Islam—Facts or Dreams? - Imprimis

Islam—Facts or Dreams? - Imprimis:
"In 1993 I was a seasoned federal prosecutor, but I only knew as much about Islam as the average American with a reasonably good education—which is to say, not much.
Consequently, when I was assigned to lead the prosecution of a terrorist cell that had bombed the World Trade Center and was plotting an even more devastating strike—simultaneous attacks on the Lincoln and Holland Tunnels, the United Nations complex on the East River, and the FBI’s lower Manhattan headquarters—I had no trouble believing what our government was saying: that we should read nothing into the fact that all the men in this terrorist cell were Muslims; that their actions were not representative of any religion or belief system; and that to the extent they were explaining their atrocities by citing Islamic scripture, they were twisting and perverting one of the world’s great religions, a religion that encourages peace.
...Unlike commentators and government press secretaries, I had to examine these claims...
One of the first things I learned concerned the leader of the terror cell, Omar Abdel Rahman, infamously known as the Blind Sheikh.
Our government was portraying him as a wanton killer who was lying about Islam by preaching that it summoned Muslims to jihad or holy war.
Far from a lunatic, however, he turned out to be a globally renowned scholar—a doctor of Islamic jurisprudence who graduated from al-Azhar University in Cairo, the seat of Sunni Islamic learning for over a millennium. 
His area of academic expertise was sharia—Islamic law.
I immediately began to wonder why American officials from President Bill Clinton and Attorney General Janet Reno on down, officials who had no background in Muslim doctrine and culture, believed they knew more about Islam than the Blind Sheikh.
Then something else dawned on me: the Blind Sheikh was not only blind; he was beset by several other medical handicaps.
That seemed relevant.
After all, terrorism is hard work.
Here was a man incapable of doing anything that would be useful to a terrorist organization—he couldn’t build a bomb, hijack a plane, or carry out an assassination.
Yet he was the unquestioned leader of the terror cell. 
Was this because there was more to his interpretation of Islamic doctrine than our government was conceding?
...When he said the scriptures command that Muslims strike terror into the hearts of Islam’s enemies, the scriptures backed him up..."
Read on!