Presidential commentary on Islam

Submitted by Steve (United States), Dec 10, 2009 at 14:31

Dr. Pipes,

I agree that it is perilous for non-Muslims to comment on Islam, but I do not think Presidents can totally avoid discussing Islam. They are carefully trying to avoid getting into a global war against Islam, and parsing it so that the third war, as you term it, is against radical Islamism but not all of Islam. As you have pointed out eloquently in many publications, this is a fairly fine distinction, since Islam as a faith does advocate the subordination of all infidels to Islamic political authority. Since Islam underpins the ideology of the Islamist enemy, it is politically relevant for American political leaders to draw this distinction, regardless of the fact that they are not themselves Muslims.

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