[Edward64]

I have to first congratulate this forum for being one of the most entertaining and civil forums I've lurked in. As a long time FOF fan, I've originally visited this site for its FOF information but I now visit more for the diverse topics and points of view.

Here's my first attempt to start a group discussion.

There's been threads discussing the latest West vs Islam (and the clash of civilizations, okay so I'm a Civ fan also) and the why's but I would like to ask this forum their thoughts on HOW to resolve this (seemingly continuous) friction, or even if its possible.

Here's my perspective. I used to believe if we won over the Muslim moderates, they will ultimately control the fringe radicals. I don't believe this anymore.

(1) I suspect muslims that consider themselves moderates would appear pretty radical to me.

(2) The polls seems to indicate a large majority of Muslims in all Muslim countries hate the US, and probably to a lesser degree the West in general.

(3) There seems to be a lack of will/want of Muslim governments and religious authorities to reconcile their population with the West.

(4) The Iraq war and establishing democracy to encourage changes is an interesting experiment but the results do not look promising.

(5) I suspect (no hard evidence) that the majority of the Muslim population are not well educated.

I have my own thoughts on how to correct this problem but would like to hear from this group first. Assuming you are in a position to influence US policy and your goal is for the best interest of the US, how would you REALISTICALLY proceed with correcting this problem?