Art J is right

Submitted by Prashant (United States), Sep 28, 2011 at 20:32

Dear Dr Pipes,

Art J wrote many things that make perfect sense in his letter entitled '160000 sq miles of Muslim lake'. In my opinion If Turkey is indeed truning to fundamantalism, whatever economic might it is claiming is bound to decline. Islamic fundamentalism is anti-freedom, anti-progress, anti-science, and anti-intellectualism. On top, it likes violence as the favored method to resolve problems. So if Turkey chooses to give up modernism in favor of fundamentalism, its decline is certain.

Art J is entirely right. The US policy toward Islamic countries should be that of containment. While they should not be allowed to expand Islamic political, economic and legal systems into non-islamic countries, very little can be achieved by going to them and trying to change their thought process (specially by military means). So, with the main mission of our presence in Afghanistan and Pakistan served, no more useful goals will be achieved by our continued presence in Afghanistan and Pakistan. We should just come back and serve the cause of freedom in the countries that value freedom.

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".