What's your narrative on the war?

[Undertoad]

http://newsisyphus.blogspot.com/2005...wi-speaks.html

Experts on Islamic Terrorism--from former high USG officials like Richard "Bush is Personally Responsible for 9/11" Clarke to pundits like Thomas Friedman of the NY Times--are roughly divided in half between two schools of thought on Islamic Terrorism. The first group, the "Muslim Rage School," believes that the source of Islamic Terrorism is the wide-spread anger in the Muslim world directed at the West and at Israel. For partisans of this school, US policy towards Israel and the Palestinians, US support for despotic Middle Eastern regimes, Western economic outperformance of the Muslim world and anger towards US responses to the 9/11 Attacks, all add up to one thing: a seething mass of justifiable rage that presents itself, though a minority of those affected, as radical Islamic Terrorism.

The Muslim Rage School has attracted theorists as ideologically opposed as Edward Said and Bernard Lewis, and is by far and away the dominant school of thought among experts on the topic. (This school is well on display in this month's issue of The Atlantic, a fact which we will delve into in much greater depth this weekend, circumstances and consular emergencies permitting). As a rule, this school's policy preference for defeating Islamic Terrorism is to reduce the generators of the anger. Thus, the US must bring and end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, atone for past actions against the Muslim world, and generally radically change its long-standing foreign policy towards the Middle East. Only then will there be peace.

The second school of thought, the Clash of Civilizations School, argues that the source of Islamic Terrorism is the Muslim world's seething hatred of the fundamental values of the West, and, since the U.S. is the standard-bearer for the West at the moment, especially those of the United States. Adherents of this school, like Victor Hanson and most neo-conservative thinkers, argue that the value system of modern Islam produces a culture that is violently at odds with Western values and, because of this, it wages asymmetric war against the West when and where it can.

[Happy Monkey]

"Muslim Rage" is what makes people succeptible to "Clash of Civilizations" rhetoric.

[russotto]

Put me as totally against the "Muslim Rage" hypothesis and aligned with (though not swallowing whole) "Clash of Civilizations". And add in a large chunk of "opportunistic megalomaniacs".

"Muslim Rage" is just the Neville Chamberlain School of Diplomacy.

[Mr. Kreeck]

Combination of both:

Islamic fundamentalist (Jihadist/terrorist) leaders are reacting to some of the more liberal values of western culture. To say that "they hate our freedom" is an over simplification. They do hate our freedom, they would rather kill a women than watch her walk down the street free. However they greatly enjoy the freedoms and values of western society that lends them more power and authority.

The majority of Islamic fundamentalists (Jihadist/terrorist) look at their history and see that western society has been for centuries, taking advantage of, exploiting, enslaving their culture, natural resources and people. They see today this seeming historic commitment to disrespect personified in, specifically Israeli and U.S. policy, however also all of Western societies view of their world.

While their anger is justified, their reactions are not. Since we are dealing with irrational, reactionary, zealots, ubernationalists and hyperculturalists who will not reason nor compromise the only real solution is, stemming their now easy flow of idealistic, radical young people through counter-information and their leaders through lethal means most likely but ideally capture. This has always been the only way to combat gorilla warfare.

[mdease]

There are two types of "terrorist" in this topic--- the "fundamentalist" terrorist, and the "terrorist". Now, one might claim that they are one and the same, but they are not. The "fundamentalist" takes the Quran, or at least the "fundamentalist" version of the Quran and attempts to force those views upon the world as a whole. The "terrorist" is simply making his stance clear and evident. To fundamentalists, Western Culture is the infidel, the ones of whom the Quran says must die. Their scantly clad women, their gays, and their transgressions against god for eating forbidden foods and not keeping holy his day needs to be punished.. To the terrost, Western Culture is hypocritical, speaking promises and acting lies. Their condemnation of the terrorists actions and justification of the retaliation is their infidel.