Forces of Fortune

The Force of Fundamentalism

Two milestone dates mark the growth of Islamic fundamentalism: Ayatollah Khomeini’s return to Iran in 1979 and the assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in 1981. Since then, Islamic fundamentalism has become a violent, prevalent force in many Muslim nations. In response, many Western nations, especially the U.S., have prioritized the fight against terrorism and Islamic fundamentalism. Terrorism has led to a cold-war mentality, reducing policy analysis to binary decisions asking whether an action promotes or deters the expansion of fundamentalism.

This view, which dominates U.S. policies, ignores events in Muslim societies that point in a different direction. The West doesn’t seem to realize that even if Iran had nuclear capability, it would not become a regional power. Iran’s gross domestic product is about the same as Massachusetts’, its military budget is less than one-third of Saudi Arabia’s and it is very “isolated.” Iran’s nuclear program has two goals, both intended to forestall any attempts to change the current regime. The first is to “improve its military.” The second is to distract Western nations and activist Iranians...