Infidels_ A History of the Conflict Between Christendom and Islam - Andrew Wheatcroft [253]
80. For the nineteenth-century response to the Ottomans see Reinhold Schiffer, Oriental Panorama: British Travellers in 19th Century Turkey, Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1999.
81. For example his analysis of General William G Boykin’s “dissembling” in Newsweek, October 27, 2003. He concludes, “Perhaps the most troubling aspect of Boykin’s remark is its utter ignorance.”
82. Fareed Zakaria, Newsweek, April 21, 2003, based on The Future of Freedom: Illiberal Democracy at Home and Abroad, New York: W. W. Norton, 2003.
83. See Marion Farouk Sluglett and Peter Sluglett, Iraq Since 1958: From Revolution to Dictatorship, rev. ed., London: I. B. Tauris, 2001, pp. 179–80.
84. For a full treatment of the game see http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stone,_Paper,_Scissors (November 9, 2003).
85. The reasons for this pattern of misconception are not clear. It is not for lack of high-quality research and study. For example, an informed and carefully analytical approach to the issues in Iraq from a U.S. perspective has been produced by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. A report by project director Frederick Barton and Bathsheba Crocker, “A Wiser Peace: An Action Strategy for Post-Conflict Iraq,” outlines ten key actions that the United States and the United Nations must take to prepare to rebuild Iraq’s security, governance, justice, and economic sectors. The study “Postwar Iraq: Are We Ready?” may also be found at www.csis.org (November 9, 2003).
86. I first heard this in the Texas Panhandle, but this version comes from a Methodist sermon: A Texas farmer had a new mule he needed to have trained; it would not do anything he wanted it to—not even go into its stall in the barn. In exasperation, he hired a muleskinner to come out and break the mule in. The old mule tamer arrived out at the farm and had the owner explain what he wanted done. The old man looked at the mule, then at the farmer, reached down, and picked up a fence post that was lying on the ground, and swinging the post as hard as he could, hit the mule right between the eyes. The mule shook its head, braced its two front legs just as stubbornly as before, and refused to move. The mule tamer swung the post and again hit the mule between the eyes, this time twice as hard as before. The blow knocked the mule to his knees. As it struggled back to its feet, the old man went around to the back of the mule and hit it on the rear with a third blow. He then dropped the post onto the ground, caught the mule by its halter, and calmly led it into the barn. By this time, the farmer was furious; he threw his hat down on the ground, cursed, and yelled at the old man, “What are you doing!? I hired you to come out here and tame my mule, not to kill him!” While he ranted and raved, the old man just stood there. He looked up at the sky, then down at the ground. Finally, he just spat some tobacco juice to the side (he was chewing Red Man), and looked the farmer squarely in the eyes. “It appears to me that you’re a mighty good farmer,” said the skinner. “You got a good stand of cotton in the field out yonder, and your rice paddies look mighty good—but you don’t know nothin’ about taming mules!” “What do you mean?” asked the farmer. The old mule tamer continued, “You see, when I want to teach a mule something, the first thing I do is get his attention.” See http://www.cmpage.org/texasmule.html (November 9, 2003).
87. But of course some viruses, like smallpox, can be prevented by inoculation or vaccination. For a coherent view for the recent evolution of terrorist methods see Laden and Roya Boroumand, “Terror, Islam and Democracy,” Journal of Democracy, April 2002.
88. See United States Institute of Peace, “Special Report: Islamic Perspectives on Peace and Violence,” January 24, 2002. “What is often viewed as a clash of civilizations is really a clash of symbols … The symbols on one side are headscarves, turbans [my italics] and other