Nightmare of the Prophet

The first three years since September 11 have been marked by mistaken tactical decisions, including the war in Iraq, and an over-emphasis on tightened security and border protection policies within Western nations. A better way to fight terrorism is needed. The West needs to move towards ‘draining the swamp’ that breeds terrorism in Muslim nations, by funding and fostering moderate Islamic values. Accordingly, a new four-part strategy focusing on pro-Muslim propaganda, economic support for ordinary people in Muslim countries, stronger alliances with moderate Muslim Governments and continued use of force against terrorists is advocated in ‘The Nightmare of the Prophet’. Gray shows the importance of basing anti-terrorism policy on lessons learned by the West in the 20th century struggle against earlier forms of totalitarianism; especially communism . It also provides updated interpretations of some of the most important current affairs issues of our times, including the 2003 war in Iraq and its aftermath, the David Hicks case, the West’s relationship with Saudi Arabia, the failure to bring to justice Bosnian Serb war criminal Radovan Karadzic and the changed meaning of the words ‘Right’ and ‘Left’ in Western political debate since the Cold War. Gray puts hard questions to Governments which have for too long turned a blind eye to the spread of a new form of revolutionary fantasy in the Muslim world, by fostering ‘soft’ relationships with extreme, non-democratic but oil-rich Governments