Will we do the Islamic extremists work for them?
The Islamic extremists are well funded and hardworking. Their goal is to persuade, intimidate, and gain traction in the Moslem communities around the world. Some in this country say that there are no Moslem moderates and that every Moslem must be viewed with suspicion. The Islamic extremists don't agree or else they would not spend so much effort propogandizing and intimidating Moslems who do not hold their world view.
They say to the moderates that you cannot live in peace with those people because they are out to get you and destroy your right to worship freely. They hate your religion. They hate you. In the middle east such propaganda has more traction because most people do not know any Americans. In Europe it has more traction because most Europeans seem to hate all religion and tradition. The fastest growing parties are rabidly anti-immigrant.
In the U.S. we have not given them a lot to work with. America is open to all who want to work hard and play by the rules. It is our way.
The best way we can fight Islamic radicalism is by radical love. Love your neighbor as the Lord taught. You sow love and you will reap love.
You sow the wind of hatred and you will reap the whirlwind.
The best way to "radicalize" American Islam is to exclude Moslems who want to part of the American mainstream. If they don't know us, they will be more subject to a lie. Segregation is poison, but not just those we intend it for, but those who administrate it.
Here is an example of some of the attitudes which concern me.
Radio Hoax Exposes Anti-Muslim Sentiment in U.S.
By Bernd Debusmann, Reuters
WASHINGTON (Dec. 1) -- When radio host Jerry Klein suggested that all Muslims in the United States should be identified with a crescent-shape tattoo or a distinctive arm band, the phone lines jammed instantly.
The first caller to the station in Washington said that Klein must be "off his rocker." The second congratulated him and added: "Not only do you tattoo them in the middle of their forehead but you ship them out of this country ... they are here to kill us."
Another said that tattoos, armbands and other identifying markers such as crescent marks on driver's licenses, passports and birth certificates did not go far enough.
"What good is identifying them?" he asked. "You have to set up encampments like during World War Two with the Japanese and Germans."
As a God fearing Christian, those type of attitudes concern me. What if a future target are those born again Christians because they are intolerant (don't approve of the fad of the month) and are ignorant (don't give a blind check of faith to the elite). If one group can be targeted for the actions of the few, then none are safe.
These are the very attitudes the extremists accuse of having. When your decent Moslem guy drives down the road and hears fellow American after fellow American spout hatred and distrust of him, what should he think?
Consider this, "Love thy neighbor as you love thyself," has become a mandate of national security.
David Anderson
posted by David at
11:21 PM
4 Comments:
Friend, help a brother out.
I am not sure if your "radical love" is a joke or meant in all seriousness.
If serious, than I am all for it. It is much harder to put a bullet throught one you love very much, than through one you hate.
Embracing one's enemies is an effective method of controlling the playing field, taught in all business schools. If it works so well, should it not be used against this Moslem threat?
The opposite approach, to antagonize the opposition, solidifies their resolve and creates a situation that only by all out eradication, can we resolve our differences. Once resolved, one has to begin making payments on the cost.........
No joke, it don't view the average Moslem as the enemy. I have a different understanding of God and perspective on the world. That does not make us enemies.
The one's who are enemies are the one's who want to kill us. They must be defeated.
Most Moslems are not in that group. There are a billion Moslems and if they were all militants, they could take over most of the world in a month (unless we were willing to go nuclear). The radicals are not a majority and I believe our first task is to win the hearts and minds of their potiential recruits. We can do that with radical love. Love your neighbor like you love yourself.
Thanks for the comment my friend.
William Polk, who recently co-wrote a book called the Practical Guide to Leaving Iraq, said yesterday, that when you study insurrections, even our own, their first precipitates start as a response to foreign troops on their soil.
And once troops are pulled, the citizens, weary of the fighting, themselves stop supporting and/or put down the insurrection.
If we could dephase our aggressive posture, and step up our posture of helpfulness both economically and humanitarian, we would be doing far more good worldwide for America as well as for Christianity.
If the world were given the chance to see the goodness of Christains versus the "badness" of Moslems, the Jihad would be finished...Instead, outside observors see both sides as exhibiting bad behavior.
I like your thinking, but I don't think it quite applies to Iraq.
The Iraqis are fighting each other not us. We just get in the way sometimes. Our casualties a low esp. when compared to theirs. They suffer more in a day than we do in a month.
My reading is that in situations like that you get full fledged civil war if we leave too soon. To leave those innocent formerly oppressed souls to the mercy of Saddam's loyalists and Bin Laden's disciples strikes me as most unChristian. If you break it, you buy it. We gave our word and we need to keep it even if it costs us. The cost of not doing so is higher.
No one wants to see us home more than I. My friends are over there, I had family over and maybe going back. Hey, I may go over. The problem is that cutting and running has two principle objections. First is that it would be spitting on the graves of those who died by making their sacrifice meaningless. Second, the terrorists are fighting us in Iraq merely because it is closer to them than LA or NY. These people hate us so much that they would hide explosives in a baby to take down a plane. We have to fight. We are not fighting for Iraq though that would be honorable, we are fighting for our way of life. That is something I am willing to defend by any means necessary.
Some examples of my theory of civil war and foreign intervention in recent history are Spain,Congo, China, and Cambodia.
In Spain foreign intervention tipped the civil war. In Congo the UN cutting the rug out of Katanga led to a massacre. In
China, the Japanese exhausted the forces of Chang and Mao gained an inadvertent advantage. In Cambodia, the American Congress cut and ran, the result was a holocaust of two million or more.
Apples to Apples, Mr. Polk.
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