|
 n
his well-written and thoughtful essay, "Religion
is Not the Enemy" (National Review Online, October 19,
2001), David F. Forte makes the important point that extremists
like Osama bin Laden "do not represent historic or mainstream
Islam" but are propagating "a political ideology"
akin to Leninism. He very sensibly urges a U.S. policy that avoids
strengthening this foul ideology.
Professor Forte
mentioned me by name as an analyst who disagrees with his views,
so I feel invited, if not required, to respond to his argument.
He and I do
not disagree on the basics: What Osama bin Laden propagates is anathema,
it differs profoundly from traditional Islam, and Americans wish
to see his ideology lose membership. We differ in one main area:
Professor Forte sees fundamentalist Islam as being within the parameters
of historic Islam. He argues that "we must remain aware of
the moral distinction between sects like the Wahhabis and terrorist
groups like al Qaeda and Islamic Jihad." This moral distinction
then has a practical implication: "What we must do, at all
costs, is to prevent bin Laden's call to arms from bringing Islamic
fundamentalists into his extremist ranks and into his political
battle."
Professor Forte
draws the line differently from me. Whereas Professor Forte sees
the problem as a small group of active terrorists in al Qaeda; I
see the entire fundamentalist movement constituting the problem.
I hold that Islamic fundamentalists stand outside of historic Islam
and are already within bin Laden's extremist ranks.
To me, every
fundamentalist Muslim, no matter how peaceable in his own behavior,
is part of a murderous movement and is thus, in some fashion, a
foot soldier in the war that bin Laden has launched against civilization.
He mentions the Wahhabis approvingly but I wonder why. In the 1920s,
the Wahhabi movement split and the somewhat less extremist elements
of this movement defeated the yet more extreme of them. The Taliban
regime is a rough approximation of what the more extreme group would
have created in Saudi Arabia. Its funding and support comes in good
part from Saudi Arabia. In other words, there is a direct line between
the Wahhabis and Osama bin Laden.
For this reason,
I have written about the fundamentalists, "Many of them are
peaceable in appearance, but they all must be considered potential
killers." By way of comparison, I would say precisely the same
about Nazis and Leninists; however non-violently they might conduct
their own lives, the fact that they back a barbaric force means
they too are barbarians and must be treated as such.
Sadly, I must
report that the sympathizers of Osama bin Laden are legion. Fully
one quarter of the populations in Pakistan and the Palestinian Authority
(survey research finds, in separate polls both overseen by U.S.
organizations) consider the September 11 attacks acceptable according
to the laws of Islam. To me, this suggests that a very substantial
body of Muslim opinion is already in bin Laden's camp; more, that
virtually the whole range of fundamentalist Islamic opinion agrees
with his goals and his methods.
This difference
between Professor Forte's and my views has immense policy implications.
He can cheerfully advise Washington to work with the huge majority
of Muslims to isolate a tiny fringe of violent ideologues. I grimly
tell the policymakers that the problem is not just the miniscule
element he points to but the much larger one of fundamentalists,
which I estimate at 10 to 15 percent of the Muslim population. Professor
Forte does not explicitly say so, but his argument suggests that
the U.S. government can cooperate with regimes such as those of
Iran and Saudi Arabia in an effort to isolate the Taliban; I see
all three as just different aspects of the same problem.
I wish I could
subscribe to Professor Forte's sunny conclusion that "By recognizing
bin Laden's evil for what it is, Americans can begin a process of
engagement with the vast populations of the Muslim world."
Instead, I must offer a more pessimistic formulation: "By recognizing
the wide backing of bin Laden's evil for what it is, Americans must
begin a process of confrontation with 10 to 15 percent of the vast
populations of the Muslim world."
|
