Clarifying "isolation"

Submitted by Pro-Israeli Democrat (United States), Jun 9, 2006 at 20:15

In actuality, the self-isolation of Muslims in the West has occurred primarily in European countries. In the United States, though, the 9/11 attacks have helped bring us closer to our Muslims on the whole. Certainly that has been the case with the younger generations. That is what America has that even Europe lacks. That is what makes America so wonderful, which is why we have to set examples through interfaith dialogue. I am not a hippie...yes, sometimes war is necessary. But bombing Mecca? What would that achieve? How many more terrorists would one want to create in the name of ideology. Realisticly speaking, I DO favor economic warfare against the al-Saud family once we aquire ethanol. Just think how we'll be able to win the war on terror once we gain independence from petroleum. We will also be able to make human rights our #1 foreign policy priority. No more relations with Saudi, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Azerbaijan. AND THEY SHOULDN'T BE ABLE TO COUNT ON OUR LITTLE DIPLOMATS UNTIL THEY STOP TORTURING THEIR OWN PEOPLE. Greater latitude to crush the Iranian nuclear program as well. Missiles may work well. Money, though works better.

Do I consider the people in charge of CAIR to be good Americans? Absolutely not. But do I consider Ann Coulter [just listen to what she said about the 9/11 families. I would never want to endanger the first ammendment, nor would I. But we must know that she is also a very BAD american] to be a good American, either? Again, absolutely not. She is a complete and total disgrace and we cannot allow people like her to make us forget that moderate Islam is, in fact, a real thing. Militant Islam/fundamentalist islam/islamism is the problem...Not Islam itself. Once we lose that distinction, that means that even non-practicing Muslims will have to face an ugly future. So, too, will democracy. You believe in freedom and the rule of law...right??? You don't want our country to become another China, now do you???? I only wish that people were able to distinguish between real solutions and ideological ones. So here are real solutions to the war on terror:

* military action or economic warfare against terrorist sponsers [Iran, Saudi Arabia]. Without the oil revenues, how will they keep funding HAMAS, Hezbollah, Jihad, and al-Aqsa?

* human intelligence sources [including Muslim "moles" at mosques], accounting for the success of the Canadian "sting" last week, in which jihadists were nabbed.

* Battle of ideas [promoting secular American values, interfaith dialogue, etc]. Fundamentalist Christians like Robert Spencer and Ann Coulter are in no position to do this. As a serious scholar, however, Daniel Pipes is, and I think he has done quite a good job (although I disagree with the premise of "Campus Watch" due to First Ammendment issues). So too have people like John L. Esposito. This is not about "liberal" or "conservative"; it is about the "realism" of Pipes [conservative] and Esposito [liberal] and "f&*^%ing lunacy" of Spencer and Coulter. Who will you listen to?

* Embracing/welcoming American Muslims and allowing tragedies elsewhere to bring us closer [which, I believe, has been a success ever since 9/11].

* Ensuring that Afghanistan STAYS liberated from the Taliban [of the utmost importance]. If not for the Iraq debacle, it would have been that much easier. We really needed a lot more troops in Afghanistan.

Ideological solutions [which create more problems]

* Bombing Muslim Holy sites [creates more terrorists]

* Muslim internment

* Killing and conversion of all Muslims to Christianity [an Ann Coulter solution]

* Any form of scholarship for the unscholarly

Anyone who thinks these are solutions to the war on terror is trapped in a world of grandiose fantasy and anger. We need to stay firm, yet keep our voice of moderation. Global leaders like America don't descend into ideological nonsense. Islamic theocracies like Iran and dictatorships like Turkmenistan do. Let us keep our mind on realistic foreign policy options. First thing is first: Let's live in the here and now: rebuild Iraq while avoiding the ideological prejudice that got us into that mess to begin with. Keep it from turning into another Lebanon [if that is, in fact, possible]. Let's rebuild Iraq and continue from there. If that can't be done, then what can we do?

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