Thank you for the info

Submitted by Alex (United States), Jun 9, 2010 at 02:57

Thank you for posting this quote from Qaddafi. I would add on this topic in general that recent events involving Turkey's more explicit Islamist--and even jihadist--turn seem to have a clarifying effect that has begun lifting the implicit pressure for self-restraint on the part of those wishing to defend themselves from Islamism, because stealth Islamists can no longer implicitly benefit from Turkey's symbolic status as the most Westernized Muslim country. I would also add as regards Dr. Pipes' point about Islamists feeling compelled to ultimately indulge their own brutality (as Martin Kramer says, the moreso the closer they come to full power) that I think I disagree that Islamists seek a global caliphate based on Shari'a law. I think, rather, that Islamists have no positive plan of action. Evil has no positive value or agency. Also, one can observe the fallacy of global jihadist terrorism being based on "networks" rather than state-sponsors, which was contradicted in recent reports of Al Qaeda's leadership living in Iran. Just as the nation-state is the only viable context for civil political life in modern times, it is only in coopting the nation-state's resources and using them against it from within its very infrastructure that one can be fully uncivilized in the modern world.

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".