published in Newsweek magazine on October 13, 2006 illustrates this problem. Entitled “Caliwho?” it asks why President Bush has raised the issue of an Islamic Caliphate. Lisa Miller and Matthew Philips, co-authors of the piece, begin by defining the term, “Caliphate” as a “fifty-cent word” posing a question of why a U.S President would use it four times in one speech. At first read, I thought the Newsweek journalists were lamenting the delay with which the chief executive of the nation has finally begun using this term - half a decade after September 11, and fifteen years after the collapse of the Soviet Union. After all, has not the American public demanded that the US Administration and Congress take steps toward “informing” the nation about the enemy, its ideology, and its future goals? Since one of the most important objectives of al Qaeda, the Taliban, and the Salafi Jihadi networks around the world has been the re-establishment of a Caliphate - incorporating in it all Arab and Muslim states – one can only express relief that the term “Caliphate” has finally entered the President’s speeches.

[Niuhuru]

I don't even know why we should care about Hearts and Minds anymore. We have a war to win.

[GoLightly]

Good article. I imgine, if Clinton had uttered the word Caliphate the authors of the NW article would have fallen all over themselves about his nuanced understanding of the situation.

[John Carey]

Think of "Hearts and Minds" as part of the war. In fact, some experts have said unless you attack the REASONS THEY HATE US, the war will last forever....

http://extendedremarks.blogspot.com/2006/08/war-for-hearts-and-minds.html

[John Carey]

I don’t believe Europe is doomed yet. Even though our demographics clearly are (in some instances, extremely) unhealthy, I do not believe that we will succumb to Islam. Rather, I believe Islam is the wake-up call that we need to revitalize our civilization and cultural self-confidence. We have to stabilize the growth of the Muslim population that is already in Europe, while fighting a fierce battle of hearts and minds such that these very people realize that it is in their interest to adopt our values of freedom of speech, thought and expression. To do this we must start by cutting off the umbilical cord of family reunions and arranged marriages from the Muslim homelands, which both contribute to maintaining the Muslim ghettos as well as exponentially expanding them. This is already being done in Scandinavia, where now even the most leftist of newspapers support restricted family reunion legislation toward specific population segments.

http://www.steynonline.com/index2.cfm?edit_id=66

[GoLightly]

In my limited contact with Norwegians on-line, I've seen more cultural confidence demonstrated than I have from most other European nations. Maybe it's the lutefisk.