The Search for Moderate Islam

The problem is, how do you go about not making an exception. Do you drop more bombs? Do you send in the troops?Ultimately the only way to beat extreme Islam is to demonstrate that there is a better way to live. You can make temporary gains with bombs and troops but ultimately the only way this form of extremism is going to be eliminated is by changing hearts and minds.Metaphorically speaking I would carpet bomb the whole place with food and computers. Food to demonstrate compassion and caring and computers to educate and give the men and women that have no contact with the outside world access to it.

OK. So we don't respect or tolerate Islamic extremism. We can do something about it in our own countries. In my country specifically we have avoided acts of terrorism by Muslims opposed to terrorism. However, what can or should we do in foreign countries?It's a given by everyone on this forum that we don't respect militant Islamic extremism. What do you propose we do. The response of our governments has mostly been to drop bombs and arm and train those that are currently our allies in this situation. (There has been some humanitarian responses as well in terms of food etc.) This may hold things back temporarily and maybe we're doing the best thing for now but ultimately just as ISIS has largely replaced al qaeda, ISIS will simply be replaced by a different militant group when the strength of ISIS is diminished.It seems to me that we in the west seem to think that issues like this can be dealt in one leader's term of office. We want results now. This problem has been around for generations and there are no quick fixes. It is largely about changing attitudes one person at a time. Our big mistake would be to lump them all in together.