Revisiting the Islam Question

I received two emails from someone I know, who wishes to remain anonymous. I think his comments about the Islam question are perceptive, relevant, and provocative, so I'm posting them here, with his permission. Other emails on this subject are welcome-- agreeing, disagreeing, or contributing something new.

[emailed comments follow]

About Islam I have some minor thoughts and observations. I am hardly an expert
but have been reading up on the formation of Israel, the history of Islam in
the Middle East, and the history of Judaism.

Islam as we know it today is not the Islam preached by Muhammed. The Islam
of today was spread primarily through the use of force by an extremely brutal
Arab culture. It is this Arab culture of yesterday that has most strongly influenced
the last 1500 years of traditional interpretation of the Koran and has shaped
Islam. There is much common ground between Islam, Judaism, and Christianity,
if you compare the basic tenets. (Granted I know little of Christianity, but having
been raised in a predominantly Christian society, I will make the dangerous
assumption that I have a grasp of the basic ideals.). (The House of Ibrahim, or
'People of the Book' or however you want to put it are all related, in the Koran.)
Traditional Islam would not accept or abide by suicide attacks. At the time that
Constantinople fell to the Muslim hordes, Muslim soldiers who wontonly attacked
women and children (innocents, as defined in the Koran) would be executed.

None of which changes the face of Islam today, which is violent, ethnocentric
(on religious lines) and places little value on human life. The biggest source
of resentment in the Islamic world, and the great rallying banner, is Israel.
Israel was, in fact, created by violence that involved the theft of property,
the forced evacuation of people who had lived in an area for hundreds of years,
and the organized attempts to eradicate any signs of the existing peoples.
Towns, landmarks, rivers, and such were renamed. Historical sites were
destroyed, as were legal records pertaining to bloodlines or property ownership.
This is not much different than the treatment that the Arab Muslim conquerers
occasionally gave others. It also reflects, perhaps, a taint on the Jewish
psyche created by losing half of its population to European attempts at
extermination within less than a decade.

Muslims that I have dealt with in the US (mostly in the D.C. area) have been
much like any other group- proud of their heritage, but after a generation or
two, as much American as that guy wearing the monster truck t-shirt and beating
his kids at the Wal-Mart. I leave out 'Nation of Islam.' They have a fair
following in Richmond and where I live now. They are, pretty much without
exception, black racists with their own spin on Islam. They consider themselves
Muslim much the same way Mormons consider themselves Christian.

As for the proper way to deal with Islam- like Japan, the Arab cultural
elements worship glory and death. Unlike the Japanese- they are global,
existing in every major nation on earth. To destroy [Islam] is impossible,
without destroying humanity. To defeat it by force is unlikely- there is
simply too great an element that would be willing to sacrifice millions of
their fellow Muslims (martyrs) in order to defeat their enemy, and they
are too geographically dispersed [for us] to be able to threaten any base
sufficiently to hold them to good behaviour.

I think that a successful approach to resolving the problems with Islam will
have to strike on many fronts at once. First, we should identify and support
those factions of Islam in the US, Europe, and Australia that share the bulk of
our modern ideals and are sympathetic to our ways of live, if not our political
agendas. Second, we should identify and destroy those groups given to violence
who exist in fixed, confined areas. Chechnya is a good example. The goal of the
Chechen rebels is to create an Islamic state- but the driving philosophy of
that branch of Islam is that all governments on earth except Islamic states are
evil. That crap needs to be squashed. Parts of Indonesia and Africa could also
be targeted, for the same reason. The Mideast cannot be treated that way. Too
many allied factions and tribal groups span multiple countries. All paths to
peace in the Mideast lead to Israel-Palestine.

We also need to make all efforts to culturally indoctrinate the Islamic nations
towards acceptance of some of our "Western values." I understand that France,
like the US, has many Muslims who identify nationally with the culture of the
country rather than the nebulous 'Islamic Nation.'

Perhaps there really does need to be a conspiracy of nations, such as the Saudi
king claims exists, but rather than being aimed at the destruction of Islam,
aimed at reshaping Islam- pruning the radical elements as much as possible and
allowing the more tolerant to grow.

[from the second email]

Much of the Muslim world has been conditioned by years of controlled press
to demonize the West. The US, in particular, is the heart of all conspiracies
(save the mythical Jewish conspiracy, in which they also believe.) Not all
Muslims are so naive. Interviews with people of Qatar, Egypt, and some Iranians
show that there is a strong separation in what many of these people believe
about the US government and the US people. They distrust government statements
and will believe almost any negative accusation, but play US video games, wear
our clothes, watch our movies, etc. Despite the oppressive regime, about 6000
Iranians gathered for a candlelight vigil after Sept 11th to show sympathy for
the victims. Imagine something like that happening in North Korea. I have
trouble trusting the statements and motivations of my government, and I am a
pro-American native. I cannot but imagine that others from the outside would
find it harder to tell truth from lie. Having made that statement, I would
still caution that if all Middle Eastern Muslims knew the truth of every
motivation and action the US took, they'd still hate us. We support Israel, we
encourage the teaching of ideals at odds with the Koran. (Teaching about other
religions, for example.) We are a non-Islamic government.

I feel that Islam is today what Christianity would have been had the Branch
Davidians gained significant control of the spread of Christianity in the 2nd
century C.E.

Also, as unpopular as it may be to point out, a lot of the negative view of the
US in the Mideast derives from our actions in the last 100 years: the formation
of Israel, the abondonment of Afganistan (twice), our meddling in local
affairs during the Cold War to ply one country against another, and our failure
to support the Shi'ite rebellion in Iraq that we instigated. We are so far down
the popularity scale that almost any move will have more negative political
impact than positive. A good start would be to stabilise and strengthen
Afganistan. It does not help that we could be dragged into a conflict between
India and Pakistan (both US allies) over Kashmir. Unless we give Kashmir to
Pakistan on a silver platter, we will be demonised yet again.

re: improving our intel in the Muslim world

One of the problems we have had with intel in the past is a fear of using
people who have immigrated from the areas in question. With so many Arabic
dialects, it is hard to get the number of people we'd need with fluency.

re: religious reform

Reform has been attempted within Islam many times- but it is a faith that
teaches a fundamental intolerance of corrupting the faith. There cannot be
another prophet, by definition. If you attempt to change local beliefs without
a strong backing to protect you, it usually means you get executed. Kinda slows
things down, yes? Ideas... separate factions from the Mideast to allow
alternative views to grow. Support those factions with money, intel,
propaganda, or what have you that need help to spread more tolerant (West
favourable) views. Recruit as many other nations, media sources, and such as
possible to attempt to change the worldview of the masses. Plan on it taking a
generation or two. Actively recruit any other forces possible to thwart those
factions that want to kill you, by as many layers of indirection as possible.
Against these efforts will be places like Iran, Syria, and (formerly) Iraq,
where the government controls the media and also represents one of the most
extreme anti-US factions in the neigborhood. Getting rid of these governments,
one way or the other, may very well be required for Mideast peace and peace
with Islam.

[end emails]