Reformers v/ Terrorists in the Middle East

I've said before that I think we live in one of those linchpin moments in history--where our actions will have incredible historic impact, either good or bad. We are at the point where radical Islamists have declared a war (and we have finally recognized that declaration) against the rest of the world. Their aims aren't clear, the demands are often either unstated or incomplete, and their attempts at communication often non-existent. It's a war of the liberal, progressive, civilized world against a network of radical, brutal, immature children.

How we address the war, and the root cause, will determine whether our children live under the constant threat of death at the hands of self-styled martyrs. In the best circumstance, you cannot eliminate terrorism--but you can make it a smaller problem by robbing the terrorists of their recruits, their funds, and their ability to organize. We are taking those first, sometimes fumbling, steps to minimizing the problem. While Spain may have opted out, there is still a coalition working for the good.

Part of what brought us to this crisis point, I believe, is the internal stress in the Muslim world. Reformers who would like to see Iran, for example, are in their own conflict with the extremists who never want to see a woman educated or respected, never want to hear political or religious dissent, and who abhor those who refuse to bow to their form of worship. This isn't just a war of the West versus militant Islam, it is also a war of Middle East reformers against terrorists.

Fawaz Turki in today's Arab News:

They “hate America”? Heck, these folks hate everybody.

The theme is universal: Terrorism is the product of despair, humiliation and disgrace, shame at one’s inability to be a determining force in one’s destiny, and at the involuntary forfeiture of one’s powers of self-determination. The antithesis of that condition is democracy.

If we ourselves have failed, and miserably so, to enact that in our political lives over the last half century, then where’s the harm in considering the US proposal for a Greater Middle East Initiative?

You call that a pact with the devil? I call it a pact with historical necessity, for as democrats we shall have our day, and terrorists — posturing behind our appropriated faith — shall have their eclipse.

To let this historical opportunity slip will be a crying shame.

While the whole piece is not precisely a love note to America, there is a compelling honesty and bluntness to what he has to say. Are more in the Muslim world starting to hear the message of "historical necessity?" When we see the recent unrest in Iran, we know that the desire for liberalism is spreading.

The debate in the Middle East between the reformers, though, is how best to implement a more liberal government. How far should reform and democracy go? These democrats and reformers are bound to be fractured and inefficient in their attempts at change, at least until they have resolved some of their differences. Those differences run deep, of course.

There are some who simply want economic reform but want a government based on a very strict reading of the Koran. There are others who want more liberalism in the government, but not to the point that women are fully a part of the process. There are others that would like to see a Western style democracy, but with a law that recognizes the influence of the Koran in its dictates.

The reality is that our war is not merely killing terrorists, gathering intelligence, and freezing bank accounts; our struggle also involves education, economic inducement to reform and take part, and supporting the reformers. Luckily, there are hands reaching back to ours in friendship and partnership.

That should give us all reason for hope.

Posted by zombyboy at March 18, 2004 07:27 AM | TrackBack