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And thanks to Saudi meddling, Asian Muslim nations are experiencing an upsurge of anti-Western feeling as Wahhabism replaces the mainly peaceful, moderate version of Islam long practiced by Asians. Wahhabism takes its most radical form in terrorist factions like Islamic Defenders' Front, Darul Islam, Laskar Jihad, and Jemaah Islamiah, groups that seem determined to prove to their Arab co-religionists that they are indeed true Muslims, and who are responsible for the many terror attacks in Bali and the Philippines. Jemaah Islamiah, a member of the al Qaeda network, maintains that it will not cease its terror campaign until a pan-Islamic state, consisting of Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, and the Philippine island of Mindanao, is established.

This is especially troubling considering that Indonesia is the world's fourth most populous country with the world's largest Muslim population. And nowhere do terrorists get off so easily as in Indonesia. Human Right's Watch reports that "Abu Bakar Bashir, believed by many to be the spiritual head of the terrorist organization Jemaah Islamiyah, was convicted in March 2005 of criminal conspiracy behind the 2002 Bali bombings. Due to poor conduct of the prosecution, he was acquitted of the more serious charge of planning a terrorist attack. He received a sentence of only thirty months, which was further shortened to twenty-five-and-a-half months in an August 2005 Independence Day sentence reduction."

The standard response is that these allies should be cut a generous amount of slack, since they must delicately balance the conflicting ideals of their Muslim populations and their Western allies, which must be why they tell Bush and Rice one thing and their Muslim masses another. This would explain the Musharraf-Bush-Karzai love-in at the White House last month, while back home in Islamabad the natives were hearing that the U.S. threatened to bomb Pakistan back to the Stone Age if Musharraf didn't cooperate in the War on Terror. Such two-timing works to the general's advantage, of course. A recent BBC poll showed that 88 percent of Pakistanis believe that Musharraf was pressured to support the War on Terror.

Majority Muslim nations and the West are not natural allies. Most Muslim countries are undemocratic, or at best illiberal democracies where separation of church and state and other basic freedoms are wanting, where Sharia law trumps what's known as Roman or British law, where religious police or a thuggish military dispense a unique brand of primitive justice. More and more Muslims are adopting an anti-Christian, anti-American, and anti-modern desert Islam due largely to the continuing exportation of Saudi and Egyptian preachers of hate. We call these countries our allies, but only because our vocabulary lacks a descriptive noun for such an unpleasant, but necessary arrangement. Genuine allies share goals, values, an interest in outcomes -- they are those nations you can trust to get your back. Britain is such an ally, Australia, Canada, Poland too. Perhaps some industrious young linguist will come up with an appropriate neologism. Ally isn't cutting it.

topics:
Religion, Islam, Law, Military, Iraq, Pakistan, NATO, Oil