Posted on 12/02/2008 10:40:43 AM PST by jazusamo
Radical Islam is subverting America without guns or bombs. That's the subtitle of a frightening and important new book by Robert Spencer, one of the leading authorities on radical Islam.
We may have been spared the guns and bombs of the Islamofascist terrorists since 9/11, but we haven't been spared their attempt to substitute the laws of Islam for the U.S. Constitution and to make America more like Iran, Saudia Arabia, or the Sudan, where the Muslim laws are in full force.
Mr. Spencer is an important voice of these matters, and if you think this is too shocking to be believed, consider some of the experts who have endorsed the author's work. Among them are R. James Woolsey, former director of Central Intelligence; John Bolton, former representative to the United Nations; Steve Emerson, head of the investigative project and one of the leading authorities on Islamofascist terrorism; Andrew McCarthy, author of Willful Blindness: A Memoir of the Jihad, and legal editor of the National Review; and Daniel Pipes, director of the Middle East Forum and another leading expert on terrorism. You could not get a more authoritative endorsement on this subject.
Consider Mr. Woolsey's brief description of the book: "Robert Spencer makes a solid case that the major threat to our way of life does not come solely from those radical Islamists who embrace violence and terrorism.
It also comes from those who do not accept that they must live side-by-side on a basis of equality with those of other faiths in a civil society and who instead work in multiple ways toward obtaining special standing for Islam in our society, and, ultimately toward theocracy. A vital wake-up call of a book."
Unfortunately, we have not listened to that wake-up call and seem to be slumbering in the face of what can only be described as a Muslim take-over of America. That should not come as a revelation. Mark Steyn in his classic book, America Alone: The End of the World as We Know It, describes how Europe has already almost fallen without a shot being fired to the oncoming Muslim immigrants and Muslim influence. Other powerful volumes have confirmed the same theme including Melanie Phillips', Londonistan and Bruce Bawer's, While Europe Slept.
If you think this is a sudden new development we've all somehow missed, think again. This has been going on for many years, and Europe has been sleeping for 30 years. Mr. Spencer writes, "Europe is now reaping what it has long sown."
In her book, Eurabia, Bar Ye'or, the pioneering historian of dhimmitude [subjugation of non-Muslims], chronicles how this has come to pass. Europe, she explains, began 30 years ago to travel down a path of appeasement, accommodation, and cultural abdication in pursuit of shortsighted political and economic benefits. She observes that today, "Europe has evolved from a Judeo-Christian civilization, with important post-Enlightenment/secular elements, to a civilization of dhimmitude, i.e., Eurabia: a secular-Muslim transitional society with its traditional Judeo-Christian mores rapidly disappearing."
And as Messrs. Steyn and Spencer fully document, America is not as far gone toward Islamization as Europe, but it has started down the same path to civilizational oblivion.
Mr. Spencer meticulously documents how the Muslims slowly take over a civilization. This is part of a carefully planned strategy. Mr. Spencer writes, "But in the short-term, the absence of violence, combined with a bit of political savvy - allows the stealth jihadists to do their work more effectively. This is one of the lessons that some jihadists learned from September 11: attack America, and it tends to strike back; but quietly undermine America from within, and there's a lot less resistance. In fact, people tend not even to notice."
This low-key approach to jihadism has been adopted by Hezbollah. Its leader made it clear that the terror organization wants to destroy the U.S. But an FBI expert says Hezbollah has stayed away from violence in the U.S. "because of the attention and reaction that would occur." Perhaps the reason there has been no encore to 9/11 is not just our security or good fortune, but a deliberate choice by terrorists not to rock the American boat.
Mr. Spencer gives some compelling examples of how the Muslims push their agenda in small steps and big steps. For example, sometimes the steps seem small and of minor importance. In one cemetery in the United Kingdom, to please the Muslims and not offend them, all graves of Muslims and non-Muslims alike face Mecca.
However, sometimes the accommodation is both significant and dangerous. The U.S. government relies on the voice of groups such as INSA for the "Islamic perspective" on U.S. policies. Mr. Spencer cautions, "Of course, the fact that these groups and the enemy we are fighting share the same goal -the Islamization of the Western world - casts some doubt on the utility of the advice we receive from them."
Only recently, the Bush administration has started to realize these groups share the Islamic supremacist agenda and are working for the Islamization of America. So they have started to distance themselves from them.
