Bowser, I'm going to do the most dangerous thing possible on the Zone: Take a position somewhere between you and Tom. Ouch!

Murray's comments did strike me as somewhat slanted toward Osama bin Laden, if for no other reason than that they didn't include the obligatory denunciation of ObL. In the current social and political atmosphere, that's a serious oversight, if it was an oversight. So, even allowing for Tom's trademark HighDudgeon™ style, there's a germ of truth in what he says.

But on the other hand--and it may be the more important hand--your point about the value of gaining insight into historical and present-day phenomena is correct.

Notice that I felt compelled to say "gaining insight" instead of the more relaxed "understanding". That's because the word comes with serious emotional baggage for Rightists, who tend to confuse "understanding" with "sympathy" or even "approval". That's incorrect--maybe a better term would be "intelligence gathering". Knowledge is power, it's said.

The discomfort of Rightists is painfully evident when they dismiss any attempt to analyze the phenomenon of anti-Americanism with a breezy "Oh, they're just jealous!". There's zero value in hiding your head in the sand--comforting delusions have no place in military and geopolitical strategy.

There's more to it than jealousy, and jealousy can be cured. There are deeper divisions between America and Islam. One substantive example is that Islamic law forbids receiving or paying interest. Interest is one of the bedrock principles of capitalism, and you can't turn around in America without encountering it, in credit card transactions, car loans, mortgages, business loans, and on and on.

Muslims can't logically be jealous of American material wealth because their religion teaches them that such wealth was largely acquired through immoral means. What's bugging them is the opposite of what Rightists claim is the problem.

Is that difference impossible to bridge? You might think so, but interestingly enough, FNMA (Fannie Mae) just announced that it's going to work with an Islamic "lender" in Los Angeles to work out a way for American Muslims to participate in the American dream of home ownership on a level playing field with non-Muslims. The non-profit Islamic organization in LA has worked out a way to structure a mortgage using a combination of leasing and deferred payments so that the borrower doesn't violate Islamic law, while the lender still makes a decent profit. That couldn't have happened if somebody outside the Muslim community hadn't taken the time to listen to, and understand, Islamic views on the subject. Understanding led to a win-win outcome.

I'd rather see a lively discussion develop on this thread than indulge myself in a(nother) long-winded essay, so I'll shut up now.

--Robert