Sadly, we are losing the War Against Militant Islam

Submitted by ibrodsky (United States), Sep 3, 2003 at 11:51

If "militant Islam remain no less of a threat than they were two years ago," what conclusion must we draw?

Unfortunately, I have concluded we are losing the War Against Militant islam.

Though the US has avoided any major attacks since 9/11/01, there have been some smaller attacks, such as the DC area sniper and attack on the El Al counter at LAX. Overseas, the frequency and brutality of terrorist attacks seems to have increased.

One of the most disturbing stories of how Islamism continues to advance is the canceling of a play called "Paradise" by the Cincinnati Playhouse. Basically, the generally pro-Palestinian play was cancelled because it portrayed terrorist mass murderers in a bad light. Several local Muslims insisted that Islamist terrorism is not unlike Patrick Henry's heroic battle cry, "Give me liberty or give me death!"

During his campaign, President Bush argued correctly that we must have clearly defined goals before we commit our armed forces to any conflict. Yet here we are, unable to say we are at war with Militant Islam, unwilling to say Arafat is The Father of Modern Terrorism, and unwilling to say that Abbas is Arafat's puppet.

When we avoid calling the enemy by its rightful name, we only fool ourselves, our military personnel, and our allies. Not calling the enemy by its rightful name is simply a new form of appeasement. It is based on the naive belief that if only we give the Islamist mass murderers an escape hatch they will use it. Instead, it has emboldened them to use Western principles to attack Western Civilization.

---

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".