Opaque Lucidity

Matt I think she has a good head on her shoulders. And the courage to call a spade a spade. They have been attacking us for over 10 years. They have been attacking Buddhists, Hindus, Jews et. al. for decades.

For those who read her columns, Diana West has been writing about this for a while. Of course, somewhere in recent times trying to "understand" what drives terrorists got categorized as a left wing, pansy, liberal approach to things. We preferred our Toby Keith - Boot Up Your Ass - American Way - approach. Don't get me wrong, I felt the same way after 9/11, but they don't call it "blind" rage for nothing. If you keep shooting at everything that moves, pretty soon you forget what the hell you were firing at.

Hence we now have "wars" on everything. Think back in past decades. Every problem now is categorized as a "war" more often than not to get "war type" funding. War on crime, war on poverty, war on drugs, and now war on terror. But I digress. Matt called our enemy "nebulous" in one of his posts. As she points out in this article, what the hell does "War on Terror" mean anyway?

Rod pointed it out that Islamo-Fascists have been killing people of other religions for decades. In one of her previous articles, Diana pointed out that not every muslim is a terrorist, but ineveitably every terrorist today is a Muslim. This should send shivers down the spine of every God fearing muslim out there.

There are a lot of people in America that keep wanting to "kick ass and take names". The fundamental precept they forget is that how do you threaten someone who is willing to DIE for a cause? What can you threaten them with? Death? Mind you, I am not advocating pacifism in any way here. One terrorist shot dead is one less that will kill tomorrow.

But what I see out there is a terrible lack of moral outrage from mainstream muslims. If the forces of "Jihad" and "Fatwas" have to end, they must be faught by the people whose religion these nutcases are hijacking. And I am not just talking about feeling "sorry" for victims of violence. I am talking about every Mullah and Political leader in Islamic countries enacting their famous "swift justice" on people that endorse this stuff. Shrugging your shoulders when someone blows up a bus is no longer enough. The greatest Jihad (someone correct me if I am wrong)in the Quran is the fight within yourself. Of whether you side with Right or Wrong. The day you as a Muslim somehow rationalise a "Jihadi's" action out there, who thinks killing school children in Beslan is somehow justified, IMO, you have already lost your own Jihad.

Hash

Hash, wonderful comment about mainstream Muslims. I have asked myself over and over again since 9/11 "Where are American Muslims? Why are they not publicly distancing themselves from these people?"

Look for a longer post on this over the weekend.

"If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle."
-Sun Tzu, The Art of War

I daresay that we, as the American people, cannot at all claim to know our enemy. There is a huge cultural divide between the Islamic and Christian nations, and while some have managed to traverse that chasm, most of us see the other side as filthy savages waiting to rip our throats out. It is, of course, not that simple!

As Hash pointed out, it is now seen as a sign of weakness or the height of liberal-ness (liberalality?) to question the motives and reasoning of Islamic terrorists. I think that's ridiculous -- there will be no solution to the present climate of terrorism until both sides know one another and find a way out based on that information. Sun Tzu wrote about this idea long ago... why haven't we realized this fundamental concept?

Note that I am talking about the general public and not, say, the CIA or Joint Chiefs of Staff... I sincerely hope that they have a better idea of what makes the other side tick than the average American!

I hope so, too, Tony, but I'm not convinced that the DoD has done its homework with regard to Islamic fundamentalism.

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