I have spent a lot of time and mental effort into scrutinizing different parts of America and the West. I am doing the same now with the enemies of both – the militant Muslims. I have some suggestions as to how to improve the policy toward dealing with these toward greater effectiveness.
There are several ways in which the wrong things that they tell their people can be corrected.
They call America the Great Satan and call Israelis imperialists and murderers. What they need to be made to know is that America and Israel are not the only people who see them for what they are. They need to hear – both verbally and militarily – from the rest of the world. They need to hear from Europeans, the Canadians and the Australians. They need to hear from the Chinese. They need to hear from the Russians. They need to hear from the Japanese. They need to hear from Africans, Hindus and Latin Americans. They need to be made to know that America and Israel are not the only people who reject them, and they need to be made to know that the rest of the world does not welcome their ways. This will defeat their myth that America and Israel are the Great Satan and make it known to their people that nobody else wants Sharia either.
They believe that they are courageous and strong men, and that everyone else is a coward or a wimp. They need to be met with real courage. They need to see people being willing to blow themselves up. They need to see people being willing to run into the gunfire to shoot them. There are any number of people in America – Christian fundamentalists, folks from the ghetto, and feminist women – who would be willing to do just that. Imagine how they would be humiliated if they get shot or knifed or wrestled to death by an American woman.
I would especially want to see more feminists on the ground. Muslim men are much bigger pigs than anyone in the United States, and if feminists are serious about fighting misogyny they would be on the front lines. The ones who hide behind multiculturalism to abet the most misogynistic culture in the world must be told that they are traitors and fools, and that if they really are the strong women that they believe themselves to be they would be fighting these real misogynists, who – should I remind them - have been bringing their ugliness into the West and gang-raping Western girls and teaching young men in disadvantaged communities to be even worse to women than they had been previously. This might also encourage Muslim women to recognize the strength that they have – and many very much do – and use it against the men who treat them like dirt. The feminist women stand to teach Muslim women to take control and wrest themselves free of these scumbags.
They think that the only thing that Americans care about is money. They need to be met with American people who are not driven by money at all. They need to be met with American people who are genuinely spiritual or religious, as they consider themselves to be. There are any number of Christians in America who are not money-driven and who believe fighting these people to be their sacred duty. These people should be allowed into the military and given the right to do what they believe their sacred duty to be. I would also recommend allowing the Amish into the army to do the job – they have a history of being very non-materialistic and are in fact less money-driven than the Muslims.
They believe that faith is power. They need to be met with people whose faith is just as strong. There are any number of Christians, Jews, Jehovah's Witness, Hindus, pagans, and secular people espousing libertarianism, feminism and Objectivism, who believe what they believe just as strongly as the Muslims believe what they believe. The Muslims need to be met with stronger faith upheld with determination matching theirs. That will defeat their idea that they have a monopoly on faith or on God or strength of conviction, and the central claim that they use to control their population will be punctured.
They claim that they are moral and that nobody else is. This should be shown to them to be a transparent lie. Quran actually promises boys in heaven; and in Afghanistan they say, “Women are for children, boys are for pleasure.” They need to be reminded that in America they do not throw sulfuric acid into the faces of little girls, force children to marry old men, or beat young women to death for getting raped. Their absolutism should not be met with relativism, which they will rightfully consider immoral and weak. It needs to be met with a greater, more informed, and more courageously upheld, absolutism.
Further, they need to be called on their hypocrisy. America has a very large Muslim population, whereas Japan has outlawed Islam. Why are they attacking America and leaving Japan alone? Are they cowards? Are they not the real men that they believe themselves to be? Does this mean that America should likewise outlaw Islam and expel the Muslims who live in it?
They also need to be called on their hypocrisy about Israel. They accuse Israel of taking their land. Their ancestors forcibly took it from people who'd lived there before, and they have no right to claim this. If Israel is being imperialistic in taking their land, their imperialism is far greater. They took over the whole Middle East militarily and forcibly converted the people who lived there to place them under barbaric rule. Israel is far less imperialistic, far less murderous, and far less barbaric, than they are.
They also need to be reminded of just how much the Middle East owes the West. Had it not been for the West, they would be living under Communism; and if they had been living under Communism they would not be able to be Muslims at all. Whereas with America as the top country they can be as Muslim as they want to be for as long as they aren't killing Americans or their allies. The West has educated their economic and political leaders, including Osama Bin Laden. Most of the knowledge and technology for the prosperity that they have comes from the West. America is a market for their oil. Not only the leaders need to hear this; the people need to hear this.
I would recommend toward that effect radio, TV and internet transmissions similarly to the Voice of America that played a large role in bringing down Communism.
Another suggestion is to confront their identification with Islam and return them to their wiser and nobler roots. The Middle East had great civilizations before Islam. The Egyptians, the Messopotamians, the Persians, the Phoenicians and the Carthagenians all achieved very impressive things. Islam has lead them down the garden path. They need to stop crediting the achievements of people living there to Islam and give them where they belong: Middle Eastern people.
Have there been significant achievements by Muslims? Of course. But Islam does not deserve credit for them. If you have a billion people living under a belief system, some of them will be smart; some of them will be talented; some of them will be wise; some of them will be good people; and some of them will achieve impressive things. There were any number of significant achievements by Nazi scientists and engineers as well. Nazism does not deserve credit for them; German people do. Same is the case with the Middle Eastern people.
A distinction therefore needs to be made between Islam and the Middle East. For as long as people identify the Middle East with Islam, that reinforces the identification of Middle Eastern people with Islam. They need to be reminded that the Middle East existed before Islam, and was at the time the greatest place in the world. That is hardly the case now. Persia was a great country; Iran is not. Messopotamia was a great country; Iraq is not. Ancient Egypt was a great country; contemporary Egypt is not. Whereas the better places in the Middle East – such as Lebanon and Tunisia – have a much more moderate form of Islam and have been much more able to tap into the talent of people whose ancestors had been – respectively - the great Phoenicians and Carthaginians.
So when we see an Iranian politician claiming that Islam keeps them on a straight path, that needs to be confronted. Islam has lead the formerly great Persia on a road to ruin. Ayatollah did the exact same thing, turning a once-beautiful country that was developing very well into a political abomination.
Finally, the military needs to be disciplined so that they do not do stupid things like torturing people or shooting unarmed civilians from gunships.
Some of their lies and misconceptions can be refuted rationally and communicated to the leadership and the people. Others need to be met with effective counterexample.
If they think that they own courage, they need to be met with real courage.
If they think that they own faith, they need to be met with a stronger faith.
If they think that they own moral absolutism, they need to be met with better moral absolutism.
If they think that Americans care only about money, they need to be met with Americans who do not care about or do not want money.
If they think that women are weak or stupid, they need to be met with feminist women who are willing and able to shoot them.
And if they think that their main enemy is America, they need to be met with serious military action by the rest of the world.
The conservatives are correct to say that this is a war. It is a war that can be won – not only for the benefit of the West, but also for the benefit of the Middle Eastern people. Just as Germany blossomed after the West punished the Nazi leadership but spared the people, so does Middle East stand to be put on a right path when the bullies and scoundrels who claim to speak for them are defeated. It will reduce their identification with the scum of the earth. And it will allow the Middle East to blossom, regain its identity, and rise to its legitimate place in the world.