Why is it so difficult to understand?

Submitted by P C Mani (United States), Oct 12, 2009 at 02:56

Dear Editor, I will like to hear from you and some of your other readers. Does anyone in this forum truly believe that the war against fundamentalist Islam can be won with violence? I think I once heard an Israeli prime minister describe the situation correctly. He said that deterrence cannot work against fundamentalists. Deterrence works against people who are afraid to die. Somehow a substantial fraction of humanity has forgotten what is fundamental to all humans -- a fear of death and a desire for peace and prosperity. For this fraction, there is no such thing as a negotiated settlement.

The voice of truth and justice has lost its way in parts of the Islamic world. In these quarters whatever is Islamic is good and is worthy of dying for and whatever is not Islamic is not good. It is this thinking that needs to be changed. When an overwhelming majority of Muslims start believing that pursuit of the sciences, the arts, of literature, poetry and philosophy is more important than preservation and propagation of Islam and this pursuit does not harm any religion, our problems will automatically be solved. That goal cannot be achieved by guns, bombs, or armies. As difficult and slow as the non-violent path may be, it is the only path to success.

President Obama has expressed this philosophy as forcefully as it can be expressed. Recall, for all his criticism of some of the US policies, no where has he exonerated the misdeeds of the Islamic fundamentalists. In fact, he is the only world leader who has had the conviction to go to Cairo and tell some of the faults of the Islamic world in no uncertain terms. Compared to Obama most other world leaders are convictionless lilliputs.

The times are very tough for America due to the current economic turmoil. A lesser human being would have deviated from his goals but Obama has not. Perhaps that is why he already deserves to win his Nobel prize.

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