But the Bush administration still relies on these groups more than it should, according to Mr. Spencer, who finds, "The recommendations of these groups continue to find their way into official U.S. policies, where they serve to silence those in the government who dissent from the myopic view of Islam as a religion of peace."
It gets worse. The Pentagon declined to renew the contract of Maj. Stephen Coughlin, its lone specialist on Islamic law. He was dropped because he refused to soften his views on the elements jihadists use to justify violence. Maj. Coughlin believes to fight the enemy you have to understand the enemy and be able to define and name it.
The U.S. government and its major agencies such as the Department of State and Department of Homeland Security renounced the views of Maj. Coughlin and put out new guidelines forbidding personnel to use the words "jihad" or "jihadist" in reference to Islamic terrorism and its perpetrators.
A Homeland Security report, titled "Terminology to Define the Terrorist Recommendations from American Muslims," actually said that the words "jihad" and "jihadists" were dropped because they might offend moderate Muslims.
Why can't these terms be used? Mr. Spencer quotes the reasoning of Homeland Security in rejecting these words: "Because it glamorizes terrorism, imbues terrorists with religious authority they do not have and damages relations with Muslims around the world." The report cautioned U.S. officials "should not concede the terrorists' claim that they are legitimate adherents of Islam."
This book totally refutes that position, by carefully documenting how violent jihadism is not just a small fringe movement: "The sanction of violent jihad to spread Islam is not some fringe view, as the Bush administration insists, but rather is the interpretation put forward by many of the most prominent scholars of Islamic law throughout history - including today."
So we not only refuse to name and define our enemies, but even let them name and define the problem for us. That is nothing less than insane, but it is the policy of the U.S. government. And there is every reason to believe that a bad situation will only get worse with the next administration.
Mr. Spencer devotes a whole chapter to how the Muslims silence their critics. In some foreign countries they use "death threats, murders, act of mass terrorism and beheadings broadcast over the Internet."
But in America, where the stealth jihad is employed, more subtle techniques are used. The critics are labeled "bigots," "hatemongers" and "Islamophobes." These more subtle techniques may be more effective than death threats. That's because with death threats there would be reactions and investigations. But Islamicists skillfully play the racism and bigotry card without generating any forceful response.
The Islamic groups also use lawsuits to silence critics. For example, Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, sued Andrew Whitehead and others for saying that CAIR was founded by Hamas supporters, and wants to implement sharia law in America. When Whitehead's attorneys started asking questions about the funding and operations of CAIR, it dropped the lawsuit.
If the present trend continues we are in deep trouble. That's because the stealth jihadists groups are not only controlling public opinion so it does not understand or focus on the threat but are also controlling government policy.
Mr. Spencer makes his central point that some of the most influential Islamic spokesmen and leaders in the U.S. as well as leaders elsewhere advocate the Islamization of the U.S. and the world including the implementation of sharia (Muslim) law. Here are some of those statements Mr. Spencer quotes to prove his point:
* "I have complete faith that Islam will invade Europe and America, because Islam has logic and a mission."
* "I wouldn't want to create the impression that I wouldn't like the government of the United States to be Islamic sometime in the future."
* "If only Muslims were clever politically, they could take over the United States and replace its constitutional government with a caliphate."
* "Islam isn't in America to be equal to any other faith, but to become dominant. The Koran should be the highest authority in America, and Islam the only accepted religion on earth."
* "We reject the UN, reject America, reject all law and order. Don't lobby Congress or protest because we don't recognize Congress. The only relationship you should have with America is to topple it ... Eventually there will be a Muslim in the White House dictating the laws of sharia."
If you read Mr. Spencer's book, and perhaps the others cited in this column, you will be convinced, as I am, that we are most certainly losing our war against the stealth jihad. We don't even understand we are slowly but surely being taken over by a belief system that is contrary to everything America has always stood for.
You better get informed, organized, and tough with our political leaders, as they are asleep as America is being undermined by the stealth jihad. You better take it upon yourself to wake up the country, as our current political leaders are certainly going down the same path that has almost turned Europe into Eurabia. And as already suggested, the next administration is likely to be even more ineffective and asleep in dealing with the stealth jihad that the present administration. You better get into the act because your country and your future is at stake.
Here are some of the specific proposals Rep. Sue Myrick (R-N.C.) makes:
* Examine the non-profit status of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), in view of its objectives.
* Make it an act of sedition or soliticitation of treason to preach or publish materials that call for the death of Americans.
* Cancel scholarship student visa programs with Saudi Arabia until they reform their textbooks. Saudi texts, sent for use in America, promote hatred of non-Muslims.
