Monday, July 26, 2004
The face of the enemy
Amir Taheri critiques the 9/11 Commission's report in the New York Post Online Edition. Excerpt:
It is imperative that we as a society understand what we are up against and mobilize to fight this war on all fronts and on every battlefield. If we permit this cancer of Islamist fascism to spread, I fear that we will at some future time have to choose between the destruction of Western society (whether by warfare or capitulation) and the destruction of Islam, which by then will be under the total control of the kind of people Taheri describes. If it gets that far, the result will be catastrophic, millions will die, and the grandchildren of Gen X may be praying five times a day while bowing toward Mecca.
The typical politician in a democracy, starting with ancient Athens, is a deal-maker. He practices the art of compromise, not confrontation. He is always ready to understand the other side, to accept part of the blame, and to propose give-and-take. A more cynical version of this type of politics leads to triangulation, a la Bill Clinton. That kind of politics, however, does not work with the kind of enemy the United States now faces.
This enemy does not want to give and take, to compromise, or to triangulate. He wants you to obey him in every detail or he will kill you.
I don't think the powers that be in this country -- especially the leadership of the Democratic Party and the mainstream media -- understand yet the true nature of our enemy. We are in an all-out, multifront, unconventional and asymmetric war. As Taheri says, ". . . this is a war that must also be fought on diplomatic, cultural, religious and political battlefields." The bin Ladens and the Jemaah Islamiah and the Janjaweeds must not only be annihilated but utterly discredited or they will win. Not only are they on a religious mission to convert us or destroy us, they are quite capable of waiting decades, if not centuries, to achieve their goals.
It is imperative that we as a society understand what we are up against and mobilize to fight this war on all fronts and on every battlefield. If we permit this cancer of Islamist fascism to spread, I fear that we will at some future time have to choose between the destruction of Western society (whether by warfare or capitulation) and the destruction of Islam, which by then will be under the total control of the kind of people Taheri describes. If it gets that far, the result will be catastrophic, millions will die, and the grandchildren of Gen X may be praying five times a day while bowing toward Mecca.
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