In a World Net Daily article cross posted at Andrew Breitbart's Big Peace, Diana West lashed out at critics of Glenn Beck on the “Right and Left” for dismissing his caliphate theory as “delusional” and “as though it were a mythological beast, not a historical system of Islamic governance still revered and yearned for by most Muslims.” To lend weight to Beck's claim, West cited a 2007 University of Maryland/WorldOpinion poll finding that 74 percent of Egyptians support “strict Shariah,” while 67 percent of Egyptians support an Islamic “caliphate.”

Here's where it gets really bad.

West then claimed that the only thing “delusional” is “the belief that American principles -- freedom of religion, freedom of speech, equality before the law -- have a natural place as 'universal principles' in a culture grounded in Shariah principles,” and added, "[t]his is the pure fantasy that has driven our foreign policy through a decade of “nation-building” wars." West further wrote that “the only way I know how to get to anything you might call 'universal principles' into the Islamic world is through the establishment of ... a caliphate.”

Get that? West seems to be suggesting that Muslims are bent on imposing Shariah law by means of an Islamic caliphate, so let's not even bother supporting calls for human rights and democratic freedoms in Muslim countries. Calls for these rights and freedoms are disingenous anyway, because the only possible “universal principles” in Muslim countries are of the “caliphate” variety.

The poll West cited, by the way, found that "[i]n all four countries polled, strong majorities (67% overall) said they considered 'a democratic political system' to be a good way of governing their country." The poll also found that "[s]upport for Democracy was highest in Egypt, where an overwhelming 82 percent saw it as good and a 52 percent majority called it 'very good.' "

West probably just forgot to mention that.