Q: So what's your prescription?

A: My prescription is that we need to dismantle the pyramid of domination and we need to rebuild a house of mutual respect.

Q: Give me that in bread-and-butter terms.

A: In bread-and-butter terms, I truly believe that we need to stop being so paternalistic in our attitudes toward Muslims, toward other countries, and begin to actually speak to them as if they were human beings, fully enfranchised, with the dignity that goes with that. To stop drawing lines in the sand, to stop dictating to people as if you have some God-given authority to do that, and to really start trying to talk to people and see what you can do. I think we need commerce that is mutually beneficial and we need to stop all of this hegemonic commercial tyranny that goes on in the Middle East, in Central and South America. I mean people forget, you know, the South Americans probably hate us more than the Arabs do.

Q: How much more difficult has it become to achieve this kind of rationale?

A: We're at the lowest ebb right now. It's going to be very difficult to get back our credibility. In the recent war with Lebanon, it was so one-sided. If you watched Arab television and then CNN, it was like two different universes. That's really troubling to me because like the Chinese say, "There are three truths. There's my truth, your truth and then the truth." If I'm unwilling to let go of my truth and you're unwilling to let go of your truth, we cannot see objectively this truth that's in the middle, between us. There's good and bad in all of us, and I want to get rid of the cartoon scenario of George Bush's world and Osama bin Laden's world, and I want to see it nuanced. I want to see more intelligence here.

Q: We know from history that wars are generally fought by young men. What are you saying to these young people to prevent the sudden explosion of this sort of negative potential?

A: You have to give them hope. And there's something attractive about war to young men. They need to see war for what it is. If Robert E. Lee in the Civil War said war was hell, what would he make of 20th-century and 21st-century warfare? I think we have to see war as the despicable creature that it is and really work for peace. They say if you don't sweat for peace, then you bleed for war.

Q: But can you pull that off from inside Islam?

A: Muslims are peace-loving people generally. Among the young, yes, there are some militant attitudes. But a lot of it arises out of chivalry-- and don't underestimate the chivalrous impulse in men. A lot of these young men see women being-- you know-- they see soldiers breaking into houses with Muslim women. It's really beyond the pale for the average Muslim man, and something rises up in them. And it can turn to deep resentment and rage. But generally I think the impulses are actually quite noble.

Q: So  what  do you say to the average  person who sees  some  kind of a sinister threat under every hijab and behind every beard?

A: People  have to be  exposed to Muslims,  just experience Muslims;  talk to them. Reach out, read   about  Islam,  try to find  out  about it.  There are 20,000 Muslim  physicians in  the United States,  Americans putting  their lives  in the hands of  Muslims every  day.  You're going under and the anesthesiologist is a Muslim, right? He's looking out for you. He doesn't want you to die in that  operation because you're an infidel.  He's  doing his  job. As  is your  pediatrician  who's trying to  heal your child.  And the mechanic who's fixing your car?  He's not  putting a bomb in your car.  It's Abdullah,  the guy down at the Chevron station, right?  I mean it's one-fifth  of the world's population for God's sake-- one out of five people is a Muslim.

Muslims  have  been  an  almost  entirely  benevolent  force  in  the  20th  century.  They did not wreak  the  havoc the  Western powers wreaked on  the world.  They have  not come  anywhere near to the environmental degradation that we've done to the planet. So I think Muslims need to be seen in the proper light. They're mostly decent, hardworking people, people with deep family values, and they want to live in peace.  My experience on this planet,  almost 50 years,  is that if you treat people with respect, they tend to treat you with respect.

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