Yet even if the U.S. were to embark on a full fledged campaign to convince the majority in the Middle East that America is not the “so-called” enemy, that America seeks positive change in the region, that American soldiers are there to not solely protect U.S. interests but maintain an agenda to help Iraqis regain their footing – will anything change?
Even if the middle class and the poor are embraced as equally as Mid-East intellectuals who play puppet to America's needs— will this somehow curb the development of Al Qaida and the Fundamentalists?
Even if the prisoner abuse scandal in Iraq gets miraculously dismissed by Middle Easterners as shortcomings of individual soldiers and not caused by the dominating presence of an arrogant America — would this really curtail the power of extremism?
Indeed it is wishful thinking to believe that the “absolute embrace of humanity” in the Mid-East will somehow stand in the face of Extreme Islam. When the doctrines are corrupt, the solution is not to embrace the followers, to satisfy them, but rather to embrace those who are passionate about change at the core.
If America and the West remain sincere in their respective efforts to help the suffering Middle Easterners, they should realize by now that the only way to effectively combat Extreme Islam is by supporting Revisionist Islam and the Secular Muslim agenda. In the face of a pious population, the sincere Revisionists who see the 'wrong' that has become of their religious traditions possess a passion to change it.
Finding those people, distinguishing them from the corrupt, embracing their passion, and giving them the power and forefront to bring about change is the only viable solution to a religion that has been used, abused and manipulated by its own followers.
The day that an influential mullah, an intellectual of Islam, admits the shortcomings of the followers of Islam, and describes the fundamentals of this religion as pillars that sustain a believer and not as propaganda to hate others is the day that Mr. Clarke will have helped 'turn the tide' — the day that the Middle East will breathe again.
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