ABSTRACT

On the 4th of July 2002, an Egyptian immigrant to the United States who believes in wild conspiracy theories about Jews, is known for his great "hate for Israel", and has possible ties to Al-Qaeda, armed himself to the teeth and assaulted the Israeli airline counter at Los Angeles International Airport, killing two. The very first line of defense for the US homeland consists of those who issue visas and those who control the borders. When the Taliban destroyed the ancient Buddhist statues in their country in early 2001, Washington repeatedly decried the demoli-tion as un-Islamic. More broadly, a State Department Fact Sheet asserts that the Taliban "misuse Islam" to justify their "illegal and dishonorable" policies. The United States government has a powerful message for the world, a message of individualism, freedom, secularism, the rule of law, democracy, and private property. But it should have nothing to say about the proper practice of Islam.