Even Military Analysts Have Been

Useless

“Allah  hath    given   you victory on  many    [battle]    fields”

Koran   9:25

In the immediate aftermath of the attack on the World
Trade Center, the American Army War College Foundation
(which trains military officers) published a book called War,
Terror and Peace in the Qu’ran and Islam. You would be
forgiven for expecting this book to be a hard-hitting critique
of Islam and its doctrines of eternal war against non-
Muslims. This book was written by a sociologist and ex-
Marine named Timothy Schwartz-Barcott, and the Preface
was written by a former Commander in Chief of the United
States Central Command. The book acknowledges the input
of a long list of academics and retired military officers. The
author explains his education in military history and the
philosophy of world religions. He explains how the attack
on the World Trade Center sent him

spending     afternoons  [...]   leafing     through     the

dozens   of  editions    of  Qur’ans,    Qur’an

commentaries,    and     concordances.   Soon    it

became  apparent    that    there   were    many    verses

in  the Qur’an  about   war and peace   that    were

difficult    to  find    without     a   very    careful     and