Reply to octavio johanson
Reader comment on item: Washington Finally Gets It on Radical Islam

Submitted by Roger wt Wilkinson (Australia), Apr 28, 2005 at 01:45

Not convinced such a view is necessary. As Islamic countries are inevitably brought into more and more contact with other traditions and particularly the west, they will be bound to engage in western critical practices; so that as, for example, the Bible has been subject to minute historical literary etc analysis, so too will the Koran, and it won't stand up! Islam is unlikely to prove able to survive in the modern world, which is part of the reason why extremists deny the modern world and elect to fight. With this sort of background thinking I personally welcome most aspects of engagement with the Islamic world by non-moslems; whatever one may think of the prospects of the US achieving its goals in Iraq, I believe the mere fact of its presence is a great positive. So, yes, work on anti-terror measures at home, but don't suppose that radical Islam cannot change.

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