(Weekly Standard) Reuel Marc Gerecht - * The much-anticipated Muslim moderates of Europe have so far not developed with the same gusto as the Muslim activists who have dominated too many mosques in "Londonistan" and elsewhere in Europe. The secularization of the Muslims living in Europe has been, b and large, a great success. The moderates have become European. The militants are the only ones left ardently praying. * The French scholar Olivier Roy has written: "When we consider the [Islamic] movements that embrace violence, we can see that they are not expressions of an outburst in the West of the [Israeli-Palestinian] conflict in the Middle East. Most of the young Muslims radicalize in the West: They are 'born-again Muslims.' It's here that they are Islamicized." * "Their dispute with the world isn't imported from the Middle East: It is truly modern, aimed against American imperialism, capitalism, etc....They exist in a militant reality abandoned by the extreme left, where the young live only to destroy the system." * The Saudis may pay for the mosques and the visiting Saudi and Jordanian imams, but the believers are often having very European conversations in European languages. In France, Belgium, or Holland, sitting with young male believers can feel like a time-warp, a return to the European left of the 1970s and early 1980s. * In the last three centuries, Europe has given birth and nourishment to most of mankind's most radical causes. It shouldn't be that surprising to imagine that Europe could nurture Islamic militancy on its own soil. * A wise U.S. counterterrorist policy would downplay the external causes of Islamic activism in Europe and assume that European society itself will continue to generate the most lethal holy warriors. This means that the Bush administration ought to preempt fate and suspend the visa-waiver program established in 1986 for Western Europeans.
2005-07-26 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive