What's the right World Islam policy/strategy?

[Fresno Bob]

we are going to crack Islam the same way we broke the Soviets, except this time we've got the Internet and social media to subvert their youth and their women......it just is going to take a lot longer as there isn't a central Calphiate. Anything we can do to make Indonesia and Turkey as models for modern Islam is a victory....

[Roto Rooter]

Thanks to RotoRooter for reminding me why I am not voting for the Republican Party in the fall.

Yeah lets throw more money at the problem that's the ticket! Go go team Democrat! Lets give millions to people who hate you and your way of life. Lets also apologize to them when they kill us over a bad youtube vid.

[B-Fly]

we are going to crack Islam the same way we broke the Soviets, except this time we've got the Internet and social media to subvert their youth and their women......it just is going to take a lot longer as there isn't a central Calphiate. Anything we can do to make Indonesia and Turkey as models for modern Islam is a victory....

The internet is cutting both ways, though. It has certainly helped would-be violent radicals to find each other and reinforce each other's worst propensities.

[B-Fly]

Lets also apologize to them when they kill us over a bad youtube vid.

Um, you do realize that no one apologized when they killed Americans, right? There was a statement issued from the US Embassy in Egypt before anyone was hurt that condemned the video. That statement presumably was aimed at reducing the risk of violent attack on American personnel. Nothing stated by anyone in the Obama Administration after the attacks sounds remotely like an apology.

[Bob Kohm]

Yeah lets throw more money at the problem that's the ticket! Go go team Democrat! Lets give millions to people who hate you and your way of life. Lets also apologize to them when they kill us over a bad youtube vid.

There are ultimately three options here. Find a way to make them stop hating us, put on burqaas and buy a prayer rug, or wipe out a large proportion of the world's population. Which one was your choice, again?

[onejayhawk]

The abilty of groups to communicate covertly through the internet is well established. We have seen crude examples here. Two guys registered and logged on soley to PM each other. They could do that without using an email server, which would show up on their bosses tell tales.

J

[GwynnInTheHall]

Um, you do realize that no one apologized when they killed Americans, right? There was a statement issued from the US Embassy in Egypt before anyone was hurt that condemned the video. That statement presumably was aimed at reducing the risk of violent attack on American personnel. Nothing stated by anyone in the Obama Administration after the attacks sounds remotely like an apology.

we don't need no stinkin facts!

[The Feral Slasher]

There are ultimately three options here. Find a way to make them stop hating us, put on burqaas and buy a prayer rug, or wipe out a large proportion of the world's population. Which one was your choice, again?

Which one is the U.S. governments choice ?

[Kevin Seitzer]

Yeah lets throw more money at the problem that's the ticket! Go go team Democrat! Lets give millions to people who hate you and your way of life. Lets also apologize to them when they kill us over a bad youtube vid.

I'm probably taking B-Fly's excellent question down a rathole by continuing this line of discussion, but I'm not claiming that the status quo is the best approach. I think our foreign policy deserves a lot of thought and scrutiny. The idea, though, that Muslims are a monolithic group of jihadist enemies is hardly adding thought and scrutiny. It's obfuscating what should be an important question. It's simplistic, it's jingoistic, it's fear based, and it does nothing to advance the interests of the United States or our allies. When viewed through the knee-jerk anti-Obamism of the Republican Party, it becomes even less useful, if that were possible.

Take, for example, the aid we give to Egypt. I don't see how that's a Republican or a Democratic issue, given that we've been giving it for several decades under administrations of both stripes. It was the price we paid for peace between Egypt and Israel, and we have indeed gotten what we paid for. Do we still need to be doing that? I don't know. But reflexively dismissing it as giving money to our jihadist enemies is completely missing the point and devoid of geopolitical understanding.

[GwynnInTheHall]

Which one is the U.S. governments choice ?

you haven't received your free burqaa yet?

[The Feral Slasher]

you haven't received your free burqaa yet?

First I get left off the No Kill List, now they forget my burqaa ???????

[GwynnInTheHall]

First I get left off the No Kill List, now they forget my burqaa ???????

You should make a film about it.

[JudeBaldo]

I took an introduction to Islam class when I was a sophomore in college, from a professor who I greatly respected and was huge figure in the local Muslim community. Even with my knowledge, this is an extremely tough question to answer. Like most religions, there are many things I respect about Islam (memorizing the Quran) and things that are bat **** crazy (the lack of women's rights).

I'm somewhat in agreement with BK and FB that modernity will eventually marginalize the strength of fundamentalist Muslims. Unfortunately, unlike the the USSR or Red China, it will take much longer because we can't simply bribe them with Levi's and Coca Cola.

Thus, what I think needs to continue to happen is:

1. America needs an independent energy policy in every way. For far too long, as a consequence of our addiction to fossil fuels, we've subsidized the very agents that seek to undermine America's power.

2. We need to continue a process of engagement with these nations. The world is simply far too small for us to revert back to an isolationist stance.

3. We need a robust news and popular media network. We're losing the cognitive war to the likes of Al Jazeera and Russia Today. They end up dictating policy and disseminating stories that are detrimental to our interests in the Middle East.

4. We need to win the battle at home. Radicals like Terry Jones are hurting our stance abroad. The Homeland security Department should partner with local Islamic groups in order to win the hearts and minds of Muslims here. That should radiate outward to the rest of the world and will illustrate that America is a place of tolerance.

Like their cousins the Jews and the Christians, many Muslims have a martyr complex. That needs to be addressed because it becomes a psychological impediment to enculturation.

[Fresno Bob]

The internet is cutting both ways, though. It has certainly helped would-be violent radicals to find each other and reinforce each other's worst propensities.

but if you can penetrate their network, you've got them all...

[JudeBaldo]

but if you can penetrate their network, you've got them all...

Winner! And heck, when these groups congregate, it becomes easier to find them. Network effects works both ways.

That's why OJH's statement:

The abilty of groups to communicate covertly through the internet is well established. We have seen crude examples here. Two guys registered and logged on soley to PM each other. They could do that without using an email server, which would show up on their bosses tell tales.

Shows how little he knows about the Internet and well computers frankly lol.