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	<title>FrontPage Magazine &#187; Moorthy Muthuswamy</title>
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		<title>A New Cold War</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2013/moorthy-muthuswamy/a-new-cold-war/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=a-new-cold-war</link>
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		<pubDate>Wed, 09 Jan 2013 04:20:41 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Moorthy Muthuswamy]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Daily Mailer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FrontPage]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=172668</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Time to face facts about the future of relations with the Muslim world. ]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://frontpagemag.com/2013/moorthy-muthuswamy/a-new-cold-war/libya-islamists-2/" rel="attachment wp-att-172759"><img class="alignleft  wp-image-172759" title="libya-islamists" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/libya-islamists1-450x337.jpg" alt="" width="270" height="202" /></a>In 1988, when I was a physics graduate student doing research at Brookhaven National laboratory, I befriended a young Israeli physicist.</p>
<p>He was a typical young Israeli researcher – bright, friendly and secular.</p>
<p>Besides physics, we prominently discussed one other issue, the propensity for violence in Muslim communities and their relative backwardness. In my mind, the context was Pakistan vs. India and Muslims vs. Hindus in India. And in his mind it was Palestinians and the extended Arab clan in the region vs. the Jews.</p>
<p>We managed to keep in touch. We met again in 1994. When the conversation turned to the above topic, there was one marked difference: my friend asserted that the difficulties Israel faced in the region were of “political” origin. But I said that its origins were religion based, implying that political accommodation was fundamentally not possible, without first addressing the underlying religious origin of the conflict.</p>
<p>I knew better.</p>
<p>As I have discussed in my book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Defeating-Political-Islam-New-Cold/dp/1591027047/">Defeating Political Islam: The New Cold War</a>, Hindus and Muslims who were connected by language, culture, ethnicity, history and cuisine in South Asia had yet evolved very differently, and remarkably, so have the British Muslims of Pakistani origin, in contrast to the Hindus of Indian origin. The dynamic driving these Muslim communities could most consistently be understood only by invoking the religion of Islam.</p>
<p>Being a secular Jew, my friend’s thought process was a sign of the times in Israel.  However, fast forward to 2011 when we met again, he had changed his stance and agreed with me that the Arab/Muslim animosity was indeed religion-based.</p>
<p>His change of heart, in the larger context was symptomatic of the transition underway in Israel. Indeed, Israel as a whole has been turning more “hawkish,” in the words of many learned western analysts. Unlike these armchair analysts, the transformation of the Israelis were based upon the reality they could no longer deny or explain away.</p>
<p>However, the Americans and the Europeans, living far away, presumed that a political approach to dealing with Palestinian’s suicide attacks on Israel, Pakistan’s intransigence and the Taliban threat in Afghanistan will be fruitful, if you throw enough resources at it.  Several hundreds of billions of dollars later, trying a development strategy in West Bank and Pakistan and the Coin strategy in Afghanistan, the premise has proved to be fatally flawed.</p>
<p>Indeed, this political strategy has failed miserably in the Middle East and the AfPak region. Looking back, the reasons are all too familiar, evidence based analysis and policy-making was put in the back-burner and a wishful thinking of what-works-for-me-works-everywhere philosophy took over.</p>
<p>Now comes an I-anticipated-so new revelation: what – the man on whom the West has invested so much political capital – <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3NCiaozL0k&amp;list=UUpBvIBfZ-foo5ZbLH5O0N4g&amp;index=1">President Mohammed Morsi of Egypt said in 2010</a>: that the Jews be expunged not only from Israel, but “any Arab or Muslim land.”</p>
<p>The point is any leader of a sharia-favoring political Islamic entity such as the Brotherhood has to a have a different world view and an aspiration, not much different from that of Osama Bin Laden, although the means of achieving it may differ. If you scratch deep enough, you find it; Mr. Morsi is exposed, but why should it be a surprise?</p>
