Ahh, so you acounted for one of the hits to The American Prospects's web site; now if I can only figure out who the other person was.
Warraq's atheism doesn't bother me that much. Some cultures come directly to Christianity from their original religion, like animists/ancestor worshippers in Africa. It may be that Muslims need to go through a "phase" of what looks like atheism - disbelief in Allah as he is depicted by Muslims - before they can possibly become Christian. Trying to convert someone directly from Islam to Christianity might not be the way it happens.
It's also significant that any hope for reform of Islam will almost certainly come from the West, because it's only in Western countries that Muslims have even a chance of safely leaving Islam.