The extremists will only be isolated if Middle East moderates believe they will be better off, and more secure, by backing Bush’s coalition. It’s a tall order that requires an altogether different projection of American power.
War has been declared against terrorism. How that war is prosecuted in the Middle East and South Asia could either cement mainstream support for the task or alienate still further an already disaffected populace.
From Morocco to Pakistan, governments and people had barely grasped the enormity of the horror which brought down the World Trade Center in New York and all those trapped within it, together with the attacks on the Pentagon and White House in Washington, before a general sense of foreboding set in about what this could mean for them.
