...is exactly what the USA, and for that matter the rest of the non-Muslim world, should be telling to the Muslim world; and it is about time that when we say it - we mean it. People need to awaken to the reality that the followers of Islam are either hell bent upon the conquest of the rest of the world either by conversion or by killing and destruction, or that they acquiesce to the wishes of those within said faith who strive for such. Sure, there may be a small handful of the faithful of Islam who speak out against the terror tactics espoused by al-Qaeda and other such Islamic groups (note I did not say Extremist Islamic Groups - if only because they seem to me to be the norm and not the extreme for Islam); but for the great majority it seems apparent that they either outwardly take part in Islamic terror tactics, outwardly support them, secretly support them, agree with their tactics, or sheepishly keep quiet and do nothing to stop them. There are very few indeed who actually do anything to fight them. As I see it, this all amounts to supporting terrorism, and religious or not it is still terrorism that needs to be squashed.
This phenomenon of supporting the terrorists either actively and outwardly, or by way doing nothing to stop them, is not one that is limited to those of the Islamic faith. There are many of other faiths, and of other belief systems such as atheism, who do likewise. In the case of those who are not Muslims, the strange thing about it is that they who do nothing are offering themselves up to these Islamic terrorists as the lambs ready for slaughter. With actual lambs, I can understand them coming willingly to be slaughtered. They just do not know better, they are dumb animals after all. With people, it should be another thing. We are, after all, beings with a higher intelligence. Isn't it then about time that we use our intelligence to recognize the threat before us, and then to neutralize the threat, to do away with it to the point where it is absolutely no longer a threat? I think so, and I am flabbergasted that the rest of the world apparently does not yet realize it is time to do so.
Of course there are some in the world who realize this, and who have gone at it with some determination. The current president of the USA is one person who has done so, but even he is swayed by public opinion from many who are squeamish about facing down our enemy; many who apparently have become so comfortable in their squeamish ways of life as to wish for nothing else than to close their eyes to the problem and hope it goes bye-bye. The truth of the matter is a bit different though. The problem is not a fantasy boogie-man, it is not a daydream or a nightmare - it is real and it wants us dead and out of the way. No matter how much you hide your head in the sand, the beast is still going to gleefully rip you apart if you are not willing to defend yourself. Hiding will not help, ignoring the problem will not help, trying to shift blame for the problem to others rather than those truly responsible will not help. The only thing that will help, is a swift, concentrated, effort to destroy the enemy. This effort may be bloody. It may well cause us great loss of life, but if done with an unflinching determination, well then it will cost our enemy more in our enemy's utter defeat. What we, as a nation need to do, is to literally stop being Mr. Nice Guy, and start allowing our military, our intelligence agencies, and our law enforcement to do what needs to be done regarding terrorism - that is to literally terminate our enemy in order to preserve ourselves. It is not just we who need to do so, it is the rest of the world that needs to realize such and join us in achieving this goal.
Now you may be wondering exactly what has brought on this rant at this particular time. Well, I submit to you that you read the following article: Al Qaeda No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahiri Calls for Jihad in Somalia at FoxNews.com @ http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,241739,00.html. While the title of the article can give you a good clue as to what prompted me to write this piece, let me point out a quote or two from the article that are of great significance:
"A Web video of Al Qaeda's No. 2 leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, surfaced Thursday and called on Muslims throughout the Middle East to wage a jihad against Ethiopian forces occupying Somalia."
Okay we have all heard stuff like this before, but as history will show, we have certainly not yet done enough to answer such a threat. These types of threats are made again and again, and for some reason we keep ignoring them, or at least act as they are not pertinent to us regarding our own survival. Several years ago, it was the USA who was the great Satan, and we were threatened. Then we were attacked. Then we responded with a counter attack, but apparently not with sufficient force or determination; you see if we had been sufficiently determined I am pretty certain we would have won by now. Much of the rest of the world hesitated to join us, and they who did also seemed to lack the necessary resolve to end the threat. While we have hesitated, while our allies have waffled, our Islamic enemy continued and continues to attack us, continues to attack our allies, continues to attack they who are neutral to us, and even continues to attack some of our enemies. Our Islamic enemies are not particular about who they attack, so long as their brand of Islam will win out in the end. That would be a brand of Islam that led to the attacks on 9/11, and that conquered and enslaved the population of Afghanistan. It is a brand of Islam that makes statements such as the following quote, words reported by the above linked article to be those of al-Zawahiri calling upon other Muslims to fight non-Islamists:
"You have to use ambushes and mines, and raids and suicidal attacks until you rend and eat your prey as the lion does with his prey,"
Read that, then think about it, then read it again and think some more about it. Then take a good look at a map of the world. When looking at that map try to think of all the countries on the map that have had: Muslim insurgencies, or Islamic terrorist attacks in the past 25 years, then go back 50 years, then keep going back to the birth of Islam. After you think of the ones that you can think of, then go to news archives of any major news reporting service and do a search for Islamic violence throughout the world. The amazing thing that I think you will discover is that Islam, seemingly since shortly after its inception, has been a religion that has sought to spread itself around the globe, and that it has consistently done so by violent means. Not only have they done so by violence, but the violence used is often extremely cruel and abhorrent in that it targets innocents instead of just other combative forces. Each time another group of people be it religious or national is conquered by Islam, it seems that the bodies of those who opposed Islam are piled high. Islam continues this today, it continues its apparent goal of world domination at any cost to those who oppose Islam, and don't get me wrong because by oppose I mean those who have different beliefs than do Islamists. You will not escape by hiding your head in the sand of your own belief system whatever that may be.
Since the track record of Islam seems to be the same for hundreds of years, you would think the rest of the world would have made some unified concerted efforts to stop the threat, yet such is not being done effectively. It really is time to not only say: 'No More Mr. Nice Guy'; it is time to get down to the nasty business of a real war, and attack and destroy our enemy's ability to destroy us. It is a matter of our survival. They, who are not Muslims, have realized this in Somalia and Ethiopia. Some, but few other nations are making at least a weak effort. Some of us in the USA have come to the same conclusion, but we are yet way too divided on the issue despite the continued ranting and worldwide violent actions of Islamic terrorists, and despite the acquiescence of the rest of Islam to stop them.
I don't know how to convince all of those threatened that if we do not terminate the threat, the threat will no longer be a threat, it will instead be a victory for our enemies, and we will be the defeated. I do know I can do my small part by giving you my thoughts on the matter here. You can do your part too, you too can try to wake up those who have buried their heads in the sand, give them a good figurative kick in their asses to bring them around to reality and remind them often of the enemy whose only goal seemingly is our conquest by conversion, or our destruction, at any cost.
All the best,
Glenn B
