The right approach is to stay out of it. To tell the countries involved that "these are yourevil spirits. And only you can deal with them." Because, as long as the myths about Islam, what it is and what it isn't, who can decide doctrinal matters and who can't, what Islam's relationship with non-Muslims should or should not be, what jihad is and is not.... untilall those matters are settled within the larger world of Islam, nothing is going to change. Nothing.
And the only way to force that process of reconstruction is to force Islamic countries live with what they seem to believe they want. Force them to confront, not the myths they hear at mosque, but the reality of those myths. Do they really want to live under Sharia law? Fine. Try it. Let ISIS and the other fundamentalist groups have their way for a bit of time. Let them do their "hearts and minds" thing and give Muslims on the ground an industrial-strength jolt of that old-time religion. Then let's see how they like it. (I figure within a few months there'd be a lot of dead fundamentalist. In fact, I'd bet on it.)
But whenever the West sticks it's nose into this process all it does is provide another excuse, another reason to wallow in denial over what their core problem really is: unreconstructed Islam. Either confront that or things remain as they are. Their choice - not ours.
So, get out, stay out, stand back, watch.
"Do not try to do too much with your own hands. Better the Arabs do it tolerably well than that you do it perfectly. It is their war, and you are to help them, not win it for them. Actually also, under the very odd conditions of Arabia, your practical work will not be as good."
T.E. Lawrence, Memo to British officers, 1917
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