Posted on 01/21/2005 6:40:51 AM PST by Eurotwit
Neoconservatives’ endeavors to create a market economy version of Islam – bereft of its basic tenets - got a boost recently when Reverend James Schall, Professor of government at Georgetown University and a Jesuit priest, vigorously defended their efforts.
In an article entitled “When War Must Be the Answer” published in the December/January issue of Policy Review, Schall writes about “making Islam over into politically acceptable forms.” This is the main neoconservative project and Schall argues that this program can be defended because no one, including the churches, is willing to examine in a serious way the truth claims of Islam. According to Schall, this not only includes Islam’s own understanding of Allah and of Judaism and Christianity, but also its practiced way of life and the direct relation of its religion and its politics.
He also explains the ultimate objectives behind the effort to provide models and forms of “democratic” and “free” political systems. Schall is blunt in pointing out that the neocons effort is to undermine those teachings and customs of Islam that cause the problem, the first of which is the claim of the truth of Islamic revelation and its understanding of the absolute will of God as arbitrary.
Schall’s remarks resonate with the neoconservatives at the Washington-based think tank, the Rand Corporation, who published two studies last year in a bid to create a market economy version of Islam. The Rand study published in March 2004 - entitled “Civil Democratic Islam: Partners, Resources, and Strategies” – suggested selectively ignoring or rejecting elements of the original religious doctrine of Islam. In order to achieve this objective, the Study called for an alliance with the modernists in the Muslim world. It defines a moderate as a Muslim who believes that the Quran is a legend and that some verses (suras) may have been falsely or inaccurately recorded in the Quran.
According to the Study modernists believe in the historicity of Islam, i.e., that Islam as it was practiced in the days of the Prophet reflected eternal truths as well as historical circumstances that were appropriate to that time but are no longer valid. They also believe that Islam is responsible for the underdevelopment of the Muslims because prosperity and progress depends on modernity and democracy. In December 2004, the Rand Corporation issued another study – entitled “The Muslim World After 9/11” – which also called for empowering the Muslim moderates in the Muslim world. A summary of this 678-page study was issued under the title: U.S. Strategy in the Muslim World after 9/11.
As an essential component of an effective U.S. policy toward the Muslim World, the new study stressed the support to what it called “civil Islam” that is the Muslim civil society groups that advocate moderation. Keeping in view the two Rand reports in the background of constant media and conservative Christian rights campaign against Islam and Muslims helps us to understand why after 9/11 the so-called progressive, moderate and ijtehadi Muslim groups are cropping in US which are squarely blaming the Islamic faith for all ills of the 1.3 billion Muslims. These agenda driven groups have joined the chorus of “reject all basic tenets of Islam.”
Clash of civilizations
Reverting to Schall’s views on Islam and war.
Schall strongly believes in Huntington’s theory of the “Clash of Civilizations” and sees the current situation in the world as a new war of civilizations. Huntington says that the centuries old military interaction between the West and Islam could become more virulent. For Huntington, Islam is ideologically hostile and anti-Western.
Drawing upon Huntington’s concept, Schall argues: “Our leaders, both civil and religious, have been loath so to designate it as a civilizational war. Islam is said to be a religion of peace. To suspect that it is a threat on a much broader scale is one of those things that must be classified as “secret writing.” He further says that it goes against the dominant religious mood, namely, ecumenism, and against the liberal mode, namely, tolerance, according to which all issues can be resolved without war.
The 21st Century, it seems clear, will more likely be a century of confrontation with world religions rather than with world ideologies, as was the 20th Century, Schall writes in an article, “Belloc On The Apparently Unconvertible Religion (Islam)”, published in 2003.
