Neverland

David Thompson inspects the curriculum of the Pakistani madrassas and the ideology of the apologists. He refers to Wonderland, but I prefer Neverland, since we must NEVER assert or acknowledge anything unflattering about Muslims, according to those who have NEVER grown up.

And perhaps we should make great efforts to ignore other unflattering evidence, however dramatic it may be, and pretend, with increasing urgency, that things are other than they are.

Opinion Journal also has an article on (in Bernard Lewis's famous title) "What Went Wrong," by Dr. Hamid, a onetime member of Jemaah Islamiya, an Islamist terrorist group, [and] a medical doctor and Muslim reformer living in the West.

The tendency of many Westerners to restrict themselves to self-criticism further obstructs reformation in Islam. Americans demonstrate against the war in Iraq, yet decline to demonstrate against the terrorists who kidnap innocent people and behead them. Similarly, after the Madrid train bombings, millions of Spanish citizens demonstrated against their separatist organization, ETA. But once the demonstrators realized that Muslims were behind the terror attacks they suspended the demonstrations. This example sent a message to radical Islamists to continue their violent methods.

Western appeasement of their Muslim communities has exacerbated the problem. During the four-month period after the publication of the Muhammad cartoons in a Danish magazine, there were comparatively few violent demonstrations by Muslims. Within a few days of the Danish magazine's formal apology, riots erupted throughout the world. The apology had been perceived by Islamists as weakness and concession.

Worst of all, perhaps, is the anti-Americanism among many Westerners. It is a resentment so strong, so deep-seated, so rooted in personal identity, that it has led many, consciously or unconsciously, to morally support America's enemies.

Progressives need to realize that radical Islam is based on an antiliberal system. They need to awaken to the inhumane policies and practices of Islamists around the world. They need to realize that Islamism spells the death of liberal values. And they must not take for granted the respect for human rights and dignity that we experience in America, and indeed, the West, today.