Why Soft Peddle The War on Terror.
Over at the Belmont Club a certain commentator is upset (and he is not the only one) that President Bush is not telling us who the enemy in this war against terror is. They are upset the President and his advisors are not pointing out Radical Islam as the enemy, I hear them because in truth it is radical utopian Islam we are fighting.
Why isn't the president and his advisors being plain spoken about it? Plain and simple: diplomacy. If the President came out and said we are fighting "radical Islam" about 99.9% of Muslims good and bad would hear Islam very plain and radical would be completely missed.
In 1998 I was finishing up six years at the UAE University. I was in my office and two girls approached me and asked my opinion about a cartoon. They were doing a survey for a class. They presented me with an editorial cartoon that featured about six women clad in black from head to toe. Each one was labeled thusly: "shame spice", "modest spice", "abused spice" etc the caption read: "The Afghan Spice Girls". I laughed because it struck me that way but I could tell one girl was not at all amused by this cartoon. They asked me what I thought about it and why I laughed. I backpedaled a bit and stated the visual effect was humorous.
Then it struck me, they (or at least one of them was) were taking the cartoon as an attack on Islam not the Taliban as intended. I stated this to them and quickly added, if they were in Afghanistan they would not be attending ANY SCHOOL let alone a fine university. This hit home, as the one girl immediately started explaining in Arabic to her compatriot I was right (I heard her say "true" in Arabic twice).
This is why the President and his advisors are less than candid about the war on terror. President Bush trying to explain to Muslims the points between true Islam and radical terror Islam is not going to work. He is viewed as a crusade by way many Muslims as it is and many here in this nation are of that same view.
Do we need to do something about the likes of Saudia Arabia, you bet but the one thing about President Bush and his team is they are not a one size fits all group.
(6/20/2005 10:32 pm) Update:
See For the offending cartoon!.
Why isn't the president and his advisors being plain spoken about it? Plain and simple: diplomacy. If the President came out and said we are fighting "radical Islam" about 99.9% of Muslims good and bad would hear Islam very plain and radical would be completely missed.
In 1998 I was finishing up six years at the UAE University. I was in my office and two girls approached me and asked my opinion about a cartoon. They were doing a survey for a class. They presented me with an editorial cartoon that featured about six women clad in black from head to toe. Each one was labeled thusly: "shame spice", "modest spice", "abused spice" etc the caption read: "The Afghan Spice Girls". I laughed because it struck me that way but I could tell one girl was not at all amused by this cartoon. They asked me what I thought about it and why I laughed. I backpedaled a bit and stated the visual effect was humorous.
Then it struck me, they (or at least one of them was) were taking the cartoon as an attack on Islam not the Taliban as intended. I stated this to them and quickly added, if they were in Afghanistan they would not be attending ANY SCHOOL let alone a fine university. This hit home, as the one girl immediately started explaining in Arabic to her compatriot I was right (I heard her say "true" in Arabic twice).
This is why the President and his advisors are less than candid about the war on terror. President Bush trying to explain to Muslims the points between true Islam and radical terror Islam is not going to work. He is viewed as a crusade by way many Muslims as it is and many here in this nation are of that same view.
Do we need to do something about the likes of Saudia Arabia, you bet but the one thing about President Bush and his team is they are not a one size fits all group.
(6/20/2005 10:32 pm) Update:
See For the offending cartoon!.
posted by Marcus Aurelius at 9:58 PM
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