This illustrates my point. The ends of the terrorists were good ("liberal")
Where does Tariq Ali ever say that?
Here's what he says in an interview I'm running in the next LBO:
"The Islamic world is no different from any other. All the wars and revolutions that shaped the 20th century had their influence on the Muslim world as well. One of the largest Communist Parties in the world was in the Muslim country of Indonesia. The most gifted intellectuals were in the Iraqi Communist Party - before Saddam wiped them out, at the behest of the U.S. This world has been like any other. Since the collapse of Communism, we see developments very similar to those in Western Europe: a lot of people become dejected, withdraw from political life, others move to the right, and you see the growth of new semi-fascist organizations. In Italy, just to give you one example, there are two fascist organizations in Berlusconi's government. This doesn't upset anyone. In the world of Islam, the groups which are like the fascists are radical Islamists. They have have very similar philosophical beliefs about blood and soil and religion. And the causes are the same - the collapse of the left, big social vaccuum, neoliberal politics, so that the old parties of the center-left and center-right are indistinguishable. And remember, the Muslim world isn't a monolith; in most countries, the Islamists are a small minority, including in Pakistan. The problem in Pakistan is not that the Islamists have majority support in the population - there's more religious zealotry in Israel than Pakistan. The problem in Pakistan is that they are strongly entrenched in the army."