• Baathism, Islamism, Nationalism, Secularism etc

Some good discussion in this thread on the meaning of Islamo fascism - the posts by arthur and lupin3 are substantial

I have some reading / rereading to do here

I found this comprehensive explanation from Stephen Schwartz who claims to be the originator of the term:
What is 'Islamofascism'
(I won't quote from it because I think it needs to be read in full)

Just a quick question. Are Arthur and Lupin3 one and the same person? Certainly both prose styles are very similar.

I checked out the use of the word "obliviousness", which you don't see too often. Now it may just be a co-incidence but only Arthur and Lupin3 have ever used it on this forum.

Don't be ridiculous Cyberman.   I can assure you that they are two entirely separate people.  And that should be obvious to you as well because of the obvious difference in views.  The fact that you could even consider that Arthur and Lupin may be the same person makes me think that you  just aren't  bothering  to  read thoughtfully  at all.

Best.  Compliment.  Ever.

Thanks Cyberman!

Although it should be clear that Arthur and I have different opinions of the role of Islam in the Ba'athist regime, it is true that our perspectives on the correct courses of action to take in the debate about Islamofascism are similar.

Actually, having re-read this thread it is clear to me that the area of fundamental disagreement has yet to be resolved.  Arthur's insistence on what I see as a religious mindset strikes me as fundamentally unknowable, and therefore not a valid distinction.  Arthur saw my insistence on the "fundamentally" Islamic nature of the Hussein regime as a reactionary attempt to conflate Islamism with the secular Ba'athists to justify (in his view of my mind) the overthrow of a supposedly secular regime with an avowedly Islamic one.

But my argument instead seeks to analyze the historical conditions that gave rise to the situation in Iraq in the months leading up to the war.  Whereas Arthur appeared to see my argument as an implicit acceptance of the CIA's "Arabist" line, and so being forced into arguing that the Ba'athists were in fact Islamist in order to mitigate my own supposed concern at changing a secular government for an Islamic one, it was in fact rooted in my belief that the CIA line of thought has been proven utterly false.  I wish to demonstrate this by illustrating the effects on radical Islamism that the supposedly secular, but surely tyrannical Ba'athist regime has had in the region.  This, as an example of the larger failure of Pan-Arabism and it's subsequent subversion by radical Islamism.

To that end, the discussion of the term Islamofascism is important to an overall understanding of the historical context in which the Coalition is acting.