[AM2000]

The one good thing about Iraq is that it is a secular state.

With a relatively Westernized bureacracy - by Arab standards, at least. Certainly a nation we'd want to preserve (sans Saddam), I agree. However, my post was directed at your (and so many other Westerners) statement that there's merit in keeping away Islamic weirdos. Instead of keeping them out of the cage, we oughta be concentrating (via our Arab proxies of course) on dividing them by magnifying the very real differences between the various schools of thought. Sufism dominated the Islamic world at one point in time (a relatively peaceful period, coincidentally) and if it was possible then it's possible now.

[Dog Gone]

That's a fair critique, although in my defense, the emphasis was meant to be on "weirdos." I'm under no illusion that the West is going to destroy Islam as a religion. But it's imperative that we cultivate leaders in that region who are tolerant and moderate, just as you point out.