What Can the West Do to Fight Radical Islam? Listen to Salman Rushdie's Blunt Response.

Is a civilizational confrontation brewing?

On his HBO show "Real Time" Friday night, outspoken liberal Bill Maher decried the slaughter of French satirists at the hands of Islamic fighters — but he said there's an upside.

"This was kind of a dark week for humor, and free speech and make no mistake about it, our very way of life is threatened and under attack," Maher said, before noting the "bright side": the West seems to finally be waking up to unify and combat the threats of Islam.

Salman Rushdie, whose 1988 book "The Satanic Verses" led Muslim clerics to call for his death, agreed and noted the concerted effort going into turning more and more Muslims to violent fundamentalism.

"This is not a random mutation" within Islam, Rushdie said. Islamic governments have been pouring "fortunes of money" into funding radical preachers and setting up schools that teach nothing but hate.

When the Democratic strategist on the panel tried to make the point that the battle for the soul of Islam is being fought in the Muslim world and there's nothing the West can do about it, Rushdie was quick with a rebuttal.

"What we can do is not give a f*****g inch" on free speech issues, Rushdie shot back, decrying the "'but' brigade" arguing Charlie Hebdo should not have published images of Muhammad.

Watch the video below (content warning: strong language):

(H/T: Mediaite)

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