George Rebane
The only thing effectively led from behind is a retreat, for in that direction you are already properly positioned to lead.
In concert with President Obama’s just ended sideshow on “violent extremism” that once more diverts attention from our true enemy, John Kerry writes (here) that the solution to the global assault is really a jobs program for disaffected Muslim youth. In the process the whole purpose is to convince America’s gruberized that “a more prosperous and safer future requires us to recognize that violent extremism can't be justified by resorting to religion. No legitimate religious interpretation teaches adherents to commit unspeakable atrocities, such as razing villages or turning children into suicide bombers. These are the heinous acts of individuals who distort religion to serve their criminal and barbaric cause.”
This is about as good a testament to hopeless denialism as can be fashioned. In reality, the violent extremists (aka ragheads) are undeniably the most sincere, dedicated, and committed of faithful hordes that have ever gathered to spread and enforce their vision of Man serving God’s will. The grievously useless idiots in Washington and elsewhere actually do believe that people will travel long distances to suffer privation, bleed, and give their lives for some gratuitous “criminal and barbaric cause”! They also believe that such people will be persuaded to put down their weapons by some government jobs program in the Middle East. Were that to be true, we would be witness to an historical shift in human nature, instead of a reprise and continuation of the war between Islam and the world of infidels it seeks to conquer and convert.
Islam divides the world into the ummah – the global community of Muslims – and infidels – the non-believers who must eventually either accept Allah or be dispatched. As part of their missionary zeal, the Quran permits and encourages the use of taqiyya if it will advance Islam. In the face of this our leaders are telling us that it is they who are the final word in interpreting the teachings of Muslim scripture and attendant historical commentaries like the Hadith and the more recent and widely influential writings of Sayyid Qutb (1906-1966). Today the rekindling of Islam’s war on the west has been and continues to be preached throughout Islam by prominent clerics with followings in the millions.
Yet we in our capitals loudly deny the deep religious and spiritual influence that fundamental Islam has on bringing more and more young Muslims and converts to an epiphany that gives meaning to their lives and sets their course of action. Designating these young men and women who enthusiastically place themselves in danger, suffer hardships, and willingly give their lives as common criminals and thugs is the height of contemporary western hubris and dangerous ignorance.
When Islamists amass into forces numbering in the tens of thousands (more?), who then conquer, hold and administer territories the size of sovereign nation-states on multiple continents, whose call attracts more tens of thousands from across the world while offering no riches but only relevance and deliverance, then history and reason dictate that they no longer can be labeled criminals and thugs to be dealt with the tools and institutions that our civil society has traditionally mobilized against such enemies.
We will be successful in countering fundamental Islam only when we recognize and respect its adherents in our midst and on the battlefield as a zealous and courageous people, completely dedicated to the teachings of their prophet and god, and willing to give their all in attaining the cosmic goal in which they believe and to which they are charged. To deny the power of fundamental Islam and do less than that is to yield our principles, traditions, and values to a social order that to us is beyond words reprehensible and atrocious.
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