Too late.
Posted on 02/04/2005 5:16:08 AM PST by SJackson
In a remarkable example of truth in advertising, Lt. General John R. Vines, the new U.S. ground commander in Iraq, has included on a booklist for his senior staff officers the deathless classic Islam for Dummies — among other books that minimize or explain away any connection between Islam and violence. Unfortunately for the General, word of his reading list hadn’t been out long when Freedom House, a human rights group in Washington, released a report on Saudi hate literature in American mosques that made his list look Pollyannaish.
In a Baltimore Sun interview after Vines’ list was made public, the author of Islam for Dummies, a retired professor named Malcolm Clark, was asked if he agreed “with President Bush that Islam is a peaceful religion that has been ‘hijacked’ by extremists?” He replied: “Generally, yes, but ‘hijacked by fanatics’ suggests the fault lies completely with that group. Western and American actions have created a climate ... for that hijacking to occur.”
Clark is evidently unaware of the centuries of jihad warfare by Muslims before there even was an America — or perhaps he just got carried away in his zeal to exonerate Islam from any connection to 9/11, Beslan, and all the other recent attacks perpetrated by men who quoted the Qur’an and cited Islam’s doctrine of jihad to justify their actions. “Many Americans,” he lamented, “equate Islam and terrorism. That’s not historically true. Go back 20 years; the majority of terrorist acts against America happened in South America and came from a leftist ideology. Still, there’s a feeling that Muslim groups in the U.S. haven’t been forthcoming enough about condemning Islamic terrorism. In fact, all the major Islamic organizations in the U.S., such as the Islamic Society of North America [ISNA], unequivocally condemned the [9/11] attacks.”
ISNA did indeed condemn the attacks. But I wonder if Clark knows that the Senate Finance Committee in January 2004 included ISNA on a list of groups that “finance terrorism and perpetuate violence.” Does Clark know that ISNA has received Saudi money?
Saudi condemnations of terrorism ring even hollower than they already did after the publication this week of the extensive report from Freedom House’s Center for Religious Freedom on hate literature produced by the Saudis and distributed in American mosques. One tract featured in the report tells Muslims: “Be dissociated from the infidels, hate them for their religion, leave them, never rely on them for support, do not admire them, and always oppose them in every way according to Islamic law.” A high school textbook makes it absolutely clear where such teaching leads: “To be true Muslims, we must prepare and be ready for jihad in Allah’s way. It is the duty of the citizen and the government. The military education is glued to faith and its meaning, and the duty to follow it.”
Condemn terrorism? Sure. But they don’t condemn jihad — and for the people in the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 and other victims of the global jihad, this is a distinction without a difference.
So while Saudi-funded mosques in the United States teach jihad and hatred of non-Muslims, General Vines’ staff in Iraq will be learning from Malcolm Clark that Islam is fundamentally peaceful and that American aggression has created Islamic terrorism.
Maybe General Vines and his staff, after they have thoroughly imbibed all of Clark’s lessons, can approach the Saudis and explain to them how they are getting Islam all wrong. Unfortunately, the Saudis are unlikely to listen, given that also in their literature for American mosques is the assertion that “it is basic to Islam to believe that everyone who does not embrace Islam is an unbeliever, and that they are enemies to Allah, his prophet and believers.”
Wouldn’t General Vines’ staff be more prepared for the kind of opposition they will encounter in Iraq if they studied not treacly Islamic apologetics like Islam for Dummies but works that honestly explored the theological and historical roots of Islamic terrorism? Even if they read the Freedom House report itself, the troops under Vines’ command would gain a fuller and more accurate understanding of the hatred and fanaticism they will encounter in Iraq than they will from anything on his reading list. For only there, and not from Malcolm Clark, will they hear that Muslims are teaching even in America that “until the nations of the world have functionally Islamic governments, every individual who is careless or lazy in working for Islam is sinful.”
Islam for dummies, indeed.
