RAND report says Cold War offers lessons on engaging with Muslim world

Just as it fought the spread of Communism during the Cold War, the United States must do more to develop and support networks of moderate Muslims who are too often silenced by violent radical Islamists, according to a RAND Corporation report issued today.

"The struggle in much of the Muslim world today is a war of ideas," said Angel Rabasa, a RAND senior policy analyst and the lead author of the report."This is not a war of civilizations; it's not Islam versus the West. It's a struggle within Islam to define the character of Islam."

"We cannot come in as outsiders, as a non-Muslim country, and discredit the radicals' ideology," Rabasa said."Muslims have to do that themselves. What we can do is level the playing field by empowering the moderates."