The facts are there. What we need is a common doctrine and strategy.

Submitted by Isaac Haskiya (Denmark), Sep 8, 2010 at 04:27

We know two things:

1- All Muslims are not extremists. A number of them refuse violence.

2- Some Muslims are extremists. They believe in violence and apply it.

Shall we wait until further things will happen or shall we agree on an idea, a doctrine as it were, on what to do about it?

Let us accept the fact that the primary source of Islamic extremism is in the Muslim countries; the secondary source is, unfortunately, in the West.

A general warning must be sent to all these extremists saying that we will hit them, directly or indirectly, whenever and wherever they are, when we know that a blow is planned to hit us, in our own country or elsewhere. President Bush was right in his principle; he might have been wrong as to the strategy or tactics, which is a matter of discussion in hind-sight.

Mr. Pipes is right in proposing that the first step must be taken by the moderates, be they states, congregations or individuals, in stemming the extremist tendency at its source before it becomes too large a river. This has been already done, for instance in Turkey, in Egypt, in Pakistan but it does not seem to be sufficient. Extremist groups are agile; they move from one place to another. They escape easily the control of the authorities that, not surprizingly, might not be so keen on arresting them anyway. Consequently there is a need of putting more pressure on these states. The final pressure can be telling them "if you don´t do it we will come and do it but we will not wait until the ax falls". That is, of course, a most awkward situation for the Intelligence Services that might be involved; that´s where we have to discover different ways of doing it; thus a matter of tactics.

Those states that are openly extremistic in their conviction, the Rogue States, must also be given a solemn warning "We will not force our democratic values on you but don´t you touch us because we will hit you very hard in response". They might continue their chattering but must know that there is a hard punch in the air if they act or prepare to act. We must observe them carefully, with realism and keen eyes.

As to those already living in the West, we might be obliged to decide harsher rules of observation, investigation and measures; the measures being, for instance, the immediate expulsion of the suspects, eventually by an urgent court decision, to the countries of their birth or even of origin. We might even pay them off to leave, never to return. If they are born in the US, for instance, we can offer them a heavy prison sentence or a 2000-dollar cheque and a ticket for the earliest plane out. These being only examples, they must be made harmless.

There will be wailing from the Liberals or the Left who think that democracy is a limitless, illogical system; there is always an excuse for wailing. We cannot let our own people being sacrificed on the altar of an abstract idea. Life is a series of events, some of them pleasant and others unplesant, but we have to live it anyway, with our feet firmly on the ground.

All of this has been thought of, discussed and debated on already but there is a general feeling that something more effective can be done and must be done.

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