America's Crash Course On Islam

Here's another fine insight into Islam by Daniel Pipes.
FROM CNSNews.com Commentary
By Daniel Pipes
America's Crash Course On Islam
September 12, 2007
How goes the "war on terror"? One would think that the absence of a successful dramatic terrorist operation against Westerners since the London bombings in July 2005 would be heartening. But an atmosphere of gloom predominates.

A recent much-publicized Foreign Policy magazine poll of 108 American specialists, myself included, found merely 6% who agreed with the statement, "The United States is winning the war on terror." A whopping 84% disagreed.

This negativism reflects twin realities: Islamism (outside Iran) is waxing everywhere, while the civilized world is making profound mistakes -- blaming itself for Muslim hatred, underestimating and appeasing the enemy. Several trends:

-- Governments negotiating with Islamist terror organizations like Hezbollah and Hamas.

-- Leading institutions (the press, the academy, etc.) accepting non-violent Islamists as part of the solution.

-- The left making common cause with Islamism against their capitalist/Judeo-Christian opponent.

But there is also good news in the war, and it concerns the deepening education and spreading awareness of growing numbers of Westerners, especially on the right, about the nature of the war and the enemy. Americans are reading books, watching documentaries, keeping up with the news, and getting actively involved.

For example, the phrase "war on terror," widely accepted six years ago, is now generally seen as obsolete because it confuses a tactic with an enemy (though the term continues to be used due to the lack of consensus on a replacement).

Nor would any high American official today repeat anything like then-Secretary of State Powell's analysis one day after September 11, 2001, that the terrorist attacks "should not be seen as something done by Arabs or Islamics; it is something that was done by terrorists."

Rather than refute such silliness, conservatives debate an issue that barely existed pre-September 11 but bears close watching for its policy implications.
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