Hubris Along the Tigris

Why West is losing
by Eric Margolis
Toronto Sun - Sun, September 12, 2004

It's nice to know that there are a few people out there who know what's going on. Unfortunately, none of them seem to be advising the Bush administration. The article linked to above discusses the recent book Imperial Hubris: Why the West is Losing the War on Terror. Margolis describes the book as a "goldmine of information and brilliant analysis. It breaks taboos and sweeps away the clouds of lies about al-Qaida, Iraq and Afghanistan." Indeed it is. As the article mentions, "America's politicians and media continue to gravely deceive the public about the so-called war on terrorism...Now the definitive book on terrorism has appeared that should be mandatory reading for every thinking person." I agree. The only caveat that I'd add is in regards to the observation that "we are fighting a worldwide Islamic insurgency", which should be understood as the militant modernist heresy that it is. Indeed, the narrow re-interpretation of Islam by modern militant Jihadis flies in the face of over 1,400 years of intellectual tradition and conventional understanding by Muslim scholars. It's our duty as Muslims to make this fact—and that's what it is—clear. If my blog sounds repetitive on this point, well it's meant to be. I have every intention of repeating this often overlooked piece of information until I'm blue in the face, so please get used to it. This militant Jihadi movement is simply a very unfortunate passing trend, much as the Crusades were in Western Christianity. Both of these ill-conceived and bloody movements lasted for decades, were supported by a large portion of the common believers and by select theologians as well. In the final analysis, however, neither of them are representative of the faith, and certainly not the founder of the faith, from which they spawned.