Our Islamic 'Friends'

First, understand what I'm NOT saying. I'm not saying I'm a great columnist. I'm not even saying I'm a good columnist.

I'm saying only that I've been writing columns for some publication or other since 1950. Thousands of them.

And I'm saying nothing I've ever written has ever caused me more pain than this one.

Among the things that give me maximum pleasure in the world are my children, football, North Carolina barbecue, Polish music, skinny blondes, and brotherhood.

Yes, brotherhood. I quite literally weep with joy at stories of courageous whites preventing white haters in the South from lynching blacks, Ukrainian farmers risking their lives to hide Jews from the Nazis, Serbian monks protecting ethnic Albanians in Kosovo, Greeks and Turks selling hot dogs together from street carts in New York.

Freaky? Maybe. But, maybe not. Some people like all that sexy stuff. Some like all that violent stuff. Some like all that expensive stuff. I just happen to like all that brotherly stuff.

As a senior at the University of North Carolina in 1952 I led the successful fight to desegregate Kenan Stadium; and that was long before you got hugged by Hollywood movie stars or quoted in Newsweek for such activities that far South.

The French leader who handed Algeria its independence after World War II had better damned well be a tough French nationalist with a good war record. And he was: Gen. Charles DeGaulle. The American president who popped up in Beijing to open relations with communist China in the middle of the Cold War against communism had better damned well be a tough anti-communist, and not some soft-on-communism Democrat. And he was: Richard Nixon.

And you'd better have a thick scrapbook of brotherly deeds before you wonder out loud whether the "brotherhood" you've spent your life promoting and practicing is still appropriate to the Moslem world.

Brotherhood, morally correct back then, may actually be suicidal now. Throughout all our wars we've had people in America who were "of" the enemy; born of the enemy, descendants of the enemy, sympathetic with the enemy, enamored with the enemy, even willing to fight and die for the enemy.

But it never amounted to much. If any Hispanics residing in America made trouble for America during the Spanish-American War, history hasn't told us about it. During World War I we had a good-sized German population, but no major problems of sabotage or disloyalty. In fact, America's greatest air ace of that war was the enfabled German-American Eddie Rickenbacker.

In World War II we had Germans who up, the instant we went to war against Germany, admired Adolf Hitler, Italians who admired Mussolini, and Japanese who were overawed by the military power of their native Japan.

But when the war started, they all proved they were reliable Americans by a majority so overwhelming that the remainder gave us nothing to talk about.

And there's nothing strange about that. The only force tugging against their loyalty to America was their nationalism. And that little "hometown" tug was easily overcome by their awareness that America's democracy trumped the fascism of their homelands.

Today we have millions of residents, many if not most American citizens, who have, not a nationalistic, but a RELIGIOUS antagonism toward America. The Germans, Italians, and Japanese in America during World War II had zero RELIGIOUS hatred of America.

And all attempts by my brother "brotherhoodists" to spin that reality away are so futile they've been largely abandoned. Too much is now known of what's taught in the "madrassas," Islamic religious schools. Too much is known about what's preached in the mosques and spread through the Moslem media.

Right after 9-11 I, too, instinctively wanted to believe the terrorists were merely an aberrational few and that most Moslems, certainly in America, were little more than Catholics with a different doctrine, Jews with slightly darker complexions, or Presbyterians who wrote from right to left whose men preferred facial hair and whose women covered their heads differently.

Before 9/11 my brotherly intuition left me to assume the little Mustafas of Dearborn, Mich., and the little Achmeds of Alabama were patted on their backs by their proud fathers for learning to recite the Bill of Rights and urged by their mothers to hurry up and learn the Preamble to the Constitution.

Islam's religious antagonism to American political and social values is as powerful as it is primitive. Thomas Jefferson's sparkling exhortations in favor of democracy bounce like BBs off the thick armor of fundamentalist Islam – especially the kind of hateful, fundamentalist Islam force-pumped into those American mosques financed by the Wahabi sect of Saudi Arabia.

(What percentage of American mosques are financed by Saudi Arabia? The common figure most often heard is 50 percent!)

In World War II, Lutheran clergymen with German congregations in America never once said, "We must undermine America for our beloved Fuhrer Adolf Hitler. Catholic priests in Italian parishes never once said, "America is decadent, and we must bring it down for our beloved Duce, Benito Mussolini." And Japanese-American troops, called "nisei," demoralized their German foes in Italy with their combat ferocity.

Mosques all over America, however, are echo chambers for the Wahabi line. And it's pretty awful.

"America is the enemy. Unbelievers in Islam deserve death. We must work with our Islamic brothers for Jihad! There is no higher distinction than martyrdom against the infidels who despoil our sacred soil with their unbelieving feet and aid the wretched Jew in their usurpation of our holy territory."

What gives me the right to worry about the octane of our Moslem countrymen's loyalty?

I glide easily to such concerns without infiltrating a mosque, purloining confidential documents from any Islamic organization, swallowing one drop of propaganda from Moslem-bashers, or wire-tapping a single imam.

All I had to do was observe the American Islamic reaction to 9-11. Or, heartbreakingly enough, the lack thereof.

Spiders weave webs. Beavers build dams. Humans react. The entire global Jewish community reacted instantly and thunderously denounced the crazed Jewish settler in Hebron who entered a mosque and slaughtered 50 or more Moslems at prayer. America instantly and thunderously denounced the accidental destruction of an Iranian civilian plane by an American military ship in the Persian Gulf.

Israel denounced its own assassination of an innocent Moroccan Arab in Lillehammar, Norway, who was catastrophically mistaken for one of the terrorists who murdered the Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympics in Munich.

Since Sept. 11, 2001 we've heard not one single, rousing, convincing, united blanket denunciation of the terror attack from the American Islamic community. Neither have we heard any rousing, convincing, etc. pro-American declaration from that community since that tragic date.

Everything we've heard is defensive. "Islam is a peaceful religion." "You can't indict our whole group because of a few terrorists." "You cannot discriminate against us because of our ethnicity or religion." "You are PROFILING!"

Agreed! But where are the ringing affirmations that they, the American Muslims, join the rest of us in victimhood and outrage against the attackers? Where is their proactive demand that all who commit such attacks be extirpated and annihilated?

If you put that question to "Islamic spokesmen" in the United States they will quickly furnish you with the names of prominent Moslems here and there who protested and a mosque or two in Jersey City and Sacramento that, indeed, issued supportive statements. But there's no political stethoscope powerful enough to detect any real fury palpitating behind the breast-bones of American Moslems, at least not fury against the terrorist attackers.

Am I asking too much when I expect just as much anti-terrorist, pro-American solidarity from the Islamic community as I do from the Protestant, Catholic and Jewish communities? Is it too much to ask the same sentiment from American Palestinians, Egyptians, Saudis, Jordanians, Iraqis, etc. as I do from Americans of every other national origin?

The muted and ambiguous murmur we do hear from our American Moslems makes me feel rather like the president of a corporation in the hospital who gets a note from the chairman of the board stating, "I have been authorized by the board of directors to wish you a speedy recovery – by vote of five to four!"

My lifelong friends in the "Brotherhood Caucus" try to restrain me. "Relax!" they counsel. "These people are shy. They're new here. They don't know how to react yet. It's not their style or tradition to protest or picket, or hold up placards, or even speak out loud."

That placated me for a while; but suddenly the American Moslems proved they did, indeed, have a voice; a loud one at that, that needed no coaxing.

Any shyness that might have prevented American Moslems from locking arms, hearts, and voices with other Americans after 9-11 vanished when the Israeli military entered Ramallah and Jenin to root out the terrorist bomb factories and suicide-homicide schools (operating, incidentally, quite openly inside refugee camps run by the United Nations!)

It was comforting to learn our American Moslems have a voice. It was disappointing to learn that voice is raised, not when their co-religionists attack America, but only when their co-religionist murderers face obliteration at the hands of Israelis seeking self-defense.

I'm an American who believes in God, seeks to serve his fellow man, likes a drink, and, though occasionally glancing at graven images of scantily clad women in our culture, wishes there were fewer.

If my lifestyle is punishable, I want it to be punished by the Almighty Himself when He decides to render judgment upon me personally; and not by those living in the most God-kissed country on earth who quietly cheer the monsters of 9-11 and denounce those who interfere with their U.N.-sheltered murderers of innocent soldiers, men, women, and children. I write this, not in hatred, but in disappointment; not in anger, but dismay.

Hello, Moslems of America! Do you really want to remain the only group in our history who said "No, thanks" to our values, our openness, our eagerness to include, our democracy, and our willingness to make people as different as you are from us?

