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WE Must Write the History

Reader comment on item: [Samuel Huntington and] American Purposes In Iraq

Submitted by Charles Gilinsky (United States), May 4, 2004 at 16:52

WE Must Write the History

By Charles Gilinsky


Our failure in the West to sufficiently discuss the history of the Radical Islamist Movement too often leads us astray in a myriad of dead end policy searches for a way to peace. In it's historically rather brief 200+ years of prominence, Radical Islam, as fostered and promoted by the Saudi sponsored Wahhabi movement, has thrown the greater Islamic world in a downward spiraling plunge into social and economic darkness. Wahhabism asserts at the peril of death, that Islam, which has evolved and been interpreted over the millennium, must now revert to strict adherence of the original Sharia, tenants of Islam, as preached by Mohammed in the seventh century. The most strident tenant of this Radical Islamic movement is that every one on the planet must accept their teachings or be eliminated. There can be no compromise or negotiation with this ideology. It is their Jihad, a philosophical, theological and military war to the death, and they believe Allah will see them through to victory.

It is said that the victors of wars write history. If so, we might ask ourselves how we would have history eventually record the outcome of this War/Jihad. Let me suggest that history should record that…there was an Islamic religious and cultural conflict beginning in the 17th century that ended when the West finally put down Radical Islam by force and enabled Moderate and Modern Islam to reclaim its evolved traditions of tolerance for other traditions and to rejoin the family of nations in furthering civilization and its development through trade in goods and ideas with the pursuit of human liberty and civil rights.

Since 9-11, our Government has gotten it right in our present unforgiving pursuit of terrorism by Radical Islam; a pursuit that must be intensified toward the ultimate victory over its intransigent Jihad. Since it is the foremost responsibility of our Government to protect us, its citizens, this responsibility should come before tax breaks for the rich.

The FBI, denuded, since the death of J. Edgar Hoover, for his abuses of its power, must be authorized, under judicial oversight, to seek out terrorist and other criminal activities without politically correct constraints. The FBI, CIA and all Law enforcement agencies must be required to co-ordinate the sharing of data bases in compatible systems and to work together, with serious disincentives for failing to do so. Other public entities must be protected from lawsuits in observing standards set by the Department of Homeland Security.

Sadly, the Iraq war has deferred the priority and funding needed to affect these changes. Tragically, that war has unleashed a Radical Islamic civil war in Iraq, with our troops caught in the middle. Pathetically, we cannot now cut and run, but must redouble our unprecedented effort to a showdown with the forces that would bring Iraq under the rule of the Radical Islamists, and instead, establish a civil society; a model for moderate and modern nations in the Islamic world. In this, we must unabashedly learn to treat those threatening our mission as the Israelis treat Hamas, Hezbollah and the terrorists they face. It is the same Jihad and we must all pursue the same victory.

We have the power and the principles; we need to maintain our courage and will to write the history.

Submitting....

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Reader comments (33) on this item

Title Commenter Date Thread
set achievable goals [95 words]yuval brandstetter MDMay 17, 2004 14:4015257
WE Must Write the History [549 words]Charles GilinskyMay 4, 2004 16:5215038
Huntington [54 words]henryMay 4, 2004 08:4215031
Huntington Repeats Weber's Error [164 words]Paul SaundersApr 30, 2004 10:4314962
Vision for America [200 words]Robert D. BarryApr 30, 2004 01:1014953
What Danger? [139 words]Jack LassApr 30, 2004 00:4414952
AMEN! [63 words]heidi hamilApr 29, 2004 22:3614951
Patriotism [46 words]Octavio JohansonApr 29, 2004 05:5214943
Gratitude to Mr. Pipes [211 words]B. McCainApr 29, 2004 00:0914940
Nation Building is Unrealistic [181 words]Denis ArmstrongApr 28, 2004 21:2114934
NATIONALIST! [490 words]StephanieApr 28, 2004 17:3114929
US goal in Iraq: "Cosmopolitan" views will fail in any culture [297 words]KenApr 28, 2004 16:4214928
American Purposes valid. [498 words]Kirk BertinoApr 28, 2004 10:1314920
Mohammedian Wars [137 words]DONVANApr 28, 2004 09:2114919
Huntington's new book [66 words]brad bucherApr 28, 2004 08:5514918
Need better terms than "Cosmopolitan, Imperialist, Nationalist" [160 words]Nancy BeutelApr 27, 2004 23:2014914
American Purposes in Iraq [93 words]John GlueckApr 27, 2004 23:0114912
America the Beautiful [634 words]Jim SApr 27, 2004 21:3714908
Hmm... [91 words]Paul GeeJun 29, 2008 07:0714908
Thank you! [78 words]NanciApr 27, 2004 18:1214904
Three purposes for America's policy? [131 words]Martin SchulbergApr 27, 2004 18:0514902
US role in Iraq [95 words]Fred SingerApr 27, 2004 17:0514900
Neither Imperialist Nor Nationalist [140 words]Tim StarrApr 27, 2004 16:0914898
How Little We have Learned [126 words]David HarrisApr 27, 2004 15:3714896
please clarify [161 words]Michael RosenbaumApr 27, 2004 15:2814895
Iraq [52 words]Mort ReichekApr 27, 2004 14:5514894
Bravo [15 words]dmdApr 27, 2004 14:4414892
Likely consequences of a premature withdrawal from Iraq [78 words]Avraham WeissmanApr 27, 2004 14:2614890
Nationalism won't maintain USA hegemony [120 words]SomaApr 27, 2004 13:3114887
A nationalist America [137 words]Marty EkremApr 27, 2004 13:0714886
Then you reject the results of The Marshall Plan? [54 words]Dan SchwartzApr 27, 2004 13:0014885
American Purposes in Iraq. [78 words]JeanApr 27, 2004 12:4214883
America's role [214 words]Joshua SiskinApr 27, 2004 12:0214882

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