Reader question:
In this paragraph – In Pakistan and Afghanistan, anything that fuels the sense of an American crusade against Islam puts moderates on the defensive and empowers extremists. It is hard to think of a more self-defeating policy – please explain "self-defeating".
My comments:
A self-defeating policy is one that works against itself and will not succeed. Self-defeating means causing exactly the same problems or difficulties you're trying to deal with. It is quite similar to the Chinese idea of 自行瓦解, meaning something will break down and disintegrate on their own.
A self-defeating policy must have measures that are contradictory to its purpose. For instance, the US war on terror was presumably aimed at capturing Bin Laden (and isolating Islamic extremists), but the measures the Bush Administration has taken, such as launching wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, plus sweeping mail-checking, phone-tapping and other civil-liberty infringements affecting the general public at home have led to feelings that the terrorist attacks have merely been used as an excuse for increased executive power at the expense of normal democratic process. The upshot is anti-American sentiments and sympathies for extremism have risen in Islamic countries. And, according to reports, Al Qaeda recruitments have increased also. Support at home for Bush, meanwhile, has dwindled away. Bin Laden, of course, is still roaming his caves.
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