STANLEY CROUCH Don't link their hatred, our policy
There are many who believe the world will come tumbling down around us if we do not change our policies in the Middle East and the Islamic world at large. The latest manifestation of this argument comes from a CIA agent -- one who is still at work in the agency -- who believes we are destined to suffer another 9/11, only worse.
In a new book under the authorship of "Anonymous," he writes that U.S. policies in the Islamic world are the source of its troubles and that our invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq only ensured more hatred.
Which policies?
We can be sure that Israel is the main topic. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict occupies a very large position in the minds of Muslims -- who seem to have no time to look into the problems of their own countries.
Before we invaded Iraq, "Frontline" had a correspondent question a lot of Muslims about the 9/11 attack. No one found anything wrong with it. One young woman in Yemen said it was good because it was payback for what the United States and Israel had "done to us." She said she would be happy if she had children who grew up to be suicide bombers.
That says to me that those who claim we have done much for jihad recruitment by going into Afghanistan and Iraq have it wrong. I don't believe we are any more hated today than we were in the period right after 9/11.
An old strategy
What about the men who behead hostages, like that young South Korean, on videotape? They say they want to show the world how wronged they have been and how committed they are to jihad. But it seems to me they're trying to isolate the United States and provoke a reaction so angry that it will further radicalize Iraqis and other Muslims. It's an old terrorist strategy.
Since we are faced with so many Muslims who believe everything we do is connected in some way to Israel's dominance over the Palestinians, we would do well to push Israel toward its announced goal of establishing a Palestinian homeland.
But even as we do that, we should realize that nothing short of Israel's destruction will satisfy the extremists, the soldiers of jihad. Mideast peace will not change their desire for blood to an appetite for fruits and vegetables.
XCrouch is a columnist for the New York Daily News. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.