June 15, 2007:
There is a fundamental lack of
understanding between many Moslems and non-Moslems over the place of Islam in
the world, and the reasons behind Islamic terrorism. The problem is that in
Islam "tolerance" means "we're the dominant religion, and you practice yours
according to our rules; special taxes, restrictions on symbols, music, etc.,
and, by-the-way, we can change our minds." While the Christian world has
largely overcame these supremacist attitudes, many Moslems have not. Thus we
have a situation where, in most countries where the population is split between
Moslems and non-Moslems, it is the Moslems who are doing most of the attacking
and persecuting. At the same time, these violent Islamic radicals insist they
are doing it in self-defense. This makes no sense, especially to their many
victims. The intolerance and terrorism doesn't end there. In countries like
Malaysia, it's government policy to give Islamic law an edge over the civil
law. In countries like Saudi Arabia, there is no civil law, only religious law,
and a religious police force, paid for by the government, to enforce proper
Islamic behavior on locals and foreigners alike.
It's widely accepted in the Islamic world that the
Christian West is on the rampage, and everything the West does is solely for
the purpose of securing the oil supplies of Moslem countries, and ensuring the
survival of Israel. These two items make cooperation with Moslems difficult,
although Moslem countries are willing to work with the West to go after Islamic
terrorists, especially if these Islamic radicals are carrying out attacks in
Moslem nations. Note that, if an Islamic terrorist organization is not making
attacks in a particular Moslem country, they will often find refuge there. This
was how Syria, Libya, Iraq (before 2003) and Iran became safe havens for so
many Islamic terrorist organizations.
Of course, the West buys oil from Islamic nations,
and the sellers need the buyers. Without the Western nations, what are the
Moslem oil producing nations going to do with their oil? But that's typical
Western logic, which is dismissed as wrongheaded by many Moslems, for reasons
that are beyond the comprehension of most Westerners (and a lot lf Moslems, but
that's another story.) Same deal with Israel. Like many Arab nations, Israel
was created out of bits and pieces of the old Ottoman empire. But because the
Jews were not Moslems (although many are, at least according to their DNA,
"Arabs."), it became official policy in most Moslem nations to deny that Israel
exists or, failing that, to deny that it had a right to exist. This is a unique
situation in world history, and even normally pro-Moslem officials at the UN
point out that, well, Israel exists and everyone should get used to it.
Moslems will ignore their religious, economic and
anti-Semitic beliefs when it suits their purposes, but many will not abandon
them, and that is a permanent problem in the global effort to contain Islamic
terrorism.