[New York Sun] Youssef Ibrahim - It isn't enough to get the guys with the bombs or beards but to alter the environment that produces them. The war on terror must combine the force of arms with the power of ideas. The West needs strategies conveying to the vast majority of the world's 1.2 billion Muslims that acquiescence to jihadists and their ideologies means a rupture with Western civilization - which still represents the bulk of progress as we define it in today's world. Islamic states including Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Indonesia should dismantle the infrastructure of terror at home - in mosques, schools, theocratic institutions, and inside government itself. This would include total elimination of the madrassa rote systems, the restructuring of religious teachings, and the outlawing of political groups such as Hizballah, Hamas, and the Muslim Brotherhood, which adopt religion as political vehicles.
2006-09-05 01:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive