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Romney Vs. Gingrich on Jihad and Sharia: A Yawning, if Unappreciated Gap
Human Events ^ | 11/28/2011 | Andrew G. Bostom

Posted on 11/29/2011 12:05:21 PM PST by neverdem

Early and volatile, the Republican Presidential nomination race—at least for now—appears to be settling into a contest between consistent front runner Mitt Romney, and the latest surging, “non-Romney alternative”, former House Speaker, Newt Gingrich.

Unfortunately the CNN/Heritage Foundation/American Enterprise televised debate of last week did not highlight the yawning gap between these front running contenders’ views on the existential threat doctrine of our Islamic enemies: jihad and its motivational, sacralized religio-political “law”, Sharia.

During an interview with US News reporter Dan Gligoff published June 3, 2009, Mitt Romney offered the following bizarre observation about the living Islamic institution of jihad, ostensibly to “clarify” remarks made during an earlier speech at the Heritage Foundation:

I spoke about three major threats America faces on a long term basis. Jihadism is one of them, and that is not Islam.

Romney—notwithstanding this distressingly ridiculous pronouncement—remains, for now, the front running contender for the Republican Presidential nomination.

Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, in stark contrast to the muddled and craven nonsense uttered by Romney on jihad during his US News interview, delivered an astute and courageous address(PDF) at The American Enterprise Institute, July 29, 2010, which provided an irrefragably accurate, if blunt characterization of the existential threat posed by Islam’s living, self-professed mission: to impose Sharia, its totalitarian religio-political “law,”  globally.

With vanishingly rare intellectual honesty and resolve, Gingrich described(PDF) how normative Sharia—antithetical to bedrock Western legal principles—by “divine,” immutable diktat, rejects freedom of conscience, while sanctioning violent jihadism, absurd, misogynistic “rules of evidence” (four male witnesses for rape), barbarous punishments (stoning for adultery), and polygamy:

Sharia in its natural form has principles and punishments totally abhorrent to the Western world, and the underlying basic belief which is that law comes directly from God and is therefore imposed upon humans and no human can change the law without it being an act of apostasy is a fundamental violation of a tradition in the Western system which goes back to Rome, Athens, and Jerusalem and which has evolved in giving us freedom across the planet on a scale we can hardly imagine and which is now directly threatened by those who would impose it.

Moreover, Gingrich warned(PDF) about efforts—deliberate, or unwitting–to represent Sharia as a benign system:

So let me also be quite clear that the rules are radical and horrific. I think again it’s fascinating that even when people go out and do polling and they say to, for example, Muslims in general, do you believe in Sharia, they don’t then explain what Sharia is. Sharia becomes like would you like to be a Rotarian and it sounds okay.

Gingrich’s unflinching portrayal of the existential threat Sharia represents—whether or not this totalitarian system is imposed by violent, or non-violent means—was accompanied by a clarion call for concrete measures to oppose any Sharia encroachment on the U.S. legal code:

Stealth jihadis use political, cultural, societal, religious, intellectual tools; violent jihadis use violence. But in fact they’re both engaged in jihad and they’re both seeking to impose the same end state which is to replace Western civilization with a [radical] imposition of Sharia.

The fight against Sharia and the madrassas in mosques which teach hatred and fanaticism is the heart of the enemy movement from which the terrorists spring forth. It’s time we had a national debate on this. One of the things I’m going to suggest today is a federal law which says no court anywhere in the United States under any circumstance is allowed to consider Sharia as a replacement for American law.

Subsequently, J. Mark Campbell of The United West, obtained a video recorded commitment from Newt Gingrich, to pursue and prosecute the major Muslim Brotherhood front groups currently operating unencumbered in the US, and being courted for “Muslim outreach” by feckless politicians, policymakers, and even law enforcement officials.

The Holy Land Foundation trial made unmistakably clear the agenda of this spiders web of Muslim Brotherhood organizations—which includes unindicted co-conspirators CAIR (Council on American Islamic Relations), ISNA (Islamic Society of North America), and NAIT (North American Islamic Trust)—as stated explicitly by Yusuf al-Qaradawi acolyte Mohamed Akram, in his “An Explanatory Memorandum on the General Strategic Goal for the Brotherhood in North America”, May 22, 1991 (translated here(PDF), on “Page 7 of 18,” bottom center pagination):

The process of settlement is a “Civilization-Jihadist Process”  with all the word means. The Ikhwan [Muslim Brotherhood] must understand that their work in America is a kind of grand jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and “sabotaging” its miserable house by their hands and by the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated  and God’s religion is made victorious over all other religions.

“Front runner” Mitt Romney needs to provide the same unequivocal commitment, immediately, to this critically important national security goal in the struggle against jihadism

Newt Gingrich  has set the standard for honest and informed discussion of Islamic totalitarianism which should be expected of all contenders—a standard Mitt Romney, thus far, fails, miserably.



Andrew G. Bostom, M.D., M.S. ( Providence , R.I. ), is the author of the highly acclaimed The Legacy of Jihad: Islamic Holy War and the Fate of Non-Muslims and The Legacy of Islamic Antisemitism: From Sacred Texts to Solemn History. More on Andrew Bostom's work can be found at www.andrewbostom.org and http://www.andrewbostom.org/blog/.

