05/19/05

Before attributing the Koran controversy solely to a poorly sourced magazine article and the ability of al-Qaeda and other groups to cynically exploit it, the West would do well to draw a lesson from the episode that would help formulate better plans to cope with and defeat Sunni militancy. That lesson is simply to conclude that a substantial number of the West's opponents in the War on Terrorism are motivated by faith, and that they find U.S. and Western actions -- especially those that seem to target Islamic sanctities -- overwhelmingly more offensive and humiliating than the norms and lifestyles of Western societies. Objectively, the negative reaction of Muslims at all societal levels to the Newsweek story, and their reluctance to credit the magazine's retraction, should not have been a surprise in the West -- and yet there is every indication of Western shock...

http://www.antiwar.com/scheuer/?articleid=6001

from AntiWar.Com, by Michael Scheuer


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp