He would have a dramatically smaller recruiting base if it weren't for the visibly brutal Western colonization of Jerusalem and Palestine.
I don't think so. Westernization (exposure to and adoption of elements of Western culture) is a serious problem for many Moslems. Western culture, especially backed by Western wealth and power, is seen as a threat to their culture and faith. As a result the more closely a Moslem regime is associated with the West, the more it looks illegitimate (like a foreign agent) to many of its subjects. The Shah's Iran is a perfect example.
This is paradoxical, but in the absence of something (like Israel) to put a chilling effect on relations between the Arab monarchies and the US, the temptation on both sides to cling more closely together would be strong - they are weak and rich making them the object of their neighbors envy and we are a superpower, after all. And the more closely the the US and Arab regimes are associated, the more the regime is viewed with suspicion by its people.
Absent an Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it's likely there would be just as much anti-Western animus in the Moslem world as there is now.
Islam produces militant and intolerant cultures. There are violent conflicts wherever the Moslem and non-Moslem worlds meet - India-Pakistan, the southern Phillipines, Indonesia, Sudan and other African countries, Russia, western China, and of course, Israel. It doesn't take a genius to predict the growing Moslem population resident in European countries will spawn violence and turmoil there in the future. |
