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September 22, 2005
Some Perspectives On The Mideast & Terrorism
It would seem that President George W. Bush's efforts to spread democracy into Islamic society as a way of curbing the recruitment of the young to the "causes" of terrorists are beginning to show results as more and more Muslim journalists and "listened-to" Arabs speak out against terrorism and the Islamic states' positions that encourage its growth. Kira Zalan links to some excellent examples here. Go and have a good read, see you when you get back.
You have to realize that Islamofascist terrorism could not flourish as it has with so many of its practitioners remaining at large if there was a serious effort on the part of the governments of Muslim countries, their clerics and worldwide Islamic communities to do something about it, and if there were no Islamic governments, such as "our friends" the Saudis, Syria and Iran lending support to terrorist organizations.
I very definitely take umbrage with the American left's position that those who indulge in hate speech here in the west are entitled to do so under the umbrella of "freedom of speech," as Kira's first commenter implied, "chastised" thereupon by a number of right-thinking commenters. In order to live in a free society, one must understand that every freedom comes with unspoken responsibilities that are there to prevent abuse that can endanger or otherwise infringe upon the rights and freedoms of others. In the case of Muslim clergy and others who speak to incite fellow Islamics to commit violence upon the rest of us, they are abusing the right to freedom of speech and for the safety of everyone else, despite the portside diatribes to the contrary, need to be removed from our community. There is little to choose between them and those who actually commit acts of terrorism. This ACLU/liberal view that we have to wait until a bunch of innocent citizens are blown up or otherwise butchered before any action is taken is obscene as it demonstrates a total lack of respect for human life.
The Academy For The Constitutionally Challenged weighs in on the reality of the situation here.
Before we continue, you need to understand something, if you haven't figured it out already. These people hate you. They don't want to understand you, and they don't want to be your friend. They don't simply hate your government; they don't merely hate your religion. They hate you and me and our families and our friends. And they won't ask you if it's okay to kill you. They won't file suit in court to find out if it's constitutional. They won't take a vote. They'll just kill you, and I hope to prove that to you.
The reality of the situation is that someone has declared war on us (even if they say we were the first to declare, the following holds true), and we are now faced with three choices. Either we ignore the declaration, surrender to the enemy's terms, or choose to fight back. In an ordinary world, ignoring the threat is tantamount to surrendering, since the enemy will eventually smother us if we do nothing. Again I hear the cries "we did this to ourselves!" And again, I don't care, and it doesn't matter. If you really believe that your freedom did this to you, I can't help you. I would, however, urge you to move, as there are plenty of countries other than ours on the half-free to despotic scale that would love to have you, and it would solve your problem without creating one for me. On the other hand, if you are in the foreign pilicy camp, I might be able to explain why it matters not what you think.
Read the rest, it pretty much encapsulates the entire issue and is extremely well put.
In the Middle East Intelligence Bulletin, Gary C. Gambill puts out an interesting analysis on Democratization, The Peace Process, and Islamic Extremism. It's definitely worth reading.
Terrorism is an issue that has been politicized by the left, who seem to believe that trying to get their candidates elected by slandering and obstructing our president and his administration at every turn is more important than the lives of potentially thousands of their fellow Americans. Shame on them, they ought to find another country to live in instead of sabotaging this one.
Apparently in their case, the lesson of 9/11 means nothing.
Posted by Seth at September 22, 2005 03:57 AM
