One of the most fascinating observations made so far by Lawrence Wright in his book “The Looming Tower” is that Islamists seek power, but never seem to have any interest in actually governing. This is why they are so short on political ideas, if they have any at all. The best example of this was the utter failure of the Taliban to do anything other than destroy things and bring practices to an end, decimating their society.
Instead of governance, the real objective for the Islamists is purity. And “when purity is paramount, terror is close at hand.” The reasoning is simple. If your status with God depends on not only your own personal purity but also the purity of everyone around you (since otherwise you have tolerated their evil and become an accomplice to it), you will gladly kill them since religious purity is more essential than life. In fact, killing them becomes a key way to achieve purity.
On this Fourth of July, this reminds us that Americans deeply believe other people should be essentially free to live their lives as they see fit. This may not be the only thing dividing us from the Islamists, but it’s certainly sufficient to do so.
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