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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: marcos who wrote (117211)	10/19/2003 1:27:44 PM
From: carranza2	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

marcos, The problem with militant Islam is that, for all our commentary about wackos, Islamofascism, etc., they perceive themselves as doing God's work, fostering the well-being of the ummah, and doing what they strongly believe is religiously appropriate. How can one argue with that? The only thing that can change things for the better is for Muslims to abandon Islam or adopt a version of it that allows for peaceful co-existence with Jews and Christians. That's not going to happen any time soon. Their perceived grievances against the West and Jews are the only thing that presently unites the ummah, not a drive for innovation, technical proficiency, reform, civil liberty, etc. Mahathir's speech is very enlightening in this respect.

To: marcos who wrote (117211)	10/19/2003 7:33:04 PM
From: Jacob Snyder	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 281500

< disagree that the whacko muslims are likely to be able to cause 'massive damage' any time in the near to medium term > 1. Pakistan has nuclear weapons, and short/medium-range missiles. They have had repeated coups, abrupt changes in regimes. Their army, intelligence services, and general population have a lot of sympathy for Bin Laden. They created, fostered, and armed the Taliban. At any time (maybe tomorrow), the Islamists (who already are in the government of 2 out of 4 provinces) could come to power. 2. Iran will have nuclear weapons within 3 years, perhaps much sooner. 3. N. Korea claims to have nuclear weapons, and has threatened to sell them. 4. In the chaos of the collapsing Soviet Union, a lot of technicians who know how to make nuclear weapons, and a lot of weapons-grade material (by far the hardest part of making a weapon) went missing, and is still unaccounted for. 5. It's not the threat you know about that's most dangerous. It's the threat you aren't aware of, aren't even seriously considering. Like 9/11. The only prudent policy, is to assume Bin Laden and Hamas already has a nuclear weapon, and act accordingly. If they don't yet, or can't deliver it yet to our cities, that's still the best policy, because it's only a matter of time.