What our Objectives for Afghanistan and Iraq should be:

From Frontpagemag, Andrew G. Bostom on the horrorible mistake of not mandating Separation of Church and State in both Afghanistan and Iraq. Money quote:

These disturbing current events—a prosecution for “apostasy” in Afghanistan, with a potential death sentence imposed, and the sanctioning of the brutal murder of homosexuals by Iraq’s most influential “moderate” cleric—are entirely consistent with the Shari’a. They underscore how Islamic societies must embrace the pluralistic spirit of the Western Enlightenment if they are to be meaningfully reformed. Muslim scholar Bassam Tibi’s observations are particularly apposite, and reveal what our objectives for Afghanistan and Iraq should be:

"In the context of religious tolerance-and I write this as a Muslim- there can be no place…for Shari’a …Shari’a is diametrically opposed to secular constitutions formulated by the people… I hold out for the superiority of common sense over religious faith (i.e., absolute religious precepts); individual human rights (i.e., not collective human rights); secular democracy based on the separation of religion from politics; a universally accepted pluralism; and a mutually accepted secular tolerance. The acceptance of these values is the foundation of a civil society."