Let the insidious creep of education do that work, and in the course of a generation or two, you will see real change there.

The use of the word insidious couldn’t be more apropriate. The realm of education–indoctrination, if you will–may be the real center of gravity in the long war. At some level we already understand the importance of building schools in Iraq and Afghanistan and educating women in order to reform these cultures.

Ash asks, “Is there really any chance of successfully invading and occupying their lands and making progress ‘civilizing’ them? Aren’t there better methods of attempting to ‘civilize’ then the military option?” Again, the best answer is education. But the question is how do you go about educating–civilizing–from without?

I would argue the problems of cultural antipathy we encounter by virtue of being in country are manageable; the schisms might even be to our advantage. For every chieftan in Afghanistan offended by being wanded by a female (a stupidity easily addressed) there are possibly thousands of young Iraqi males so favorably impressed by the U.S. soldier as to want to be like him.

The bigger problem seems to me what to do about Muslim populations with which we have little or no direct contact. The problem is made worse by the influence of extremist teachings–indoctrinations–conducted in too many madrassas. Fred says, “Education itself is not the magic bullet.” Maybe not. Perhaps especially not in countries like Pakistan where we have no actual footprint. But where, as in Iraq and Afghanistan, we have influence it seems to me only sensible that we should continue to assert and cultivate it. Meanwhile, we should watch what is going on with the education of our own, both in the public schools and private–especially given the potential for insidious creep towards something quite counter to our way of life.