to Saxon- Visible signs of War

Submitted by Sidda (United States), Feb 11, 2006 at 11:33

Saxon, I agree with what you said. I've heard the opinion put forth, and it does seem to ring true to me, that the reason more people are not actively engaged in this struggle against Islamofascism is that people don't have visible signs of a war. IOW, there are no uniformed "armies", no troops massing at anyone's border, no tanks rolling down the streets in the Western countries, no naval or air assaults.

Those types of tangible factors are things that even the most leftist and dense of us could grasp. I'm of the opinion that Osama bin Laden actually made a tactical error by attacking on 9/11 in the manner in which he did. It did sufficiently wake enough of us up. Just as Saddam Hussein might have been more successful in attacking Kuwait had he held off until he had developed nukes (which he was well on his way to doing in the early 90's). Now, at least some of us have grabbed a clue (our leadership as well as some everyday Americans).

I have heard it said that we are at the point in time in this war against Islamofascism that Europe was at in about 1937. All the signs of impending oppression are there, but at a level that people are still able to wilfully turn a blind eye. It will take a few more attacks (and I am really sorry to say this) before enough people are jolted our of their complacency enough to really get behind those who are now actively engaged in the fight. Also, to be able to tell the 20% of the far left (in America) to SIT DOWN AND SHUT UP. There's really no hope for that group--they are the ones who would be apologizing for their very existence and that they were taking to long to die even as their heads were being sawed off.

But, you touched on an important fact--the lives of everyday Europeans are actually more impacted by unrestrained immigration of people who not only do not share the core Western values of freedom of speech, religion, expression, the press, respect for minority rights, rule of law, women's rights, etc., but who, at least a certain percentage of, are openly hostile to those values.

We in the West had a fundamental misunderstanding of Islam. We looked at it as just another of the world's religions, without understanding that it is much more than that. It is a comprehensive political, economic, and social belief system as well as a religious one. There is no separation of mosque and state in pure Islam. One of the core beliefs of Islam is that a Muslim's allegiance cannot be to anyone else other than to Islam and the umma (worldwide body of Muslims). So, we are letting those into our countries who, if they are (or become) devout Muslims, are prohibited by their religion from having any loyalty to their adopted country. Just sit back and think about that for a minute.

I keep hearing (and do believe myself) that most Muslims are peaceful and not violent. But, I've been thinking lately, it's not our responsibility to try and determine which particular Muslim is devout and really takes serious the mandate to wage jihad (or support their brethren who actively do) until the world has submitted to Islam, and which ones are nominal, casual followers of Islam. Why are we required to do this? In other words, for sure most people in Germany during WW2 were not card-carrying Nazis. But, would we have let droves of Germans into our countries during WW2 while saying, "Well not all Germans are Nazis"? Why should we be put in a position where WE are the ones who have to determine which ones mean us harm and which ones don't. Put the onus on THEM to prove themselves. What form that proof would take, I don't really know or if it is possible at this point.

I am very much pro LEGAL immigration as we are a nation of immigrants; our ability to assimilate into our country people representing nearly every ethnic, racial, and religious group in the world has made us strong. But, unfettered immigration of people who do not share our core values weakens us (America and Western nations in general). Again it is not my responsibility to try to figure out which of them are peaceful and which ones mean us harm. Not my problem. It is up to the Muslims to reform Islam (if possible) and purge the extremists from amongst their ranks (or at least severely marginalize them to where they are no longer a threat to the world) and build up their societies first. Then we'll talk immigration again.

---

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".