<p>Having studied how sharia’s influence drove Pakistan into becoming a fountain-head of terror, I had cautioned how our policies may lead to the creation of <a href="http://frontpagemag.com/2011/moorthy-muthuswamy/pakistan-and-the-arab-spring/">Arab versions of Pakistan</a>. In practical terms, sharia is no law, let alone a divine one, as its interpretations in the form of edicts or <em>fatwas</em> is full of contradictions. As it has turned out in the Middle East, Pakistan and elsewhere, one can get any <em>fatwa</em> of one’s liking, all you need is a dollar and a cleric who can take it.  Pity those Muslims and non-Muslims who have been conned into believing a bogus law called the sharia!</p>
<p>The West’s policy of engaging Islamists has come full circle. Moreover, a U.S.-educated engineering PhD no less, Mr. Morsi has ensured that no Islamists can ever be reasoned with, let alone be negotiated with.</p>
<p>We are now at the onset of an inevitable and official Cold War with political Islam, with emancipation of Muslims from the clutches of sharia as a goal, for the sake of all of us.</p>
<p>Just like the communism-repressed former Soviet Union.</p>
<p><strong>Freedom Center pamphlets now available on Kindle: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref%3dnb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&amp;field-keywords=david+horowitz&amp;rh=n:133140011%2ck:david+horowitz&amp;ajr=0#/ref=sr_st?keywords=david+horowitz&amp;qid=1316459840&amp;rh=n:133140011%2ck:david+horowitz&amp;sort=daterank" target="_blank">Click here</a>.  </strong></p>
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		<title>Pakistan and the Arab Spring</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2011/moorthy-muthuswamy/pakistan-and-the-arab-spring/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=pakistan-and-the-arab-spring</link>
		<comments>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2011/moorthy-muthuswamy/pakistan-and-the-arab-spring/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 08 Nov 2011 04:14:20 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Moorthy Muthuswamy]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Daily Mailer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FrontPage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Arab Spring]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Islam]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jihad]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sharia]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=111416</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Pakistan's Sharia odyssey serves as a frightening guide to where the Middle East and Northern Africa are headed. ]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/pakistan.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-111422" title="pakistan" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/pakistan.jpg" alt="" width="279" height="181" /></a></p>
<p>It now appears that Islamic  parties running on the platform of Sharia are well set to arrive at the  corridors of power in the Middle East and Northern Africa following the Arab Spring. Understandably, some  influential analysts have called for political inclusion of the  religious groups and have warned us about the dangers of touting  secularism in that part of the world.</p>
<p>How would the Middle East  and Northern Africa’s landscapes look in a few decades, in the context of  socio-economic stagnation, rights (the very issues that sparked the  revolution) and violent radicalism?</p>
<p>Instead of speculation and  wishful-thinking driving policies, I believe that we can make a  well-educated guess on the future of the Arab Spring, based upon the  evolution of Pakistan.</p>
<p>In 1947, a social experiment was launched,  when British-ruled India was partitioned into two nations – Pakistan  and India – for the Muslim minorities and Hindu majority, respectively.  In the beginning, the people of these new nations had a common culture,  language, ethnicity, and culinary habits. Despite their numerous  similarities, however, these nations have embarked on drastically  different paths. While India has become a secular nation with a thriving  and diverse economy, the constitutionally Islamic Pakistan has declined  into an economic basket case; many even see it as a fountainhead of  terror.</p>
<p>I have argued that of all possible contributory factors  associated with Pakistan’s descent into violent radicalism, Sharia and  armed jihad not only stand out, but they also appear to have played an  overarching role. Soon after 1947, Pakistan did what the Islamists in  post-Arab Spring revolutions are intending to do: starting out slowly, the country set out to systematically increase the influence of Sharia at every  level.</p>
