MILITANT ISLAM PART 2

Military Islam is not transitory and a battle rages for the soul of Islam. On one side the moderates who are confident to learn from outsiders; those that are oriented toward democracy and desire to integrate into the world. Then there is the Islamist who are fearful, seek strong rule and hope to push the outside away. A militant Islamist could turn the Middle East into a more unstable and violent region. The triumph of Islamists will result in repression, weapons of mass destruction and other warfare and are likely to prevail. Such a win would close down the peace process with Israel, and restart the fighting. Regional commerce will decline and international commerce will slow down if not dry up, since the region sits astride major trade routes. It has been said that Turkey and Iran will be the linchpins of the success or failure of the Islamic version of tug of war. With Turkey moving to improve its ties with Iran while reducing its involvement and cooperation with Israel, moderate trends seem to be declining. In 1979 the public life of Islam took a new public role with the establishment of the Republic of Iran. Prior to this Islam had never before provided a government with an ideological face; and never before had a region in modern times come to posses the determination to impose its version of militant Islam. Domestically the regime imposed radical new institutions on the Iranian people. Abroad the mullahs are not shy about plans to spread their version of the religion. They believe that an Islamic government should be created in Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, Iraq, Lebanon, and Pakistan and reimposed in Afghanistan. Through a dynamic media campaign both in Iran and abroad, it has created the vision of alternatives for the Muslim world. At the same time they have successfully intimidated many moderate Muslims, Western educators throughout the Middle East and threatened exiles. The full extent of the intimidation runs throughout the regions cultural life. Militant ideas infect schools denying children a modern outlook. Moderate thought is disappearing in favor of radical doctrines. Napoleon and Mussolini tried to curry favor with it and it is conceivable that the US and Western efforts to curry favor will succeed. Also it appears to be contrary to reason that moderate Muslims will have a great influence over the more radical coreligionists. Western governments have a message for the world; individualism, freedom, rule of law, and secularism. On the other hand radical Muslim thought is exactly the opposite. William J. Downey Patrick M. Downey