 


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Editorial; Foreign Affairs; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: confusedromney; gingrich; inaccurateromney; jihad; reevaluategingrich; romney; romney4911mosque; romney4iag; romney4islam; romney4sharia; sharia

1 posted on 11/29/2011 12:05:26 PM PST by neverdem
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To: neverdem

Ban Sharia- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMvQ95ftvYI&feature=related


2 posted on 11/29/2011 12:16:40 PM PST by matthew fuller (Hey Buckwheat- What the Hell are we paying you for?...(GO NEWT!))
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To: neverdem

“Sharia in its natural form has principles and punishments totally abhorrent to the Western world, and the underlying basic belief which is that law comes directly from God and is therefore imposed upon humans and no human can change the law without it being an act of apostasy is a fundamental violation of a tradition in the Western system which goes back to Rome, Athens, and Jerusalem and which has evolved in giving us freedom across the planet on a scale we can hardly imagine and which is now directly threatened by those who would impose it.”

Excellent understanding!!!!!!!!


3 posted on 11/29/2011 12:17:53 PM PST by SumProVita (Cogito, ergo...Sum Pro Vita. (Modified Decartes))
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To: neverdem

I need to trademark the following:

Political candidates are like beer. If you want to sell a LOT of beer, you need to be bland, like Budweiser. If you have a great, and distinctive flavor, like Mac & Jack or Bluegrass Brewing’s Dark Star Porter, people will LOVE you. But you won’t sell nearly as much as Bud.

So, a political candidate that actually takes a quantifiable stand on something like, say islam, will lose the muslim and “ignorant liberal” vote. So they say squishy things about islam. Likewise, fear of losing the hispanic vote can cause them to say “less than specific” things about illegals, even though many conservatives would “love” to hear it.

And this is one reason we are in the mess we are in.


4 posted on 11/29/2011 12:22:02 PM PST by cuban leaf (Were doomed! Details at eleven.)
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To: neverdem
Romney sure doesn't have much respect for the founder of his cult.

“I will be to this generation a second Mohammed, whose motto in treating for peace was ‘the Alcoran [Koran] or the Sword.’ So shall it eventually be with us— 'Joseph Smith or the Sword!’ ”FLDS-LDS "PROPHET" Joseph Smith, Far West, Missouri on October 14, 1838

5 posted on 11/29/2011 12:29:49 PM PST by SENTINEL (Romney is to Conservatism what Mormonism is to Christianity.)
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To: neverdem; SumProVita; matthew fuller

Any candidate that doesn’t take the islamist threat very very seriously will definitely not get my vote.

And the islamists’ principal weapon today for achieving victory is through immigration. They understand very well that demographics is destiny. For that reason, Europe’s fate may already be sealed.


6 posted on 11/29/2011 12:45:14 PM PST by aquila48
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To: matthew fuller

Newt still does not understand that islam is a political movement and should therefore not be given 1st Amendment protection that bona fide religions enjoy.

Neither does he understand that islam is unwilling and incapable of coexistence with Western society — Newt is willing to accept the status quo while islam will never agree to it.


7 posted on 11/29/2011 1:30:02 PM PST by 353FMG
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To: 353FMG

Both have essentially the same view, and take pains to differentiate between the political movement, which Romney calls jihadism, and the religion, which both refer to as the “peaceful” followers of Islam.


8 posted on 11/29/2011 2:02:52 PM PST by Burkean (.)
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To: Burkean

“....which both refer to as the “peaceful” followers of Islam.”

.
GW’s legacy in gullibility.


9 posted on 11/29/2011 2:28:49 PM PST by 353FMG
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To: neverdem

IBIA!P

(in before incongruous “ANESTY!” post)


10 posted on 11/29/2011 4:15:16 PM PST by presidio9 (Islam is as Islam does.)
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To: neverdem

Newt is the one ready now for facing our international as well as our domestic Quislings and 5th columnists. Iran, Libya, Morocco, Egypt, Yemen are on the cusp of all Muslim Bros. , all sharia, all jihadist unity together if they do go Iran’s way. Newt also knows immigration is part of our foreign policy and he is explaining that without MSM lying.


11 posted on 11/29/2011 4:21:41 PM PST by phillyfanatic
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To: neverdem; xzins

I’ve been debating between cain and Gingrich, but now, thanks to this article, i’m firmly in the Gingrich camp. thank you neverdem for posting it


12 posted on 11/30/2011 2:37:03 AM PST by Cronos (Nuke Mecca and Medina now..)
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To: neverdem

Great choices we have:

Death by poisoning, or death by all-consuming fatal disease.
.


13 posted on 12/02/2011 9:24:48 AM PST by editor-surveyor (No Federal Sales Tax - No Way!)
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To: 353FMG

>> “ Newt is willing to accept the status quo while islam will never agree to it.” <<

.
Newt’s politics and religion are one and the same:

Status quo beats Conservatism, and socialism is nirvana.


14 posted on 12/02/2011 9:28:32 AM PST by editor-surveyor (No Federal Sales Tax - No Way!)
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To: SumProVita

I’d hate to have to diagram THAT sentence.


15 posted on 12/02/2011 9:31:11 AM PST by Zman516
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To: neverdem

BOOKMARK


16 posted on 12/02/2011 9:45:12 AM PST by ExSoldier ("Life without God is like an unsharpened pencil: It has no point.")
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