Posted on 07/28/2005 2:20:29 PM PDT by Trimegistus
Opinion: The Muslim mind is on fire Youssef M. Ibrahim July 26, 2005
DUBAI -- The world of Islam is on fire. Indeed, the Muslim mind is on fire. Above all, the West is now ready to take both of them on.
The latest reliable report confirms that on average 33 Iraqis die every day, executed by Iraqis and foreign jihadis and suicide bombers, not by US or British soldiers. In fact, fewer than ever US or British soldiers are dying since the invasion more than two years ago. Instead, we now watch on television hundreds of innocent Iraqis lying without limbs, bleeding in the streets dead or wounded for life. If this is jihad someone got his religious education completely upside down.
Palestine is on fire, too, with Palestinian armed groups fighting one another - Hamas against Fatah and all against the Palestinian Authority. All have rendered Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas impotent and have diminished the world's respect and sympathy for Palestinian sufferings.
A couple of weeks ago London was on fire as Pakistani and other Muslims with British citizenship blew up tube stations in the name of Islam. Al Qaeda in Europe or one of its franchises proclaimed proudly the killing of 54 and wounding 700 innocent citizens was done to "avenge Islam" and Muslims.
Madrid was on fire, too, last year, when Muslim jihadis blew up train stations killing 160 people and wounding a few thousands.
The excuse in all the above cases was the war in Iraq, but let us not forget that in September 2001, long before Iraq, Osama Bin Laden proudly announced that he ordered the killing of some 3,000 in the United States, in the name of avenging Islam. Let us not forget that the killing began a long time before the invasion of Iraq.
Indeed, jihadis have been killing for a decade in the name of Islam. They killed innocent tourists and natives in Morocco and Egypt, in Africa, in Indonesia and in Yemen, all done in the name of Islam by Muslims who say that they are better than all other Muslims. They killed in India, in Thailand and are now talking of killing in Germany and Denmark and so on. There were attacks with bombs that killed scores inside Shia and Sunni mosques, inside churches and inside synagogues in Turkey and Tunisia, with Muslim preachers saying that it is okay to kill Jews and Christians - the so called infidels.
Above all, it is the Muslim mind that is on fire.
The Muslim fundamentalist who attacked the Dutch film director Theo Van Gogh in the Netherlands, stabbed him more than 23 times then cut his throat. He recently proudly proclaimed at his trial: "I did it because my religion - Islam - dictated it and I would do it again if were free." Which preacher told this guy this is Islam? That preacher should be in jail with him.
Do the cowardly jihadis who recruit suicide bombers really think that they will force the US Army and British troops out of Iraq by killing hundreds of innocent Iraqis? US troops now have bases and operate in Iraq but also from Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Oman.
The only accomplishment of jihadis is that now they have aroused the great "Western Tiger". There was a time when the United States and Europe welcomed Arab and Muslim immigrants, visitors and students, with open arms. London even allowed all dissidents escaping their countries to preach against those countries under the guise of political refugees.
Well, that is all over now. Time has become for the big Western vengeance.
Visas for Arab and Muslim young men will be impossible to get for the United States and Western Europe. Those working there will be expelled if they are illegal, and harassed even if their papers are in order.
Airlines will have to right to refuse boarding to passengers if their names even resemble names on a prohibited list on all flights heading to Europe and the United States.
What is more important to remember is this: When the West did unite after World War II to beat communism, the long Cold War began without pity. They took no prisoners. They all stood together, from the United States to Norway, from Britain to Spain, from Belgium to Switzerland. And they did bring down the biggest empire. Communism collapsed.
I fear those naïve Muslims who think that they are beating the West have now achieved their worst crime of all. The West is now going to war against not only Muslims, but also, sadly, Islam as a religion.
In this new cold and hot war, car bombs and suicide bombers here and there will be no match for the arsenal that those Westerners are putting together - an arsenal of laws, intelligence pooling, surveillance by satellites, armies of special forces and indeed, allies inside the Arab world who are tired of having their lives disrupted by demented so-called jihadis or those bearded preachers who, under the guise of preaching, do little to teach and much to ignite the fire, those who know little about Islam and nothing about humanity.
Youssef M. Ibrahim, a former Middle East correspondent for The New York Times and energy editor of the Wall Street Journal, is managing director of the Dubai-based Strategic Energy Investment Group
Well 10 to 20 percent of a population is more than enough to bring long-term death and misery to a whole society -- especially if the remaining population is apathetic or worse.
I'm not reassured when I hear, "it's only a small percentage of Muslims who support terrorism." It only takes a small percentage, especially when many of the rest are craven fence-sitters.
See reply 18. Check out the Little Green Football comments.
This guy sounds like a shill for the terrorists...
It's NOT Muslims we're after, or even Islam --- but their lunatic fringe which too many Muslims refuse to admit exist and won't deal with....
If "Muslims" can't destroy the cockroaches in their homes -- others will be forced to do it, by destroying the home..
It's still their call, and perhaps their last opportunity to avoid extinction.
Semper Fi
A better question would be, "Which preacher told this guy this isn't Islam?"
Here is one that "gets it". "It" is going to get a whole lot worse for jihadi's. And for any other mo'. They will have something to whine about after the Dutch, British, and Germans coordinate the pogrom. With US financial aid.
Well that's about 250 million crazy Islamic fanatical murderers. Sounds like a major war against civilization to me.
A wind age, A wolf age
Shields will be cloven;
A sword age, A spear age
before the worlds ruin.
The Elder Edda
One of the posters over on Little Green Footballs was musing about how "big Western vengenace" seems to invite a "Spaghetti Western" soundtrack. Me, I think it has a "All Your Base" quality about it.
It's a solid tagline, at the very least.
Pinging jihadis.
>>The fact is that most Muslims don't want to live under Sharia even if they believe that it is what Muhammad would want for them. It is the 10 to 20 percent of true believers who intimidate and force the others into it.
Bingo. The "MTV bomb" is one of the best weapons we have. We should be giving every member of the new Iraqi army and security forces free subscriptions to Maxim.
I am sick of hearing about 'It's not Muslims or Islam we are after but their lunatic fringe'...the lunatic fringe are living by the teachings of Islam. Islam created them. They are not abusing Islam but adhering to the teachings of Islam and killing the infidel. There is no religion of peace...no moderate Muslims. These so called moderates merely do not practice the tenets of their faith (Jihad) yet. You get a revival in Christian churches, people give up drinking/drugs, help the poor, attend/work in the church, prison ministry etc; they try to follow the teachings of Christ. You get a revival in the Muslim mosque...you get convert or kill the infidel, beat your wife, kill your daughters if they dishonor you by being raped perhaps, and lets not forget 'marrying' nine year old girsl (Mohammad did)- in short you get violence and misery. Jihadist do not dishonor Islam...they are Islam-true Islam.
Yamamoto it was, who went to college in the US i believe and, like most of the Japanese Naval officers was much saner than the Army generals like Tojo that admired Hitler and Mussolini...
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