Islam IS the problem

Submitted by Bill Storey (United States), Oct 12, 2005 at 10:28

As I have said from the start, the problem is not just "Islamists" or "Islamic Radicals"; the problem is Islam, the Koran, and Islam's perverse interpretation of history. The reason the Arab world can't have peace with Israel is because of the Koran's directives towards all non-Muslims in general, and Jews and Christians in particular. Those directives are for conversion, death, or second-class citizenship. For the Arab world to make peace with Israel would be to overthrow their "faith." They cannot do it, and that is why there will never (well, probably never) be peace between Israel and the Palestinians, and also why the "Road Map" to peace is a chimera.

Yet in one sense, Bush's Iraq policy is brilliant. It grants power to secular Arabs who are willing to disregard the Koran's dictates, just as Ataturk did in Turkey. Unlike Christianity, there is no principle for the separation of church and state in Islam, yet Bush's policy may succeed in creating one for Iraq. If Islam can be reduced to a status similar to the role all religions play in America, one of occasional influence but never one of power, Iraq has a chance, and so does the entire Middle East.

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