The risk of Islamist coups

Published January 25, 2012

The eastern half of what used to be Pakistan narrowly escaped a military coup last month. Brigadier Masud Razzak, the spokesman of the Bangladeshi army, announced on Jan. 19 that: "A band of fanatic officers has been trying to oust the politically established government. Their attempt has been foiled."

They had "extreme religious views," he said, and revealed that some of the 16 conspirators, all of them...