Muslims don't like being "ruled by Western-supported secular despots"....hmm, I wonder if that should matter to us?

In the most recent issue of Christianity Today, Dinesh D'Souza has an essay called "The Clash of Stereotypes" (not available on-line)...

Much of the essay is a response to survey data about the political, social, and religious beliefs of Muslims. Most notably, D'Souza reports that:

"Most Muslims support democracy and freedom. Indeed, many Muslims complain that they are ruled by Western-supported secular despots who deny people their right to self-government...At the same time, there are anomalies..."

Then, as D'Souza notes, "The implications are profound." But his list of implications misses the most obvious one-- a point I've made here often, related to Robert Pape's work on the causes of suicide terrorism. (Hint: religion is only a secondary cause.)

Read above what D'Souza writes again. What sticks out like the proverbial sore thumb? Muslims don't like us meddling with our foreign policy into their affairs-- particularly when it is to establish "secular despots". You can't blame them for that! Pape would add that we are perceived (by at least some-- most notably, terrorists) as "occupying" their land.

I like D'Souza a lot. But he's stuck in a rut in his foreign policy views and blind to the most pressing implication.