Need to be explicit

Submitted by Boris Frenkel (United States), Apr 12, 2003 at 23:07

I absolutely disagree with Mr. Fuller who said "The solution is to support moderate Islamists even if they do not explicitly renounce violence as a political tool." That is exactly a way "to create more bin Ladens" in a new form. These new bin Ladens can easily figure out that it is possible and quite rewarding to publicly maintain a moderate position and privately continue to plan new terrorist attacks. Arafat is the best example. What we are missing today is an explicit position of the islamic world on at least three issues that Dr. Pipes has just indicated: "...the concept of jihad, the position of women, and the place of non-Muslim minorities". Continuing ambiguity and lack of political leadership in the islamic world with clear and explicit agenda is one of the main obstacles in establishing mutual trust and respect between the west and the east. Thank you, Dr. Pipes.

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