You may recall that General Nagata is a top US General. He is quoted as saying, “We do not understand ISIS, and until we do, we are not going to defeat it. We have not defeated the idea. We do not even understand the idea.”

How telling this is.  In 1995, a similar shocking statement was made by former Secretary of Defense, Robert McNamara, who admitted that during Vietnam War that he had had no idea of the crucial influence of China on Vietnamese history. Now, 20 years later we read that a top-ranking military officer “doesn’t understand” why so many Muslim Sunni men might turn to violence.  It’s fine for the general to call for comments and help, but why didn’t he inform himself a decade ago of the history of the Middle East in general and the factors driving young people to violence? 

Americans and the British can rarely bring themselves to see reality from the point of view of others. From about 1830 onwards, the West’s military power was so overwhelming that the Europeans didn’t have to fire their gunboats to get what they wanted from Asian and African societies; the mere threat accomplished the objective.  That is what came to be called “peaceful economic penetration,” after World War I.  (Contributed by Carmen).

And yet, after all these years of war, our leaders don’t seem to have a clue about the cultures of Islam. The world is seen by them through a self-confounding superiority complex, the INS (indispensible nation complex), where you are fooled by your weaponry and your own hyperbole into appointing yourself Top Policeman on Earth.

Epicurus might ask, “Why do men always have dominate and control others?” He believed in equal opportunity and not bossing others around. We have done, quite unwittingly, sufficient damage. Now stay out of the moslem wars that we are not competent to win!