Martin Amis on Islamism

Shortly after 9/11, I appeared on television with Martin Amis to discuss the action in Afghanistan. His answers seemed to me rather cloudy, sufficiently cloudy, indeed, that when we were in the green room afterwards I asked him to elucidate. "We should stare Bin Laden down" he said. "Mmmmmm" is the best way of describing my response.

I still regard as eccentric Amis's view that in the months following 9/11 we over-reacted. But despite this, Amis is among those who sees Islamism with great clarity.

These exchanges with Independent readers are wonderful.