Know the enemy

Couple of weeks ago, we pondered whether Jihad International are fascists. William Safire thinks so:

Islamofascism … defines those terrorists who profess a religious mission while embracing totalitarian methods and helps separate them from devout Muslims who want no part of terrorist means.

Niall Ferguson disagrees:

The great category error of our time is to equate radical Islamism with fascism. If you actually read what Osama bin Laden says, it's clearly Lenin plus the Koran. It's internationalist, revolutionary, and anticapitalist-rhetoric far more of the left than of the right. And radical Islamism is good at recruiting within our society, within western society generally. In western Europe …the appeal of radical Islamism extends beyond Muslim communities …Here is a way to reject the impure, corrupt qualities of western life and embrace a monotheistic zealotry. That's very satisfying.

Here is what a friend said after reading us:

I prefer islamo-socialist, as "fascist" is just national socialist. So we have:
* national socialist (Nazi, fascist, Bathist)
* Islamo socialist (Iran, Al Qaeda)
* Soviet socialist (USSR, Cuba)
* Agrarian socialist (Maoist China, Cambodia)
* Any other type you want to think of, using government to impose the supposed ‘good life’.