Connecting the Dots

Submitted by Rick (United States), Mar 21, 2006 at 11:02

Just as the pieces of information that were available prior to 9/11, which if correctly put together by Intelligence agencies could have avoided the 9/11 attacks, so the NSS and the President fail to connect the dotes of what the West is faced with.

Islam is not a "religion of peace" no matter how many times the President insists it is. It is a harsh code of obedience with the penalty of even death if there is any deviation. Although the fate of a Muslim is made at birth, any attempt to transform him/herself from Islam to another religion especially Christianity, is punishable by death according to sharia law. Outsiders are infidels and are enemies. Even other Muslims can be the enemy - see the conflict between Sunni and Shi'itte. Even "unaggressive" religions such as Buddhism is considered a threat and is dealt with harshly - see the destruction of Buddhist statues in Afganistan. There is no room for the "other". How this can be considered peaceful is beyond my imagination.

The other mistake is the attitude towards the world view of Muslims and especially Arab Muslims in particular. In an AP story about a trial in Jordan of terrorists today the attorey for the terrorists stated a very important truth in his closing statement. I quote:

"A defense lawyer urged a military court Monday to acquit six men accused of plotting to
attack Western targets, claiming they shared the "wishful thinking" of many Jordanians who wanted to harm Americans and Jews.

Hikmat al-Rawashdeh, an Islamist lawyer, also said torture was used to force the defendants to confess to charges of planning to attack liquor stores, nightclubs and Americans frequenting five-star hotels in the kingdom.

"The defendants wished to kill Jews and Americans, just like most Jordanians would like to kill Jews and Americans. In fact I'm one of them, and nobody should be punished because of this wishful thinking," al-Rawashdeh told the three-judge State Security Court.

"If so, you'd have to punish all Jordanians. I ask God to help me fight Jews and Americans and obtain martyrdom," he said in his closing "

The failure to understand this basic truth is the basis for all of President Bush' s mistakes in Iraq and everywhere else in the Middle East.

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