He even describes as the current US military operation in Iraq as a war against an expanding Islam. The International Herald Tribune on Jan. 11, 2005, quoted Schall as saying: "I always thought it was a mistake not say what Iraq really was, that is, a war against an expanding Islam. I can put myself in Bush's position, of course, and understand it was a prudential act to say it was a war on terrorism." (Politicus: Bush might be heading for tangle with neocons by John Vinocur)
Borrowing from the French Catholic historian Hilaire Belloc, Schall argues that Crusades (1095-1200) did not split Islam geographically, if the Crusades had cut Africa from Asia, Islam may have declined. He insists that many of the advocates of occupation of Iraq today use this theory of the need to split Islam and hence reduce its geopolitical power.
Schall predicts a long struggle between Islam and the West. He argues that theorizing that the “terrorists” are merely a side-show, a tiny minority which will naturally pass out of existence, is an easy way out of considering the more basic problem of the civilized movement and what to do about it. “This consideration is based upon the notion that Islam is a confident civilizational movement, suddenly aware, thanks to the judgment of its more radical leaders, of the possibility of continuing its historic mission: spreading the religion by force or other means throughout the world.”
“Islam has another soul and another destiny which it seeks to spread, by its own proven means,” he says.
War is a virtue
Let us now discuss Shall’s views on the necessity of war.
He is a Machiavellian. In his latest article - When War Must Be the Answer - in the Policy Review magazine, he strong supports war as a virtue. Citing Machiavelli’s advice that a prince should spend most of his time preparing for war, he says: A common, oft-heard theory about war today, by contrast, is that we have “grown” or progressed out of it. The assertion that war may still be necessary is looked upon as “anti-progressive,” a sin against “history.” No “reasonable” person can hold the view that war may be necessary.
Schall rejects this notion and cites Herbert Deane’s summation of Augustine’s view of war: “Wars are inevitable as long as men and their societies are moved by avarice, greed, and lust for power, the permanent drives of sinful men. It is, therefore, self-delusion and folly to expect that a time will ever come in this world when wars will cease and ‘men will beat their swords into ploughshares.”
He is mindful of the destruction and killing of innocent civilians in the war, which is now termed as collateral damage. Though much carnage and chaos happen in any historic war, and on every side, still we cannot conclude from this that “war is not the answer,” he says. In this regard he quotes C.S. Lewis, who wrote in his essay “Why I Am Not a Pacifist:” The doctrine that war is always a greater evil seems to imply a materialist ethic, a belief that death and pain are the greatest evils. But I do not think they are. I think the suppression of a higher religion by a lower, of even a higher secular culture by a lower, a much greater evil.
The worst modern tyranny in the twenty-first century will not come from armies but from their lack, from the lack of capacity and courage to use them wherever they are needed to protect justice, freedom, and truth, Schall argues by adding: “If war is not the “answer,” what is? How do we rid ourselves of tyrants or protect ourselves from ideologies or fanatics who attack us with their own principles and weapons, not ours?”
After establishing his case for war, Schall points out that the worst modern tyranny in the twenty-first century will not come from armies but from the lack of capacity and courage to use them wherever they are needed to protect justice, freedom, and truth. “If war is not the “answer,” what is? How do we rid ourselves of tyrants or protect ourselves from ideologies or fanatics who attack us with their own principles and weapons, not ours?” In short, Schall is a Machiavellian like the neocon, Michael Ledeen, who seeks to apply Machiavellian principles to the modern world when he says – in his book “The War Against the Terror Masters” - that as “we wage this war (against terrorism), we must constantly remind ourselves of five basic rules of successful political and military leadership, as defined half a millennium ago by Machiavelli.” He stresses that these Machiavellian principles are as true today as they were during the Renaissance, at the beginning of the modern era:
1. Man is more inclined to do evil than to do good. Good people are rare, and are constantly threatened by the evil-minded. Peace is not the normal condition of mankind, and moments of peace are invariably the result of war. Since we want peace, we must win the war. Since our enemies are inclined to do evil, we must win decisively and then impose virtue, until the people learn the rules of civil society.
2. The only important thing is wining. Machiavelli tells us that if we win, everyone will judge our methods to have been appropriate. If we lose, they will despise us.
