Middle East PolicyJune 2002 While the United States has yet to bring the masterminds of the September 11, 2001, suicide attacks to justice, its attorney general has issued an indictment against their faith. “Islam is a religion,” said John Ashcroft, “in which God requires you to send your son to die for him. Christianity is...

San Francisco ChronicleOctober 5, 2001 DURING WORLD WAR II, Winston Churchill told a group of Indian leaders about the Nazi threat to Britain’s “freedom and independence” and asked them to help recruit Indian soldiers for the war. The Indians said they would be glad to help. But could the prime minister just give them his “word of...

Boston GlobeSeptember 19, 2001 MY DAUGHTER, ALIA, WAS SHAKEN WHEN SHE CAME HOME FROM SCHOOL THE OTHER DAY. A MAN HAD ASKED HER FRIEND, AN 11TH-GRADER, ABOUT HIS PARENTS’ NATIONALITY. THE BOY SAID, “PAKISTANI,” AND THE MAN SPAT ON HIM. A friend in Frederick, Md., inquired if I was OK. She had been discussing last...

Middle East Policy CouncilSummer 2001 My guide at the Alhambra, the fabulous Moorish palace in Granada, Spain, drew my attention to its lush gardens livened by a gentle breeze. Did I know why the gardens were square-shaped? asked Mohamed Yusef Garcia, a native Spaniard who had converted to Islam. I said I did not. Historically, he...

St. Louis Post DispatchSeptember 2, 1999 ETHNIC STRIFE GERMAN peacekeepers stopped a car in southeastern Kosovo one day recently, “Your identification papers, please!” one of them said, stepping toward the car. Three passengers pulled out pistols and started shooting at the Germans. Luckily, only one bullet hit a soldier whose flak jacket spared him any...

Philadelphia Inquirer July 8, 1999 Turkey’s “trial of the century” ended June 29 with a death sentence for Kurdish guerrilla leader Abdullah Ocalan, convicted of treason and murder. Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit hopes the verdict “will be auspicious” for the Turks and Kurds. Nearly 37,000 have died in the 15-year conflict between the Turkish...

San Francisco ChronicleJuly 6, 1999 TURKEY’S “trial of the century” ended last Tuesday with a death sentence for Abdullah Ocalan, who was charged with treason. He had been fighting for the cultural rights and political autonomy of 12 million Turkish Kurds, and was captured in Kenya by Turkish commandos on a U.S. intelligence tip. Nearly 37,000...

The Christian Science MonitorDecember 9, 1998 Last week Washington hosted an international fund-raiser for former guerrilla leader Yasser Arafat, which netted more than $3 billion for his would-be Palestinian state. A few days earlier the Clinton administration repeated its demand that Kurdish guerrilla leader Abdullah Ocalan, now under house arrest in Italy, be put on...

The Baltimore SunJune 10, 1997 WASHINGTON — Most scholars have dismissed Samuel Huntington’s warning that the Western Judeo-Christian civilization is entering upon a phase of confrontation with the Chinese and Islamic civilizations. The Congressional Human Rights Caucus appears, however, to have taken it seriously and introduced a bill that could get the “clash of civilizations”...

Chicago TribuneMay 15, 1997 Despite its Islamists-led government, Turkey is again one of America’s favorite allies, and Washington has stepped up efforts to help latch it more closely to Western economic and security systems. Americans are warning European governments not to belie the continent’s secular credentials by barring Turkey from the European Union. The EU...