* Restrict religious visas for imams who come from countries that don't allow reciprocal visits by non-Muslim clergy.
* Cancel contracts to train Saudi police and security in U.S. counterterrorism tactics, and block the sale of sensitive military munitions to Saudi Arabia. That's because Saudi Arabia now finances the international jihad.
In case you need some more incentives to get involved, here is what the imposition of sharia (Muslim) law would mean. This is according to one authoritative voice, a sheikh that the BBC called "the highest spiritual authority for nearly a billion Sunni Muslims."
* "When a person has reached puberty and is sane voluntarily apostatizes [i.e. converts] from Islam, he deserves to be killed."
* "Circumcision is obligatory." There is some dispute among Muslim authorities on the need for female circumcision. Some say it is obligatory and some say it is just an accepted but not an obligatory practice.
* "The husband may forbid the wife to leave the home."
* "Musical instruments of all types are unlawful."
* "The caliph ... makes war upon Jews, Christians, and Zoroastrians ... until they become Muslim or pay the non-Muslim poll tax."
And according to the treasonous The New York Times, this comes from a beacon of Islamic moderation. And you're likely to get a hardliner in control. If that doesn't move you, remember that the above list is only a small sample, of sharia. It controls all aspects of life.
Read Mr. Spencer's book and you'll suddenly become a good citizen, and one that wants to work to protect and defend American values.
Herb Denenberg is a former Pennsylvania Insurance Commissioner, Pennsylvania Public Utility Commissioner, and professor at the Wharton School. He is a longtime Philadelphia journalist and consumer advocate. He is also a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of the Sciences. His column appears daily in The Bulletin. You can reach him at advocate@thebulletin.us.
It can’t be all bad; they oppose same sex marriage, homosexuality and abortion. I’d like to see what happens to the liberal lawyers in a shariah court.
/s
Muslim prayer rooms should be opened in Catholic schools, say church leaders (U.K.)
Great site! They brought the old Philadelphia Evening Bulletin back, at least in cyberspace.
When I was a kid growing up in Philly, we used to get the Bulletin every afternoon. It was the first thing I looked at when I got home from school. Sadly, there are few cities that have more than one daily newspaper anymore. And even the few that still exist are for the most part pretty lousy.
You may see that someday. But....if we keep America a Judeo/Christian country, you won’t have to worry about it.
Thanks for the link. It is prophetic, we had best wake up here in the US.
Thanks for this post jaz. I have yet to read anything by Herb Denenberg that didn’t make sense. I appreciate his writings.
Several FReepers over the last few months have posted how they remember the old Philadelphia Evening Bulletin, hopefully they’ll come back and stay back.
There is a print version available too. It’s hard to find unless you are in center city though. Their site has a list of newstands where you can find it. They also have home delivery. A great paper. I pick up a copy every time I am in Philly. It’s a stark contrast to the Inquirer and Daily News.
bfl
I agree, RQSR. Herb is most always right on the mark.
obama may not be a muslim but he might as well be.
self ping to future read
I fear you may be right, we’ll soon know.
A country of Muslims seeks to defend against Islamists -- and our government says NO! don't do that.
"Be like our P.C., submit!" Is that what our government means?
Well, if I had a choice between P.C. and a constitution that places the obligation upon the military to defend against domestic enemies I'll take the latter.
Wot? It does?
Right! I remember the Oath.. defend the Constitution against enemies foreign and domestic.
IMO every two-hundred-year-old republic is entitled to at least one patriot-dictator.
If modern America's Man on Horseback is out there, Get on the damn horse already!
At the moment, the libs feel more scared of Christianity than anything else. If the muzzies make some inroads, the libs will probably come to see who their real enemy is - eventually.
FACE?
How does THAT work?
I haven’t the slightest idea how they “face” a grave to Mecca but it sure sounds ridiculous.
One should be content with facing one’s toilet toward that city..
Yeah but then they will kill all the rest of us because Sharia law allows it! Sorry, but the Muslims are a thorn in America’s side unless they , as citizens , denounce all, all terrorism, the imans, the caliph malaise and Iran and do not want to dispose of Israel of our Constitution. The hell with the PC malarky that surrounds the multicultural bunch. Britain, Italy, France, Spain and Germany are suffering now. If we are stupid enough to play the tolerance game with these non-Western threats, then I suggest we all move to Idaho or Montana with those ‘nutty’ survivalists who will not seem so nuts then.
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