Extremists Can’t
Be Mollified

I read with interest the column of Haviland Smith about "Israel’s West Bank Settlements" in the 12/6/07 edition. I noted that the writer’s credentials are that he was a CIA station chief, having served in Europe and the Middle East.

It struck me that this is the same CIA that recently was exposed as burning important audiotapes, participating in water boarding, failing to employ sufficient Arab speaking operators, completely missing Sept. 11, operating Guantanamo, and having been a cause of embarrassment since General Donovan founded it some 60 years ago.

With that in mind I reviewed his column. I am not going to try to disassemble his rationalization, but in the interests of time to emphasize an argument that he did not raise. Anti-Western Muslim fundamentalists, or terrorists as we can call them, are not interested in any two-state solution, or in the problems of the Palestinians. They are only interested in the total elimination of the existence of the state of Israel, the dismantling of Western civilization as they know it, and the imposition of a world-wide Taliban-like takeover. Time, they feel, is totally on their side, and they can wait for generations.

The only rational response, and it’s not force of arms, is the emergence of a Muslim middle-class who will feel as threatened as the rest of the civilized world. When that occurs, Sunnis, Shiites, and Kurds will stop killing each other, Palestinians and Israelis will finally sit down with the same goals, Afghanis will be able to plant food crops as opposed to opium, and maybe the CIA will get the message that that’s where all the efforts have to be made.

Monroe Mayer

South Royalton