ABSTRACT
There are admittedly many Muslims who live in the West, who are content, as a minority, to accept the culture, values and way of life of the majority. Many North African intellectuals and others, who have found their way to Europe, have integrated into their new societies and seek nothing other than assimilating into the system as fully fledged Europeans. One of the greatest mistakes the Bush Administration has done in its quest to eradicate terrorism has been to commit itself to democratization of the Islamic world, while at the same time combating Muslim fundamentalism which is usually associated with terrorism. The West needs oil but the Muslims are no less interested to sell it than the Westerners to buy it, they cannot drink it or deflect it to any other use without bringing disaster upon themselves. The predicament of the West will not end with its hands-off policy towards the Muslim world.