3. If we have to do unpleasant things, it is best to do them all at once. Strike decisively, get it over with quickly. The diplomats will always say that we can achieve our goals with a little bit of nastiness and a whole lot of talking, but they are wrong.
4. It is better to be feared than loved. We can lead by the force of high moral example. It has been done. But it’s risky, because people are fickle, and they will abandon us at the first sign of failure. Fear is much more reliable and lasts longer. Once we show that we are capable of defeating our enemies, our power will be far greater.
5. Luck can wreck the finest plans. Machiavelli played cards whenever he had the chance, and he knew that a bad run can ruin the finest player. Machiavelli ruefully admitted that the best one could hope for was to have good luck about half the time. But that should be enough for us. We’re a lost stronger than the terror masters. One may ask, do we see implementation of these principles in the disproportionate use of force and indiscriminate bombings and killings in Afghanistan and Iraq because the neo-cons and their supporters believe that they are "fighting evil?"
Going back to Schall’s argument on clash of civilizations, one may also ask if the current “war against terror” was not to stop the expansion of Islam, but for oil and also for hegemony that is the main thrust of Huntington’s theory.
Abdus Sattar Ghazali is the Executive Editor of the online magazine American Muslim Perspective www.amperspective.com
ITS ALL PRESIDENT BUSH'S FAULT!
They should be transformed into a pile of radioactive debris along with Mecca.
Another way of saying the same thing, IMHO. "Extinct" is the only form of Islam that will ever be compatible with any other way of life.
The world isn't the same as before 9/11, when we all wore blinders about the nature of your religion. It is far from a "religion of peace", it is an aggressive, imperialistic religion, determined to force the rest of the world to submit to Islam. Muslims tell us that quite unapologetically, if not in those exact terms.
And we are finally listening. And more and more, people in the west are realizing that this earth isn't big enough for an imperialistic Islam and the rest of us.
Countries like the Netherlands, France and Scandinavian countries have reversed their suicidally multicultural tendencies, upsetting Islam's plans to dominate their democratic societies through immigration and a high birth rate.
America and it's allies are actively involved in smashing fundamentalist Muslim terror and spreading democracy across the face of the middle east. And we are winning.
Islam, you have but one choice: Become part of the 21st century world community; or continue for the time being to be the plague rats of humanity, and perish.
Adapt or die. There is no room for you in civilized society as things are.
Allah is dead.
They've had 1300 years to adapt and grow. They've failed miserably and it's because of their beliefs. I don't think they're smart enough to adapt. We will win because we are smarter than them. That's just a fact. The western world is civilised, hell we are the ones going to space while they're still stoning 16 year old girls for minor 'crimes'.
Ping.
I'm curious why they didn't take the same approach with the KKK by trying to turn them into an "acceptible form" as well. The hatred is equal, just partially redirected. They both share their hatred of Jews in spades.
I wonder how the KKK and muslim leaders would come to terms in a locked room for 24.
The term "neoconservative" is one I have heard bandied about a bit, but I am unclear of its meaning and in what context it is properly used.
Does anyone else have a definition of this term? I have looked it up in the dictionary and it is defined as a movement that arose in opposition to liberalism.
But this definition also seems loaded and I was wondering if anyone here had any other insights into this word - neoconservative or neocon.
Thanks.
Some good points here on dealing with different tenets of Islam. Let's face it... a religion with over 1 billion adherents ain't going away any time soon.
There is no such thing as a "safe" version of Islam.
Well, DUH!
Re: Neocons, check out this thread:
"Idealism and Its Discontents, Thinking on the neoconservative slur."
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1325403/posts
Another way of saying the same thing, IMHO. "Extinct" is the only form of Islam that will ever be compatible with any other way of life.
Interesting. So I take it both of you disagree with the stated goals of the US in Iraq.
Nope. I see it as a necessary step, what is politically possible at this time. Islamic terror will not stop, and as more and more nations are affected, the prohibitions against killing large masses of people will evaporate in the face of the us-or-them existential threat that is inherent to Islam.
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