Thank you

Submitted by Brett (United States), Mar 9, 2004 at 09:55

Thank you so much for your eloquent arguments and explanations of the war we are in against militant Islam. In my opinion the single biggest misunderstanding is that terror is about poverty and not ideas. As you have argued, it is about ideas. What I do not understand, and would appreciate your thoughts, is why the Left continues to argue that it is about poverty, lack of opportunity, etc.?

The Left despises people who are motivated by money yet they seem to transpose those wishes on to people who do not even have them. What they seem to overlook is that the leaders of militant Islam, like other terrorists, are generally from middle to upper class families. As you know, this was also true with Lenin, Trotsky and Mao. These people are not motivated by money. Rather, they are interested in imposing some radical utopia.

I am a huge fan of your father ( I think I have about 5 of his books and I have recently ordered his autobiography) and I am amazed that one family can have this much intelligence and common sense. Did your father have a big inlfuence on you? What got you interested in the Middle East? What a coincidence (and good fortune for all of us) that you and your father specialized in the most important areas affecting the U.S. Thanks for the great work.

Brett

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