This is from today's Wall Street Journal first-page article on Bernard Lewis:
"A faction led by political strategist Karl Rove believed soul-searching over "why Muslims hate us" was misplaced, Mr. Frum says. Mr. Rove summoned Mr. Lewis to address some White House staffers, military aides and staff members of the National Security Council. The historian recited the modern failures of Arab and Muslim societies and argued that anti-Americanism stemmed from their own inadequacies, not America's. Mr. Lewis also met privately with Mr. Bush's national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice. Mr. Frum says he soon noticed Mr. Bush carrying a marked-up article by Mr. Lewis among his briefing papers. A White House spokesman declined to comment." And "The Lewis Doctrine posits no such rational foe. It envisions not a clash,of interests or even ideology, but of cultures. In the Mideast, the font of the terrorism threat, America has but two choices, "both disagreeable," Mr. Lewis has written: "Get tough or get out." His celebration, rather than shunning, of toughness is shared by several other influential U.S. Mideast experts, including ouad Ajami and Richard Perle. (Notice that Richard Perle has become a "Middle East expert" just as Liz Cheney also has become a Middle East expert. Don't be surprised if you read that Jack in the Box has also become a Middle East expert. The article then says: "A central Lewis theme is that Muslims have had a chip on their shoulders since 1683, when the Ottomans failed for the second time to sack Christian Vienna." First, notice the quality of this analysis. Imagine if a scholar or historian of any region in the world says something similar about any other region or any other religion. Could you imagine somebody getting away with saying that "Jews" or "Christians" have a chip on their shoulder"? Now this section is important: "Eight days after the Sept. 11 attacks, with the Pentagon still smoldering, Mr. Lewis addressed the U.S. Defense Policy Board. Mr. Lewis and a friend, Iraqi exile leader Ahmad Chalabi -- now a member of the interim Iraqi Governing Council -- argued for a military takeover of Iraq to avert still-worse terrorism in the future, says Mr. Perle, who then headed the policy board." And this: "A few months later, in a private dinner with Dick Cheney at the vice president's residence, Mr. Lewis explained why he was cautiously optimistic the U.S. could gradually build democracy in Iraq, say others who tended. Mr. Lewis also held forth on the dangers of appearing weakin the Muslim world, a lesson Mr. Cheney apparently took to heart. Speaking on NBC's "Meet the Press" just before the invasion of Iraq, Mr. Cheney said: "I firmly believe, along with men like Bernard Lewis, who is one of the great students of that part of the world, that strong, firm U.S. response to terror and to threats to the United States would go a long way, frankly, toward calming things in that part of the world." And: "Bernard Lewis has been the single most important intellectual influence countering the conventional wisdom on managing the conflict between radical Islam and the West," says Mr. Perle, who remains a close adviser to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. "The idea that a big part of the problem is failed societies on the Arab side is very important. That is not the point of view of the diplomatic establishment." And: Israeli experts say Mr. Lewis's contacts with Turkish generals and politicians helped cement Israeli-Turkish military ties in the 1990s. And "He became the confidant of successive Israeli prime ministers, including Ariel Sharon . I also want to add that Vanity Fair (in a bio piece about international embezzler Ahmad Chalabi) stated last year that it was none other than Bernard Lewis who introduced Ahmad Chalabi to the Washington, DC-based neo-con crowd back in the early 1990s. (thanks Walter).