Speak Up & Speak Out!!!
Really good post, D&F. Thanks for this.
Your experiences, observations and conclusions re the motivations of the insurgency in Iraq parallel my own thinking that stems from what I think is common sense deduction, and from years of reading what others have had to say, and also from the (to me) obvious parallels to the "terrorism" troubles Britain was faced with for so many years from the IRA that it is driven more by sense of injustices perpetrated than by ideology, religious or otherwise.
Salman Rushdie, who I quoted here last October, had this to say in a conversation with Bill Moyers in June 2006. (The video is here. Transcript here.)
BILL MOYERS : But many people say that that kind of extremist behavior is part and parcel of the ideology of the heart of Islam. What do you--
SALMAN RUSHDIE: I don't think necessarily. I mean, the IRA was not intrinsically-- was not somehow arising from something intrinsic to Catholicism. And actually the IRA is a relevant example. Because when the Catholics of Northern Ireland became disillusioned by being represented by the IRA that is what brought the IRA to the peace table. At that moment their power disappeared. And that's why I'm saying that it is in a way incumbent on the Muslim world to reject Islamic radicalism, because that is what will remove the power of Islamic radicalism.
Thanks, Edger.
Rushdie is of course exactly correct--Muslims aren't all fanatics and the only real way through this is for the Muslim world to police itself.
The task for us is how to encourage that without sending all of the wrong signals that they expect of us. Obviously we need to reduce our footprint in the region. Military aid to Egypt and Saudi Arabia isn't doing the trick--they see it as a reason to despise those governments for kowtowing to us. USAID and the World Bank are viewed with skepticism, and for good reason, so the other standard forms of foreign aid are also unsuited to the task.
The most promising thing I've seen has been the inter-religious dialogue that Yale Divinity School started up with Al Azhar University (the most important center of Sunni scholarship) in Cairo. I'm not usually one for promoting religion, but hearing a lecture by one of the Yalies, I was struck by how much they were able to accomplish by meeting with religious leaders on religious grounds, rather than seeking political solutions from people who see themselves primarily as men of the cloth.
Very well written blog, Decline and Fall. I just have have one main problem with it, do you realize that you make the assumption that we (the U.S.) are supposed to act as the world police. It is not our job as nation to control other nations. That is the sole purpose of the U.N., to act as the world police, not us. Just wanted to point out that incorrect assumption that you made. 
KennyH, If you read D&F closely I think you'll see he makes exactly the opposite point - that the US should not try to act as the world's policeman.
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