114I’m careful to say that we are not at war with all (or
even most) Muslims. But it seems to me that no
matter how carefully one speaks on this issue, there
is a prob lem of Muslim perception that keeps
arising on the basis of two factors that we’ve already
discussed. The fi rst is the prob lem of identity: many
Muslims feel a refl exive (and religiously mandated)
solidarity with other Muslims, no matter how
barbaric their commitments, simply because they
happen to be Muslim. The second is the prob lem
of ideology: scripture, read in anything but the most
acrobatic, reformist way, seems to be on the side of
the barbarians.
As a result of these two factors, we fi nd that any
action we take against jihadists— bombing the
Islamic State, killing Osama bin Laden, and so on—
seems to increase recruitment for extremist orga-
nizations and a more generalized anger toward the
West. No matter how surgical or well- intended our
actions, some number of Muslims will conclude
that they must now defend their faith against infi del
aggressors rather than recognize that groups like
the Islamic State and al- Qaeda are the common ene-
mies of all humanity. Again, their inability to recog-
nize this appears to come from those two factors: it
is taboo for a Muslim to side with non- Muslims
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