Tom Friedman does it again. Here's the first of a promised series of articles on the challenge of Islamist terrorism. Thomas Friedman: War of Ideas, Part 1
Here's a key quote:
"What you are witnessing is why Sept. 11 amounts to World War III - the third great totalitarian challenge to open societies in the last 100 years. As the longtime Middle East analyst Abdullah Schleiffer once put it to me: World War II was the Nazis, using the engine of Germany to try to impose the reign of the perfect race, the Aryan race. The cold war was the Marxists, using the engine of the Soviet Union to try to impose the reign of the perfect class, the working class. And 9/11 was about religious totalitarians, Islamists, using suicide bombing to try to impose the reign of the perfect faith, political Islam."
Doing nothing is not an option. He does an excellent job here of identifying the problem. It will be interesting to see what he comes up with for solutions.
Posted by Dean at January 8, 2004 09:16 AM