Thursday, August 31, 2006

Month-End Review

Important reads from the month not already covered in previous posts:

A clearing of the mental air in Israel would help – Aug. 1 READ
Something like this, by Labor Day – Aug. 2 READ
In Mortal Danger – Aug. 3 READ
Hezbollah’s War Crimes – Aug. 4 READ
Understanding the Jihad to Destroy Israel – Aug. 7 READ
How China’s Secret Deals are Fueling the Middle East War – Aug. 8 READ
Beware the Terrorists Spinmeisters – Aug. 9 READ
Khaybar, Khaybar – Aug. 9 READ
Why the World Hates the Jews – Aug. 10 READ
Sellout – Aug. 14 READ
Theocracy on the 100-Year Plan – Aug. 15 READ
The EU Idiot’s Guide to Islamic Extremism – Aug.15 READ
Andrew McCarthy slams John Podhoretz – Aug. 15 READ
London Journal: “Moderate” Muslims Behaving Badly – Aug. 16 READ
Infanticide – Mullah Style – Aug. 17 READ
Why We MUST Profile – Aug. 17 READ
Making the World Safe for Shari’a? – Aug. 18 READ
The Ideology of Defeatism – Aug. 18 READ
Europe’s Fellow Travelers – Aug,. 18 READ
The Blind Leading the Evil – Aug. 21 READ
What President Bush Should Say To Us (Part 1) – Aug. 21 READ
The Bush Doctrine Need Not Apply – Aug. 24 READ
Relearning Lessons in the War on Terror – Aug. 24 READ
Time to Get an Education – Aug. 24 READ
After August 22 - Aug. 24 READ
What if the Heathrow Bombers Succeeded? – Aug. 28 READ
What President Bush Should Say To Us (Part 2) – Aug. 28 READ
Fox News and Forced Conversions – Aug. 30 READ
The Bacteria of Stupidity – Aug. 30 READ

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

Spirit of 1565

God bless the Knights of Malta for their heroic efforts to aid the homeless in Lebanon. But in these times, something of the Spirit of 1565 is also in order.

Thoughts on the Cease-Fire

Bruce Thorton sees the cease-fire as evidence of the West's moral confusion:

In the long term the West loses, for once more it has allowed the jihadists to manipulate our weaknesses to achieve their aims.

On the other hand, many of those who have suffered because of the conflict are now able to receive the aid they desperately need. A concern for the suffering of innocents was one motivation for the Holy See's plea for a cease-fire. The call by Benedict XVI for prayers and fasting did not go unheeded. Indeed, such spiritual weapons as these are our best hope in this larger conflict with evil.

To what extent the Holy See recognizes this evil, however, is unclear. This leads us back to Thorton's proposition that to those who are threatening us "we Westerners have three options: die, convert, or live on as oppressed dhimmi." Western civilization, which owes its existence in the main to the Catholic church, now needs the church, more than ever, to recognize the evil that threatens it and support those who are fighting to save it.

Here's hoping the words of Israel's Ambassador to the Vatican, Oden Ben-Hur, sink in.

"The greatest Christian response to the Muslim threat will be to show the force of good over evil, to embrace this area," he said.


Tuesday, August 22, 2006

Londonistan

From an interview with Melanie Phillips, author of Londonistan on FoxNews' The Journal Editorial Report:

But what people in Britain, in our establishment, in our ruling political class, even in the security establishment — the police, the intelligence service — what they refuse to acknowledge is the nature of this terrorism, that it's based in religion. That it's based in the Islamic jihad, that what we are facing is a global war of religion.

And because they refuse to acknowledge that for all kinds of reasons to do with minority rights and so forth — of the kind that you have also in America — because they're refusing to acknowledge what this thing is, they are not taking the action that is needed to combat it, certainly not, in my view, to stop it.

Video here.

Transcript here.

Friday, August 18, 2006

Sudden Jihad Syndrome

Daniel Pipes highlights a growing phenomenon and what must be done about it:

Haq's actions are a clear instance of "Sudden Jihad Syndrome," whereby normal-appearing Muslims unpredictably become violent. His attack confirms my oft-repeated call for special scrutiny of Muslims. Because the identity of the next homicidal jihadi cannot be anticipated, Muslims generally need to come under heightened observation. I regret writing this as much as you dislike reading it, but it needs to be said and operated upon.

Wednesday, August 16, 2006

History Lesson

Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, Denver, CO, USA says know your history.

(And just in case you missed this lecture on a related theme from Cardinal George Pell, Sydney, Australia, I've included it here).

The Plight of Lebanese Christians

A short list of readings:

The Forgotten Christians of Lebanon
READ

Jihad Against Lebanese Christians
READ

Islam’s torture of Lebanon - Interview with Brigitte Gabriel
READ

Interview with Lebanese Christian Leader Cardinal Nasrallah Sfeir
READ

Lebanese Christians who support Israel’s goals
READ

Hizballah's Christian shields
READ

A Victory for Peace?

Catholic World News reports:

Speaking from his summer residence on Castel Gandolfo, after celebrating Mass in the parish church there, the Holy Father welcomed the arrival of a ceasefire in Lebanon, which he called "a victory for peace today."

Hizballah sees it differently.

Bush begs to differ with Hizballah.

What to make of all this?

Thomas Sowell asks what the latest cease-fire will do and answers:

It will give Hezbollah a breather from Israeli retaliation and allow them time to get new shipments of military equipment from Iran, rebuild their military infrastructure and prepare for the next round of attacks on Israel.

