D’Souza vs. Spencer
Fireworks were expected between authors Robert Spencer and Dinesh D’Souza on dealing with radical Islam. While nothing too wild the disagreement was apparent. I caught it near the end when the moderator launched questions at both men.
D’Souza said Iraqi insurgents know the “secular Left” works hard in the states undermining war support. He blamed Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton for foreign policies that appeased and emboldened radical Islam. Blame also went to a “secular Left” whose “liberal values [are] projected abroad.” Values like extreme feminism and overt sexuality created a backlash that led to Sep. 11.
D’Souza’s strategy is to drive a wedge between radical Islam and traditional Islam. How traditional Islam differs from moderate Islam D’Souza didn’t explain. Guess I’ll have to buy the book.
Robert Spencer argues that Islam has a deeply violent nature. Islamist terrorist use the violent passages in the Koran to support their horrible actions.He wants more moderate Muslims to examine their violent traditions and find a way to deal with their violent elements.
In their back-and-forth D’Souza said Spencer cherry picked the violent aspects of Islam. Spencer has a “distorted sense of the Muslim world.” He did go over-the-top by claiming there were as many “kill the infidel” passages in the Old Testament as in the Koran.
D’Souza’s worry is declaring war on one-billion Muslims. Such a war would be “stupid.” D’Souza thinks Spencer’s focus on the violence in Islam polarizes Muslims and drives traditional ones into the arms of the radicals.
Avoiding a clash of civilizations is smart. The less enemies to fight the better. So D’Souza is right about trying to limit Muslim polarization. However, Islamist terrorists are using their religion to support their violence. Spencer illuminates us to that. Wading through this will determine whether we win or lose the Islamist War.
[...] I was afraid that the level of discussion among Republicans at the Conservative Political Action Conference would go this direction. While I had to leave the building to do some, you know, real work, The American Mind covered the panel on whether the root cause of terrorism was religious extremism or secular extremism. Fireworks were expected between authors Robert Spencer and Dinesh D’Souza on dealing with radical Islam. While nothing too wild the disagreement was apparent. I caught it near the end when the moderator launched questions at both men. [...]