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A growing Muslim backlash against terror: Middle East expert Gilles Kepel tells Sarah Baxter that the Islamic world is turning against the militants (Sarah Baxter, 10/03/04, Sunday Times Review)

Here is a surprise: a Frenchman who is optimistic about the future of Iraq and the struggle for the heart and soul of Islam. It would be overstating the case that Gilles Kepel, an expert on the Middle East at the Institute of Political Studies in Paris, sees the chaos and rejoices. Unlike most of us he does not despair.

Kepel will be bringing his upbeat message to Britain later this month. He has already been a hit in America, where he has been promoting his book, The War for Muslim Minds. His views are like rain falling in the desert at a time when kidnappings and beheadings are dominating the news.

He does not think the war in Iraq was a good idea. “I’d be guillotined in my country if I did,” he says wryly. In his view George W Bush and the neocons have opened a Pandora’s box of militant Islam and ethnic strife. But are the holy warriors gaining the upper hand? No. “Whatever you think of American policy, the idea of jihad as a winning struggle against the infidel is receding,” he says.

In Afghanistan the Taliban have been routed and 10m people have registered to vote. Iraq is under foreign occupation and terrorists are being arrested in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. The Palestinians’ demand for a state is going nowhere. Wherever the jihadists have been operating, they have brought chaos, destruction and defeat.

After seeing the distressing pictures of Kenneth Bigley caged in Iraq, it is tempting to conclude that the terrorists are advancing their agenda. In Britain last week Iyad Allawi, the Iraqi prime minister, begged the media to deprive the hostage-takers of publicity. But Kepel is convinced that the sickening images of cowering foreigners and grisly beheadings are leading to a backlash against the self- appointed holy warriors.

“People in the Muslim world who were reluctant to denounce them because of anti-Americanism are now convinced that what is happening is the destruction of Muslim civil society. They are afraid that if they don’t react against violence, it will lead to havoc and destruction, making Islam an easy prey for its enemies,” he says.

Whatever you think? Nearly everything he cites--and much more that he does not-- is a function of U.S. and British action or pressure.

Posted by Orrin Judd at October 2, 2004 7:46 PM