Here was Islam as a political system that commands its followers to fight until the religion of Allah reigns supreme. Within days, President George W. Bush stood before the Islamic Center of Washington and declared, “Islam is peace.” True Muslims were victims, too: victims of misunderstanding, of prejudice, of the very terrorists who claimed to speak for them. Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Egypt—none could be alienated by the suggestion that their state religion was the problem. Islam was innocent.