Will the UN prevent this from happening? Apparently not...

...which suggests this current cease-fire will likely be short-lived and that claims of victory, of any kind, may be premature.

Monday, August 14, 2006

Sleepwalking through the jihad

Srdja Trifkovic calls out Blair et. al.:

It is to be feared that if and when a plot is brought to fruition, possibly on a grander scale than the one thwarted earlier this week, the sleepwalking of those who are supposed to protect Britain will become more determined than ever before. With stern illiberalism that belies their self-professed respect for other cultures and belief systems they will continue to deny respect to the bombers who sacrifice their lives for the sake of their faith by denying them the right to define themselves.

READ

...and Hugh Fitzgerald takes on Bush:

The phrase "Islamic fascists" still shows how far Bush is from understanding, how timid he will remain. He has not declared and will not declare, or even to hint at, the fact that it is Islam itself, not "perverted" nor "hijacked" but rightly, straightforwardly, understood, that is the source of the menace to us.

READ

Stand up to be counted

From News of the World:

Blasting a passenger airliner out of the sky, killing hundreds of innocent men, women and children, is NEVER acceptable. Under any circumstances. There is NEVER an excuse.

A terrible tragedy costing Muslim lives in Lebanon or Iraq or Afghanistan is never ever an excuse for terrorism here.

It is totally unacceptable, totally wrong. What one party perceives as a wrong, no matter how strongly they feel, does not, in turn, justify another wrong being done to avenge it.

And until every single member of the Muslim community believes that and preaches that—from an ordinary parent to imam or madrassa teacher—terrorism can't be beaten.


READ

No quarrel with imploring the Muslim community to accept responsibility for this grave problem and assist in its defeat, but if terrorism can't be beaten until “every single member” of the Muslim community believes and preaches against it, then, given recent statistics on Muslim assimilation in Britain (see post below), there is no hope. But the terror MUST be beaten. Therefore, any strategy for defeating it must take into account the stark reality that a sizable portion of the population you desperately need behind you is and will be against you.

Sunday, August 13, 2006

Appealing to the Muslim Family, Part 2

"But the reality of life is that this is a new world order and nobody's got an easy fix solution to this. We're all dealing with it."

Scotland Yard police are quizzing Abdula Ahmed Ali, 25, and his 23-year-old wife Cossor over suspicions they were to use their baby's bottle to hide a liquid bomb.


New world order indeed. READ

A War of Myths and Images

From Annia Ciezadlo, "Sheik Nasrallah, Superstar:"

Today, as he fights a lopsided military battle against the Jewish state, he is becoming an icon – not just in the Arab world, where he was already a hero, but in the umma, the world of Islam. Sheik Nasrallah's war is not just a war between Lebanon and Israel, or even between Iran and America's allies; it's a war of myths and images, a battle to transform the Arab and Islamic worlds. Whatever battlefield setbacks Hezbollah may suffer in Lebanon, on this larger stage, Sheik Nasrallah has already won.

READ

The challenge of Muslim assimilation in Britain

From TNR Online:

The dilemma for the British government is simple: Can it really continue to engage radical Islam overseas and crack down upon radicals at home? And how much can it realistically do to change the attitudes of the angry, radical, terrorist-supporting elements of young Muslim Britain? How do you wins hearts and minds that are closed?

READ (requires free registration)

Saturday, August 12, 2006

Leading UK Muslims

From the Guardian:

Leading UK Muslims have united to tell Tony Blair that his foreign policy in Iraq and on Israel offers "ammunition to extremists" and puts British lives "at increased risk".

READ

Friday, August 11, 2006

Appealing to the Muslim family

This editorial in the Telegraph notes the responses of some representatives of Muslim organizations to the recent foiling of a terror plot in Britain and opines that there is really no "single Muslim community" that any one Muslim organization might represent or to whom the British government might appeal for help in preventing more terrorist plots.

While no one Muslim organization can represent the views of all Muslims, it should be alarming if, in fact, there is not even one Muslim organization that might have influence in the British Muslim community and with whom the British governmemt might work to "foster a climate that would prevent young Muslims becoming so radicalised that they are prepared to blow themselves and their fellow citizens to smithereens."

The editor seems to gloss over that conundrum and shifts the focus to where presumably the real help can be found: the Muslim family. On the face of it, that sounds sensible, but it may be unrealistic. Just as there is no one Muslim organization that represents all Muslims, there is also no ideal "Muslim family" to which all actual Muslim families correspond. Some Muslims families in Britain may actually do the hard work of confronting the jihadist beliefs of their "disaffected" sons and defying the dictates of those Muslim clerics who influence them. Some may even be willing to turn in their sons or daughters, brothers or sisters, if they knew them to be involved in plotting the next terror attack. But is it likely that this would occur on such a scale as would be required to seriously reduce, never mind effectively eliminate, the threat?

Rooting out the evil within cannot be left primarily to the Muslim families to solve. Clearly, not every Muslim family is unsympathetic to the jihad and as everyone knows, it only takes a few "disaffected" youths to blow up a bus or a train.

What those British Muslims who have assimilated into British culture and think of themselves with pride as British citizens need - what of course all British citizens need - is the support of law. At least one area where that support appears to be failing is in the overly-tolerant approach of British law enforcement to a murderous minority that poisons the minds of the susceptible and openly advocates terrorism, as this piece by Diana West illustrates.