The Peril of the Moderate

The Peril of the Moderate Moslem, Part II - Powerline is observing the same thing I am - that as US policy remains stalwart against terror, the terrorists will go for easy targets - the civilians and Moslem moderates who are, in the long run, the greatest threat to them.

Powerline notes, in referring to a conference by Gen. Abizaid, who noted attacks against US forces are down sharply in recent weeks:

To some degree, the Baathists' efforts have been re-directed toward attacks on Iraqi civilians, designed to deter cooperation with the coalition. Bremer says he doubts the attacks will be effective: "If Saddam taught the Iraqis nothing else it was how to endure the depredations of thugs."

In the meantime, Sullivan points to this report in the Guardian, on the mood in Turkey.

A cash register full of money quotes in this piece.

. But once we had left the airport, it was hard to see any sign of a crisis. The streets were clogged with traffic and people shopping for the holiday that begins today. The shores of the Bosphorus were lined with fishermen and a procession of large, slow-moving families enjoying the unusually fine weather. The restaurants and cafes were doing a brisk business, and every few hundred metres there was a florist overflowing on to the pavement to meet the seasonal demand.

In my brother's neighbourhood, which was ankle deep in broken glass a week ago, the glaziers have been working so hard that there is a joke rumour going around that they were the masterminds behind the bomb. Now all but a few of the windows have been replaced, bar the ones on the mosque next door to the synagogue. The buildings across the street have lost their fronts and been condemned. But the lighting store next to them is open for business.

My brother says that the shopkeepers on the street were out with their brooms within minutes of the explosion. It was the residents who got the wounded to hospital. He saw no official presence for two hours.

They are very much in evidence now. Those with homes or businesses in the affected areas must leave their identity cards with the police manning the barricades. Anyone who stops to look at the damage can expect to be filmed by a man who may or may not be an innocent journalist. It is all very subtle, and very calm. The shopkeepers in the fish and flower markets near to where the entrance to the British consulate stood until last Thursday do not want to talk about the bomb any more. They would rather sell me a string of red peppers or talk me into a pair of wonky glasses and a monster mask. Like my friends, they see staying at home behind closed doors as a form of defeat. They are determined to get life back to normal as soon as possible, no matter what.

Needless to say, you need to read the whole thing.

Turkey has had one form of domestic strife or another, frequently between Islamic fundamentalists and the secular authorities, especially the military, since Ataturk established modern Turkey after World War I. The latest phase - tied to the current war on terror inasmuch as it is linked to Wahabbist madrasses that have sprung up throughout the Turkish countryside - promises to be difficult.

How will the Turks react? To some extent, as Sullivan notes, that's up to us.

Posted by Mitch at November 26, 2003 06:05 AM