WEST POINT – Last fall, 16 West Point cadets — none of them Muslim — signed up for an elective on counterterrorism and created a Facebook page to appeal to young Muslims thinking about joining the so-called Islamic State.
The cadets aimed to persuade those tempted by the terrorist cause to see "jihad" as a struggle, but not the violent one that groups such as the Islamic State promote. For their project to succeed, the cadets knew, they would have to learn more about the faith and build a social media platform that reserved judgment even on those who expressed admiration for committed terrorists.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are in a tug-of-war over who's the best standard-bearer for progressive values as they road test lines of argument for the first one-on-one debate of the Democratic campaign.
The race for the Democratic nomination, once seen as a sure thing for Clinton, took on new vigor this week after Sanders held the former secretary of state to a whisper-thin margin of victory in Iowa's leadoff caucuses. The tone of their back-and-forth has become increasingly sharp this week, and the candidates agreed to add four more debates to the primary season schedule, including Thursday's faceoff in Durham, New Hampshire.
