Off track in Iraq

Most of us Americans just don’t get it about Islam. A substantial number of Americans misperceive attitudes in the Islamic world toward US efforts to fight terrorism and its policies in the Middle East.

We have the idea that the Islamic world should like us and respect our right to defend ourselves. We seem to have a really hard time understanding that Islam is fundamentally opposed to everything we stand for. We want to believe that it is just another peaceful religion, something no more exotic than say Mormonism or Christian Science.

In one major poll of American attitudes, respondents were asked in August-September whether they thought "a majority of people in the Islamic world favor or oppose US-led efforts to fight terrorism." A plurality of 48% incorrectly assumed that a majority of Islamic people favor US led efforts to fight terrorism." Only 46% knew that they do not.

When asked whether respondents thought "a majority of people in the Islamic world think US policies in the Middle East make the region" more or less stable, 35% incorrectly assumed that the majority of people in the Islamic world feel that US policies make the region more stable, while 60% perceived correctly that most Muslims would see American efforts to fight terrorism as a disruptive influence.

The fact is that the vast majority of Muslims worldwide oppose our fighting terrorism.

The Pew Global Attitudes survey asked in seven countries with primarily Muslim populations (Turkey, Indonesia, Pakistan, Lebanon, Jordan, Kuwait, and Morocco, plus the Palestinian Authority): “Which of the following phrases comes closer to your view? I favor the US-led efforts to fight terrorism, or Ioppose the US-led efforts to fight terrorism.”

In six of the eight cases strong majorities-- ranging from 56-85% in summer 2002, and rising to 67-97% in May 2003--said they opposed “US-led efforts to fight terrorism.” In only one case—Kuwait in May 2003– did a majority say they favored US efforts. In the case of Pakistan, a plurality of 45% opposed US efforts in the summer of 2003, rising to 74% in May 2003.

The Pew Global Attitudes survey in May 2003 asked: “Do you think US policies in the Middle East make the region more stable or less stable?” In six of the eight cases, majorities said that US policies in the Middle East make the region less stable. These majorities ranged from 56% in Lebanon to 91% in Jordan. In Pakistan, 43% said US policies make the Middle East less
stable, but another 43% said US policies either “made no difference” (12%) or that they did not know (31%). Only in Kuwait, where American troops fought and died to drive Saddam Hussein out of their country did a 48% plurality say that US policies made the Middle East more stable.

I am troubled about American ignorance about what is really going on in the Middle East. In my view, civilization itself hangs in the balance. The plain truth is that we are at war with Islam.

Islam seeks to destroy everything in the world that is non-Islamic. This is not a pejorative statement, simply an accurate description of the nature of Islam. Anyone who reads the Koran honestly has to admit it. The great danger to our country is not so much Islam -- which has been fundamentally hostile to the ideas and ideals of individual freedom and democracy since its inception -- but that our ignorance and self-deception will prevent us from launching the aggressive self-defense needed to ensure the survival of Western Civilization. Right now, we have tens of thousands of heroic young men and women -- the kind we celebrate at www.ourfinest.org -- fighting for our freedom. But will we always?

That's my view. What do you think?