Those who fell for this did so because they had also fallen for the second great European lie. Which is that for free and democratic societies the answer to radical Islam is another form of Islam. It makes 9/11 probably the single most successful act of Islamic proselytism since the death of Muhammad. It ensures that, whatever the problem, the answer is Islam. If people fly planes into towers, then that is bad Islam. The response must be to build Islamic structures to counter bad Islam. The response to "bad" Islam must be the pushing, promotion and support of "good" Islam.

It is this belief that has been the guiding force for governments in Britain and across the continent for the last decade. And there are obvious reasons why it has political appeal. It differentiates between the moderates and a minority of active extremists. And it suggests an immediate and practical solution. Hundreds of millions of pounds have been spent in Britain pursuing it. And it has only one major flaw: it is built on a lie. The answer to radical Islam in Western democracies cannot be to start extolling or transforming an only very recently imported religion whose history sadly suggests the severe difficulties of reform. Rather, the task of Western democracies must be to shore up our own societal defences — our own culture, our own values.

Instead, European governments are searching for a moderate Islam. The result is akin to the error of the man at closing time in the pub who sees two people quarrelling, inserts himself into the middle of their argument and finds himself the victim of their quarrel. It took Britain some time to throw itself between the combatants of Islam, but America managed it over the course of a summer. It had inserted itself in between the quarrelling parties and staked its own credibility, its own legitimacy and its own future on a "good" Islam being swiftly invented and just as swiftly triumphant.

As the issue of Manhattan mosque-building reached its most fevered heights, I found myself debating the subject in the heart of liberal New York — at New York University. Ayaan Hirsi Ali and I were in the city to debate the motion "Islam is a religion of peace". Against us, on the proposition side were two exemplars of the moderate Muslim government game. First, an attractive and pleasant young American Muslim called Zeba Khan. And second, a former Islamist who is now paid by the British government to be a self-styled "reformer", Maajid Nawaz.

More interesting than their appearance was who would not show. Not a single cleric. Not an imam. Not a mufti in sight. And not for want of invitations, but rather because not one Muslim religious leader would take up the invitation to debate against Hirsi Ali and myself. And among that host of absent imams, one in particular stood out. In the months and weeks before the event, the organisers, Intelligence Squared, had a standing invitation for the man who had been at the epicentre of the recent controversy. But since the issue of his mosque had gone national, Imam Rauf had gone to ground. And though he kept the organisers on hold until the last hours before the debate, in the end Imam Rauf was a no-show. Offered a platform to explain his views in New York (to be relayed nationwide on television and National Public Radio), he turned it down. His foundation nevertheless continued to encourage its followers to attend.