Moderate Islamists, an Oxymoron

Submitted by Jan David Romanoff (United States), Apr 12, 2003 at 20:03

Commenter Graham Fuller said:

"The United States must be careful not to create more bin Ladens in its attempt to root out bin Laden
himself. This is the most likely scenario if Washington continues its current policy of supporting states
that crush Islamists. Such a policy is likely to backfire. The solution is to support moderate Islamists even if they do not explicitly renounce violence as a political tool."

Cannot agree at all here with Mr. Graham. Islamists in fact do need to be crushed until there are no more of them to engage in or support terror. It will do no good whatsoever to "support moderate Islamists" (oxymoron?) because there is no such thing. Just because Muslims in the U.S. say little, doesn't make them "moderates" -- in my view, most of them seem at the very least, tacitly supportive of the Islamist violence even if they don't engage in it themselves. Probably 75% of those who have managed to worm their way into the U.S. ought to be deported for security reasons. One more terrorist strike on our soil is all it will take to get that ball rolling.

---

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".