A world Without Islam pdfdrive com

Grand Strategy
In keeping with the title of this book, Washington should act as if Islam did not
exist in formulating its policies in the Middle East. The vast majority of issues in
the region can be dealt with and resolved without recourse to Islam as an
explanation or operating factor. Indeed, viewing Islam as an explanation
obfuscates a clear vision of the issues. Islam, particularly in its more extreme
ideological form, can complicate, even exacerbate, but not create such problems.
The issues and problems, instead, spring from quite specific, concrete regional
political, economic, and social challenges—including inadequate education—
that transcend religion, however wrapped in Islamic (cultural) rhetoric they may
be.
To view the problems as linked to Islam suggests we should devote time and
energy to examining religion and seek to change religion and its understanding
in ways we find desirable for our interests. But any “American version of Islam”
is destined for rejection. Indeed, the term “American Islam” was coined first in
the Iranian revolution, a biting reference to an Islam devoted strictly to personal
piety, that conveniently stays out of politics and does not address the burning
political issues of the day—in short, that does not make geopolitical waves.
Focus upon Islam, furthermore, conveniently shifts the problem to the “Other”
and entails no serious examination of our own policy failures. This is not to say
there are not serious problems in the Middle East and the developing world that
require treatment. There very much are. Indeed, just as we cannot “blame Islam”
for everything, so we cannot “blame the West” for everything. But focusing
upon specific issues, their causes, and potential solutions is the most reliable way
forward.
In order to reduce the present confrontation between the Muslim world and
the United States, the following specific steps need to be taken:
Western military and political intervention in the Muslim world—all highly
provocative to Muslims—must cease so that the area can begin to calm.
That means withdrawal of all US and Western forces from Muslim soil.
Efforts to identify and stymie terrorist acts must be carried out through
intelligence and police work; capture of terrorists should be the prerogative
of international organizations or local countries, and not by the United
States operating on an illegal extraterritorial extension of its sovereign
rights to capture and assassinate individuals at will.

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The United States must withdraw its special support from pro-American
dictators that discredit the US, give the lie to US-stated commitments to
democracy, and only lead to the buildup of more explosive political
environments and anti-American resentments.
Democratization must be allowed to proceed in the Muslim world, but
Washington must not be the vehicle for its implantation. Ideally,
Washington should keep its hands off the process so as not to tarnish it, as
has been the case in the past, through association with US self-interest. Past
selective and instrumental use of democratization by Washington for pursuit
of US strategic goals has discredited the very concept of its democratization
programs.
The United States must accept that under democratic processes Islamist