Do not fall for al Qaeda propaganda

Submitted by Sidda (United States), Jan 31, 2006 at 09:41

First of all, I have yet to see one documented case of anyone in the U.S. "losing their freedom." Harry Bellafonte openly calls Bush "the biggest terrorist on earth" and gets lots of air time. Same for William Blum; he gets to sell lots of books and make tons of $$$$ in this evil capitalist country. Cindy Sheehan goes to Venezuela and gives Hugo Chavez a big hug and gets to come back to protest and disrupt the president's State of the Union address. And we are all free to express our views on Daniel Pipes site with no negative consequences. Seems as though our rights are alive and well to me. None of these people would EVER be able to express their opposition to the regimes and people that they embrace if they lived in those countries.

Geo politics are extremely complicated. I do think that foreign policy decisions have potential consequences. However, I might not like France's foreign policy, does that give me the right to fly planes into their buildings or bomb their subways? In his own words, Osama tells us that he wants America to convert to Islam. Then he tells us that he wants to reestablish the worldwide Islamic caliphate. Under Sharia law you have three choices: convert, remain Christian or Jewish and live in second class citizenship, or die. If you are anything besides Christian or Jew, you have two choices: convert or die.

Islamic radicals are attacking people in many places all over the world. They are cutting the heads off of Buddhist monks in Thailand, they are raping and killing in Darfur, they are trying to impose Islamic law on the Christians in Nigeria. What foreign policy outrage has been perpetrated by the Thais, Sudanese farmers, or Nigerians?

Osama and his fellow Islamists are very media savvy and very shrewd. They know exactly how to use the rhetoric of the left; and the useful idiots are just oh so quick to buy into it.

Having said all of this, I am all for disengaging from the Middle East. We need a sound energy policy (hydrogen is good, nuclear too) to get off of the oil. It's really disasterous to keep buying oil from countries which wish for our demise. We are actually funding our own destruction. This is insanity. I say drill in our own reserves, develop alternative energy, and let China and India be beholding to the Arabs for their energy sources. I'll bet the Chinese would put up with attacks on their mainland by radical Islamists for about two seconds.

---

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".