June 15, 2007: There is a fundamental lack of understanding between many Moslems and non-Moslems over the place of Islam in the world, and the reasons behind Islamic terrorism. The problem is that in Islam "tolerance" means "we're the dominant religion, and you practice yours according to our rules; special taxes, restrictions on symbols, music, etc., and, by-the-way, we can change our minds." While the Christian world has largely overcame these supremacist attitudes, many Moslems have not. Thus we have a situation where, in most countries where the population is split between Moslems and non-Moslems, it is the Moslems who are doing most of the attacking and persecuting. At the same time, these violent Islamic radicals insist they are doing it in self-defense. This makes no sense, especially to their many victims. The intolerance and terrorism doesn't end there. In countries like Malaysia, it's government policy to give Islamic law an edge over the civil law. In countries like Saudi Arabia, there is no civil law, only religious law, and a religious police force, paid for by the government, to enforce proper Islamic behavior on locals and foreigners alike.

It's widely accepted in the Islamic world that the Christian West is on the rampage, and everything the West does is solely for the purpose of securing the oil supplies of Moslem countries, and ensuring the survival of Israel. These two items make cooperation with Moslems difficult, although Moslem countries are willing to work with the West to go after Islamic terrorists, especially if these Islamic radicals are carrying out attacks in Moslem nations. Note that, if an Islamic terrorist organization is not making attacks in a particular Moslem country, they will often find refuge there. This was how Syria, Libya, Iraq (before 2003) and Iran became safe havens for so many Islamic terrorist organizations.

Of course, the West buys oil from Islamic nations, and the sellers need the buyers. Without the Western nations, what are the Moslem oil producing nations going to do with their oil? But that's typical Western logic, which is dismissed as wrongheaded by many Moslems, for reasons that are beyond the comprehension of most Westerners (and a lot lf Moslems, but that's another story.) Same deal with Israel. Like many Arab nations, Israel was created out of bits and pieces of the old Ottoman empire. But because the Jews were not Moslems (although many are, at least according to their DNA, "Arabs."), it became official policy in most Moslem nations to deny that Israel exists or, failing that, to deny that it had a right to exist. This is a unique situation in world history, and even normally pro-Moslem officials at the UN point out that, well, Israel exists and everyone should get used to it.

Moslems will ignore their religious, economic and anti-Semitic beliefs when it suits their purposes, but many will not abandon them, and that is a permanent problem in the global effort to contain Islamic terrorism.