I Worry For Them, Actually

Bernard Lewis has an excellent essay on our war with Islamic fascists. Democracy is not impossible for the Moslem world to achieve. Indeed, the totalitarian strain so evident now is really a local adaptation of Nazism and communism rather than any authentic Islamic tradition. Just because we've only known this state of affairs in our lifetimes doesn't mean it is "authentic."

However, I must disagree with the conclusion about promoting democracy and the stakes:

I think that the effort is difficult and the outcome uncertain, but I think the effort must be made. Either we bring them freedom, or they destroy us.

Yes, we must try to install democracy and we could fail.

In addition, I don't rule out that we could lose to the jihadis. Or at least some of our more supine members of the Western club could either fall to them or side with them (France could be in either column).

But I think it unlikely that the West as a whole could be destroyed by these 10th century lunatics. We have exerted only a fraction of our power, and our power is being used to save the Moslem world rather than defeat it. Should we be hit hard enough and often enough, our full measure of power will be used to destroy. I don't think even European restraint will last very long if the Islamic world actually unites to attack us.

I think it is far more accurate to say either we bring them freedom, or we destroy them.