<p>How popular is Sharia in Pakistan? A poll conducted by  World Public Opinion in some relatively cosmopolitan urban areas of  Pakistan in the years 2006-2007 found that 79 percent of the respondents  agreed with “[requiring] Islamic countries to impose a strict  application of Sharia.” According to a 2010 Pew Global Attitudes poll,  82 percent of those surveyed in Pakistan were in favor of harsh Sharia-driven penalties such as stoning those who had committed  adultery.</p>
<p>Broadly speaking, there are three ways in which Sharia  has influenced the society in Pakistan. First, certain aspects of Sharia  are codified as law, mostly restricted to the arena of civil law. This  has elevated the prestige of Sharia and that of the clerics in the  society.</p>
<p>Second, the portrayal of Sharia as a divine law  necessitates its interpretation by clerics of all persuasions and  enhances their authority. This influence is readily leveraged by the  subset of radical clerics to advance the cause of religiously endorsed  armed jihad. For instance, a former jihadist commander thus noted the  role played by clerics in providing leadership to the jihadist groups  operating in Pakistan: “There are two bodies running these affairs:  mullahs [clerics] and retired generals.”</p>
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		<title>The Pakistani Third Reich</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2010/moorthy-muthuswamy/the-pakistani-third-reich/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=the-pakistani-third-reich</link>
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		<pubDate>Wed, 28 Apr 2010 04:03:53 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Moorthy Muthuswamy]]></dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[Is the real world threat a nuclear-armed Pakistan? ]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/paknukes1.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-59094" title="paknukes" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/paknukes1.jpg" alt="" width="375" height="268" /></a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/18/world/asia/18nuke.html?_r=1&amp;hp">Pakistan has the fastest-growing nuclear arms buildup in the world</a>, even as its economy needs life support in the form of handouts from international donors.</p>
<p>Pakistanis claim that being outmatched by the conventionally stronger military of its arch-rival India, they need a large stock pile of nukes to defend against an Indian attack. However, closer scrutiny reveals a different story. Pakistan has always been the aggressor in the past military conflicts with India. Besides, terrorists are routinely sent from Pakistan to India to conduct mayhem and murder under the cover of religion. Moreover, it is now estimated that Pakistan has far more nukes than India, along with superior delivery systems.</p>
<p>Pakistan’s new generation nuclear weapons (nukes) are plutonium based—extracted from new nuclear reactors built for the very purpose. These weapons are compact and more powerful. Plutonium is also the basis for the hundred-times more powerful thermonuclear bomb. With this plutonium capability, Pakistan is well on its way to becoming a nuke factory.</p>
<p>The real question left unanswered is why Pakistan is making more nukes than it needs, and for what purpose. An insidious picture emerges from analyzing Pakistan’s theological focus and the likely funding source(s) behind its nuclear armament program.</p>
<p>In a recent <em>Frontpage</em> <em>Magazine</em> piece titled “Is <a href="http://frontpagemag.com/2010/04/09/is-wilders-wrong-about-islam/">Wilders Wrong About Islam?</a>” I explained how jihad (holy war) waged on unbelievers forms the dominant thrust of the Koran and Muhammad’s biography. This theological basis continues to inspire modern constructs of jihad. Pakistan’s broad-based commitment to jihad is reflected in the contents of its <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/2005/aug/18/world/fg-schools18">school syllabus</a>. The motto of the Pakistani army is “faith, piety and jihad in the path of Allah.” In the 1980s Brigadier S.K. Malik of the Pakistani army produced an authoritative military manual on jihad called <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/20467531/Malik-Quranic-Concept-of-War-Original"><em>The Quranic Concept of War</em></a>. It is a required reading of Pakistan’s military officers.</p>