He's off to a good start with just ignorance, fear and a web site.
From a negotiating position, I would be happier if in this country we would only allow a mosque to be built if a church or temple (Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu) were allowed to be built in Saudi Arabia (in an equally populated city in SA).
Too late.
I'm going to assume that Gen. Vines never really read the book.
As for Mr. Clark, he's got problems.
Yep! Not only is Islam a "peaceful" religion, but if they do anything wrong, it's our fault.
I don't think I'll work today. That's obviously what got 3000 of our people killed on 9-11.
I just posted the following graphic on another thread. However, this makes one wonder just what FnKerry has to do with the Islam Clans, since he has praised them to high heaven!
The general sounds like someone who does his homework.
Maybe the fact that Robert Spencer OTOH has no qualifications ( I don't believe he's even a competent paper hanger, though I may be wrong on that) to make any comments about the general's decisions should be considered when reading his remarks?
Lieutenant General Vines was commissioned a Lieutenant of Infantry in 1971 through the ROTC program at the University of Alabama .
His previous assignments include the 3d Infantry Division; US Army Europe and Seventh Army; Ranger Department, US Army Infantry Center, Fort Benning, Georgia; Company Commander and S3 in the 1st Ranger Battalion, Hunter Army Airfield, GA, and the original Executive Officer of the 3d Ranger Battalion at its activation at Fort Benning from 1984 until 1987.
Lieutenant General Vines has served in several command and staff assignments at Fort Bragg and within the XVIII Airborne Corps to include joint duty with the Joint Special Operations Command. He served as Commander, 4th Battalion, 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment, during its combat parachute assault in Operation Just Cause in Panama, and later when the unit was deployed as the first ground combat unit in Operation Desert Shield. His second tour of joint duty with the Joint Special Operations Command included operations in Somalia; Commander, 2d Brigade, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Kentucky; Assistant Division Commander for Operations, 82d Airborne Division; Chief of Staff, XVIII Airborne Corps and Fort Bragg; Chief of Office of Military Operations, Cairo, Egypt; Commander, 82d Airborne Division from August 2000 until October 2002; Commander, Coalition Task Force 82, in Afghanistan from
1 September 2002 until 1 May 2003 ; and then Commander, Combined/Joint Task Force-180, Bagram , Afghanistan , until October 2003.
His military education includes the United States Navy War College .
He holds a BS Degree in Chemistry from the University of Alabama and an MA Degree in National Security and Strategy from the Naval War College.
Lieutenant General Vines’ awards and decorations include the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, Distinguished Service Medal, Defense Superior Service Medal, Bronze Star Medal (with Oak Leaf Cluster), Combat Infantryman Badge, Master Parachutist Badge (with Bronze Service Star), Pathfinder Badge, and the Ranger Tab. He has commanded paratroopers in combat in three separate conflicts.
He'd kiss the devil's butt to score political points, which is, essentially, what he's doing.
I have no doubts about the General's qualifications.
My thought is that he's a very busy man in the middle of a war, and this book was suggested to him by someone unfamiliar with the subject.
I don't believe the General is intentionally "spread(ing) Islamic Whitewash", as Spencer would like people to believe.
Though Mr. Clark, on the other hand, needs to read more.
There have been threads posted here on where some of the Heinz money goes. They may answer some of your questions on Kerry's connections.
Without the internet, this fool would get away with spreading what really are lies. Nothing more, nothing less.
His actions have spoke much louder then his words!
"this fool would get away with spreading what really are lies"
Are you speaking of the General? I certainly hope not.
Good map, for seeing what is happening, the red spreads.
Here's the link to the FreedomHouse documemtation. I would suggest everyone read it. Provides some good information about what is being taught in the mosques in America.
http://www.freedomhouse.org/religion/publications/Saudi%20Report/FINAL%20FINAL.pdf
We're going to have to whip the tar out of these people some day.
Is there a zionist conspiracy to destroy the West? That's news.
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