[JasonC]

The short answer is I'm a scholar. The long answer is that I've studied Islamic civilization, history, and politics for quite some time. My degree is in political science, from the University of Chicago. I studied the history and politics of the subject with John Wood, Rashid Khalidi, Fazlur Rahman, Robert Bianchi (himself a student of Leonard Binder, perhaps a more widely known name), and others. I also studied medieval Islamic philosophers and theologians, from Al-Farabi to Al-Ghazali, and some later thinkers like Muhammad Iqbal. My own political outlook is conservative and republican. My broader intellectual background comes essentially from studying the history of political philosophy with the Chicago Straussians (Joseph Crospey, Allan Bloom, Nathan Tarcov, Leon Kass). I currently work on intellectual history more generally.

[jackbob]

Very well written. Informative. I only question your use of the word "socialism" here. While the parties in question do call themselves socialists, their definition of it, is quite different than Americans put upon the the word. Arab socialism, like historical German socialism, has little in common with Marxian (American) socialism. Libyan socialism is even more unique, being closer to IWW view than it is to any Arab socialist view.

Additionally, I do not believe we need point to the nazis to find similar kinds of extremism in the west. I'm often amazed at what I have seen right here on FR, even before the 9-11 attack. On a thread last week, a poster was calling for the expulsion of all Arabs from every Mediterranean country from Morocco through Egypt. And since the attack, a number of posters have called for our use of nukes. These people are of little significant difference than those we may end up legitimately targeting for termination in the coming months.

Thanks for the great, most informative replies.