<p>Malik writes: “the Holy Prophet&#8217;s operations &#8230;are an integral and inseparable part of the divine message revealed to us in the Holy Quran&#8230; The war he planned and carried out was total to the infinite degree. It was waged on all fronts: internal and external, political and diplomatic, spiritual and psychological, economic and military… The Quranic military strategy thus enjoins us to prepare ourselves for war to the utmost in order to strike terror into the heart of the enemy, known or hidden&#8230;<em> </em>Terror struck into the hearts of the enemy is not only a means; it is the end in itself.”</p>
<p>The above theological thrust has not only ensured military domination of the civilian sphere, but also drove the military to commandeer all instruments and disproportionate share of the resources of the state in order to impose a violent jihad on unbelievers. In other words, Pakistan has become a modern Third Reich, armed to the teeth with nuclear weapons and sophisticated delivery systems.</p>
<p>Theological motivations enshrine Pakistan as an aggressive jihadist state, no matter the extent of financial and other incentives given to it to stop its jihad. Indeed, it appears that the Western aid and arms given to Pakistan since 2001 in good faith, have instead, mostly gone to further its jihadist agenda.</p>
<p>Leading Project Jihad is the notorious intelligence agency of Pakistan, the ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence), staffed by serving officers of Pakistan’s military on a rotational basis. Almost every major Sunni Islamic terrorist entity—Al Qaeda, the Taliban or Lashkar-e-Taiba—owe their existence and operational capabilities to the support received from the ISI. When the Taliban, a brainchild of the ISI, overran Kabul fifteen years ago the administrative support to run the country &#8212; arms, fuel and financing &#8212; flowed from Pakistan.</p>
<p>There was no way al-Qaeda leadership could have taken root in the Taliban-controlled Afghanistan without Pakistan’s tacit approval. This was despite the open knowledge that well before the 9/11 attacks the United States had implicated Bin Laden and al-Qaeda in terrorist attacks on its interests. Pakistan also <em>allowed</em> <a href="http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2010/04/us_designates_two_pa.php">local charities</a> to funnel funds to Bin Laden’s group in Afghanistan. Moreover, the al-Qaeda rank and file who used the Pakistani port city of Karachi as a transit point to enter landlocked Afghanistan could have been stopped had the Pakistanis wanted to. Yet, Pakistan’s intent toward the United States has been misconstrued. Even the usually perceptive Charles Krauthammer who <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/15/AR2010041504663.html">sees an ominous sign</a> in a plutonium-producing Pakistan doesn’t get it when he writes that “Pakistan is a relatively friendly power.”</p>
<p>The main nation widely thought to be behind the bankrolling of Pakistan’s nuclear buildup is Saudi Arabia, from where most hijackers who carried out the 9/11 attacks originated. Thanks to this symbiotic relationship, <a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2003/oct/21/20031021-112804-8451r/">Saudi Arabia may already have nukes</a>. As well, the fellow Sunni sheikdoms of the Middle East feel threatened of a nuclear Shiite Iran may get access to the cash-starved and ideologically inclined Pakistan’s plutonium-based nukes. All of this points to a higher risk of nuclear terrorism involving the nukes.</p>
<p>Starting in the 1990s, it took the jihadist enterprise in Pakistan about ten years to build the terrorist infrastructure in Afghanistan. This proxy was leveraged to attack the United States on September 11, 2001. Not only did Pakistan get away with it, but has since found itself benefiting from Western largesse. So encouraged, the Pakistani jihadist-elite may be convinced of once again escaping retribution from both reckless and wanton proliferation of its nukes and their use. And may even expect to reap in the benefits, as part of “assisting” in the aftermath.</p>
<p>The mindset of influential Pakistanis with nuclear knowhow is truly troubling. Sultan Bashiruddin Mahmood, an architect of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons program, was not only speaking for himself when he <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/11/magazine/11pakistan-t.html?_r=1&amp;pagewanted=all">declared</a> that Pakistan’s nuclear bombs are “the property of a whole <em>ummah </em>[worldwide Muslim community],” so that some Muslim nations or groups could use them on infidels to bring about “the end of days” and lead the way for Islam to be the supreme religious force in the world.</p>
