Pulling up roots of radical Islam
Eugene Robinson’s recent “Our challenge with Islam” is the epitome of why we cannot seem to defeat what is the clearest threat to our national survival since the Cold War: the ideology of radical Islam. Robinson starts with his “pie in the sky” prescription to ending the barbarism to which we have all grown accustomed over the past 13 years, most recently in Iraq and Syria under ISIS.
According to Robinson, “Finding ways for fundamentalist Islam to express itself peacefully is a bigger, tougher and more important project (than defeating ISIS).” He goes on further to praise the potential of the Muslim Brotherhood, the head of the snake for the radicalism we see throughout the Middle East. He claims that “Mohamed Morsi had the chance to show the world that a government led by an Islamist party could be fair, tolerant and effective. The United States and its allies had the chance to help Morsi succeed. He failed, and so did we.”
So if the Muslim Brotherhood were supported by the United States, we may have seen it become “fair, tolerant, and effective.” Similar to believing a viper can be given the chance as a friendly house pet to keep around children.
It’s time to face the truth. Our enemy is the ideology of radical Islam and until that ideology is destroyed, we will continue to face groups like al-Qaeda and ISIS. The Islamist ideology encompasses a vision most supported and propagated by the Muslim Brotherhood: A return to a new, worldwide, Sharia Law Caliphate in which all non-Muslims are treated as “Jim Crow” Dhimmis, and Western values are extinguished. This is basically what we see on TV with the beheadings, crucifixions and ethnic cleansing carried out by ISIS.
We must recognize that this is not “blowback,” but for more than 25 years, radical Islam has been at war with everything non-Muslim: The Hindus in India, Filipinos, Jews in Israel, Coptic Christians in Egypt, Sudanese Christians and Animists, Iranian Christians and Yazidis, Americans (Beirut, Somalia, Kobar Towers, Embassy bombings, etc.).
We must also recognize that radical Islam cannot be cured by “finding ways for fundamentalist Islam to express itself” as Robinson suggests. It will not be cured by supporting the Muslim Brotherhood, the group which was founded to bring back a Sharia Law Caliphate and spawned al-Qaeda, Hamas and ISIS. Victory requires clear identification of who and what we fight, and we continue to act naive.
Why is the recognition of our enemy as radical Islam and recognition of the truths important? A primary reason for renaming our struggle the “War on radical Islam” is clarity. A critical principle of war is “unity of effort.” To achieve victory, all must work toward a common, defined goal and defined enemy.
We understood that during the Cold War and were able to defeat communism with the unity of effort and unity of purpose. In this struggle, the fight is at many different levels and realms: military, diplomatic, financial, law enforcement, intelligence, etc. This enemy seldom wears a uniform, and continually mixes with the friendly civilian populations. He must be cut off from all support, purged from friendly populations, and destroyed throughout the world. This requires the right definition of the enemy. We must be able to focus resources.
This struggle is primarily ideological, and we cannot win without identifying the opposing ideology. We fight more than terrorist operators and groups like al-Qaeda. We also fight the ideology of radical Islam. Islamic terror groups require the propagation of certain ideals and justifications so they can recruit and commit the barbarous acts we witness. They require a moral support structure that allows operators to believe they will achieve “paradise” by murdering “infidels.” They require outside support for justifying clearly evil acts. They require Madrassahs to indoctrinate and brainwash. All of this must be dismantled to destroy radical Islam.
Unfortunately, much of this apparatus is located within Western nations, with the enemy using Western values to destroy Western values. This must be faced in full truth and rooted out in a determined fashion. The ideology cannot coexist with the rest of the world.
One argument for not calling out radical Islam is the fear that it will bring a “religious” war, but this is unfounded. Continuing to use terms like “extremists” won’t change the truth: Radical Islam is trying to destroy everything non-Muslim and this will only get worse unless stopped.
Moderate Muslims know what this fight is about. They see radical Islam as their enemy, and dangerous to them. The Taliban regime proved to all what life would be like under radical Islam and ISIS is doing the same in Syria and Iraq. Our determination to fight radical Islam will stiffen the moderates’ courage to fight this element in their society. Conversely, allowing radical Islam to fester will further isolate those fighting for moderation from within. Regardless, those who won’t support us against radical Islamist groups like al-Qaeda and ISIS and even the ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood are an enemy we must end.
Let’s be clear, this is not only an issue of some mild violation of women’s rights, as Robinson suggests when he wrote: “I refer mostly to a set of attitudes about women that need to be aired, challenged and reformed.”
This is about beheadings, crucifixions or mandating that all non-Muslims must “convert or die” or live like dogs as “dhimmis.”
This is about ruthless punishments for supposed offenses, like women being raped but then stoned to death as adulterers for lack of witnesses.
This is about women becoming property and beaten.
This is about the end of democracy and the end of equal protection.
This is about the end of freedom of speech (death is the penalty for criticizing most things associated with radical Islam).
In short, if our enemy is successful, everything we hold dear is gone. It is us or them, and high time we recognize the truth