<p>The plutonium-producing new reactors in the Sunni-majority Pakistan could be the beginning of a dangerous miles stone: the ushering in the new era of Sunni nuclear terrorism. Iran, whose leaders are notable for making <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/26/world/africa/26iht-iran.html">apocalyptic threats</a> directed at Israel too causes grave concern, especially when considering that it is expected to become nuclear weapon capable anytime now. Not unlike Pakistan, Iran too backs jihadist proxies, including Lebanon-based Hezbollah and Hamas in the Palestinian territories.</p>
<p>Trend lines on nuclear know-how of jihadist sponsors and that of global jihad <em>suggest</em> that the following worst case scenario can no longer be ignored: Nuclear strikes on the continental United States within the next decade.</p>
<p>As part of risk mitigation, policies must be designed to preempt this calamity. Any such effort must start with the acknowledgment that jihadist enterprises are ruling Pakistan and Iran. This calls for dismantling the nuclear infrastructure in these nations—undoubtedly a high risk and high cost strategic maneuver.  But such a risk or even costs should likely <em>dwarf</em> the consequences of allowing the nuclear armament buildup in Pakistan and Iran to proceed unhindered.</p>
<p>Seen in the above context, the recent Nuclear Security Summit organized by the Obama administration is an exercise in futility because of its failure of imagination on Pakistan and Iran. To protect its cities from nuclear strikes, the United States faces the prospect of a mobilization not yet seen since the Second World War.</p>
<p><strong>Moorthy Muthuswamy<em> </em>is a U.S.-based nuclear physicist and author of the recent book<em> </em><a href="http://www.amazon.com/defeating-political-islam-new-cold/dp/1591027047"><em>Defeating Political Islam: The New Cold War</em></a><em>.</em></strong></p>
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		<title>Is Wilders Wrong About Islam?</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2010/moorthy-muthuswamy/is-wilders-wrong-about-islam/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=is-wilders-wrong-about-islam</link>
		<comments>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2010/moorthy-muthuswamy/is-wilders-wrong-about-islam/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 09 Apr 2010 04:02:11 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Moorthy Muthuswamy]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[FrontPage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[America]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[bill warner]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=57798</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[What does it mean that 61% of the Koran speaks with hate about non-Muslims?]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/wilders.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-57822" title="wilders" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/wilders.jpg" alt="" width="375" height="235" /></a></p>
<p>The recent criticism of Geert Wilders’ views on Islam by the leading lights of the conservative movement has created much indignation and surprise in certain quarters.</p>
<p>If conservative analysts with strong national security credentials couldn’t be convinced of Islam’s threat, getting the point across to the centrist politicians who define and execute policy will indeed be even tougher.</p>
<p>In a particularly striking criticism of Wilders, conservative commentator Charles Krauthammer <a href="http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MTA0YWU2NjQzZTM3YjRmNDA4ZDk2NWNjNzQyYjlmYTY=">asserts</a> that “What he [Geert Wilders] says is extreme, radical, and wrong. He basically is arguing that Islam is the same as Islamism. Islamism is an ideology of a small minority which holds that the essence of Islam is jihad, conquest, forcing people into accepting a certain very narrow interpretation [of Islam]. The untruth of that is obvious.”</p>
<p>Without commenting on the merits of Dr. Krauthammer’s critique, it is pertinent to note that it is his <em>opinion</em>. This is true of Geert Wilder’s reasoned <a href="http://www.pvv.nl/index.php?option=com_content&amp;task=view&amp;id=1310&amp;Itemid=1">views</a> on Islam as well. After all, both have not quoted any scientific study to back their assertions.</p>
<p>If Islam is a <em>threat</em> as some claim, what would it take to persuade that certain fundamental attributes of Islam enshrine it a violent ideology of conquest? The key to settling what Islam stands for is to let <em>science</em>, not opinion, dictate the debate. This is reality crystallized by an analogy:</p>
<p>There was a time when a male lion was seen as an embodiment of a great and dominant hunter of a pride. This perception reflected the majority of  opinions at a certain time. However, various studies conducted in ensuing  years told a different story: that female lions were the real hunters of a pride. That is, statistics of female lions hunting for their pride dominated the overall hunting pattern of a pride. These statistics put to rest the specific question of who hunted the most in a pride. In fact, these <em>statistics</em> form the definitive scientific basis of these studies.</p>
<p>More than a few Muslims have claimed that they engage in jihad (a religious war waged to advance the cause of Islam at the expense of unbelievers) because Islamic scriptures command them to do so. Even nations representing Muslim communities—Saudi   Arabia, Pakistan and Iran—have taken to sponsoring jihad worldwide, on the basis of the scriptures. There are widely varying opinions on the root cause of this—the dominant one is that the relevant Islamic scriptures have been misinterpreted. As with the discussion of the lions, a corresponding scientific query would be to find out the extent or the statistics of dislike of unbelievers and their conquest in the Islamic doctrines.</p>
<p>Recently, Bill Warner of the Center for the Study of Political Islam has carried out a groundbreaking statistical analysis of Islamic doctrines. I summarize his studies by noting that about <a href="http://www.frontpagemag.com/readArticle.aspx?ARTID=30658" target="_blank">sixty-one percent</a> of the contents of the Koran are found to speak ill of unbelievers or call for their violent conquest; at best only <a href="http://www.politicalislam.com/blog/the-good-in-the-koran/" target="_blank">2.6 percent</a> of the verses of the Koran are noted to show goodwill toward humanity. Moreover, about <a href="http://97.74.65.51/readArticle.aspx?ARTID=297" target="_blank">seventy five percent</a> of Muhammad’s biography (Sira) consists of jihad waged on unbelievers.</p>
<p>While there might be some subjectivity to the above analysis, the overwhelming thrust of the inferences should be noted. This overall thrust exposes the sheer absurdity of excusing the Koran-inspired terror on the so-called “selective interpretation” of the Muslim holy book or its “verses being taken out of context.”</p>
<p>The burden of scientific or statistical evidence suggests that Islam is an intolerant religion that drives its followers toward a violent conquest of unbelievers. If such is the thrust of the Islamic doctrines, their propagation would lead to increased violence directed at non-Muslims. Indeed, rise in Muslim extremism of the past decades is directly correlated with hundreds of billions of dollars spent by government-linked Saudi charities to “propagate” Islam worldwide.</p>
<p>Not surprisingly, even in the modern context, manifestations of Islamic supremacy and conquest are the norm, rather than the exception. Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden outlined a condition for terror attacks against America to cease: “<a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20640658">I invite you to embrace Islam</a>.” During the past sixty years most <a href="http://97.74.65.51/readArticle.aspx?ARTID=29032">non-Muslim minorities—tens of millions—in <em>all</em> Muslim-majority regions of South Asia were terrorized into leaving for nearby non-Muslim-majority lands</a>. All of this points to conquering land and people for Islam.</p>
<p>America’s policy approach to the Muslim world has been clouded by misrepresentations of Islam’s character. For instance, in one of the most important foreign policy initiatives of his presidency, in the now-famous <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Remarks-by-the-President-at-Cairo-University-6-04-09/">Cairo speech</a>, Obama observed that “[America and Islam] overlap, and share common principles—principles of justice and progress; tolerance and the dignity of all human beings.”</p>
<p>We are left with the grim reality that at the fundamental level America’s policies toward the Muslim world are based on <em>false premises</em>—and hence, are untenable. This reality must be acknowledged widely before alternate policies can be devised.</p>
<p>We live in the era of science that has brought unprecedented security, development, health and prosperity. Yet, we have allowed opinions to dictate debate and policy on an existential threat. The importance of letting science drive policy couldn’t be clearer on the subject of Islamic radicalism.</p>
<p><em>The writer is a U.S.-based nuclear physicist and author of the book </em><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Defeating-Political-Islam-New-Cold/dp/1591027047"><em>Defeating Political Islam: The New Cold War</em></a><em>. His email is </em><a href="mailto:moorthym@comcast.net">moorthym@comcast.net</a>.</p>
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