In my lifetime, Americans of German, Italian and Japanese extraction cheered as their "terrorists" were defeated and our American values replaced the tyrannies of their long-tortured homelands.

I want to live long for many reasons; and among them is the desire to be there when we can lift a glass together – fruit juice for you, vodka-on-the-rocks for me – to celebrate the triumph of democracy in every single nation in the Moslem world.

Your points are very well taken and are highlighted by those 'interfaith' meetings held among Christians, Jews and Muslims. Muslim clerics preaching hate pretend to take part in these gatherings while preaching jihad at other rallies.

I would point to the site that PoppingSmoke posted; a couple of outspoken clerics in the US, one being Kabbani, a target of death threats and journalists like Tashbih Sayyed of paktoday.com.

By whatever means ncessary, the 'moderates' must be shown that whatever their true feelings about violent jihad, it's a dead end for jihadis and for them as well, because we will not let that death philosophy survive to threaten us. Then, even those sympathetic or leaning towards violent jihad will be forced to keep quiet or give it up.

But will take the concept of a total and complete Victory on our part to implement fully.

The concept of a true muslim is a little too theologically oriented for me. Those who attacked us claimed they were, and that's good enough for me.

Personally, i've gotten along better with the 'low' muslims, ie those who violate some of islam's tenets, like having a cold beer. Of course, these 'low' muslims are used as stalking horses by the radicals who will dispose of them when they want.

Perhaps a vigorous editing of the koran is in order. Let's excise the naughty bits and keep the rest.

***"How do we weed out the good from the bad in a religion that makes no distinction between wrong and right "***

This is the point that the 'moderates' do not grasp. They maintain this is not the 'true' islam but you hit the nail on the head: Unless we see vociferous and loud denunciations, how are we unbelievers supposed to tell the difference.

The reality is that, as soon as they are able, Moslem murderers will set off a nuke in the U.S. Millions throughout the Moslem world will cheer.

For that reason, I agree with an opinion I read today. We must make the Moslem world aware of a new U.S. policy of MAD (mutually assured destruction). We need to have at least 50% of our strategic nuclear forces targeted on centers of the Muslim world. If a nuke is set off in the U.S., Meca, and all of the major middle eastern cities will be flattened. The same goes for Islamabad, Kurachi, and Lahore in Pakistan. Put the ball in their court. Either they clean up their act, or an escalation of Isamic terrorism will reap a whirlwind of righteous destruction.

I've thought about this one long and hard and I can think of no better alternative. We are fighting evil on a massive scale.

Mr. Farber has no room in his heart, or his soul, for American Muslims who abhor, deride, denounce and want nothing to do with terrorists, of any kind. And who have said so loudly and publically

What, both of them?

As an American Muslim, when I read of a skyjacker drinking in a Florida topless bar, I said out loud "that is No True Muslim!"

So it's the topless bar what bothers ya. If the SKYJACKER had instead prayed the night before murdering thousands of people, then his True Muslimness would remain intact in your eyes. Got it.

But see that's exactly the point. Kabbani stands out because he is one of the few who take a courageous stand.
Likewise, i heard about a mullah recently in the Orlando paper denouncing the jihadis. But they have to do so repeatedly and loudly to get their voices heard through the clutter. You cannot deny that most the AMC/CAIR crowd, to which it seems most the US mullahs are associated with are far more duplicitous, to say the least, when it comes to what they say to one audience and what they say to another.

The moderates are in a bind. But they won't get much support unless they convince people they are Americans first.

"The moderates are in a bind. But they won't get much support unless they convince people they are Americans first."

Yes you are correct they need to do much better. They either don't have the spin machines like CAIR, ISNA, MSA and others do or they are plainly afraid. Just like the editor at Pakistan.Com. These groups almost ran him out of business. They do not have to prove they are Americans. They do have to stand up against the extremists a lot better.

And financed to the tune of 40%, incidentally, by the U.S. through the U.N.

They do not have to prove they are Americans. They do have to stand up against the extremists a lot better.

In an ideal world, no, they wouldn't have to prove they are Americans not the enemy. In the real world, I am sorry, but they do. Just as the Japanese and Germans who lived here during WWII had to prove that they were Americans and not the enemy.

We need deeds not just talk.

It took deeds to turn us against the Muslim world. As a general rule we didn't really believe that they hated us and wanted to kill us.

We believe it now.

If you want us to believe otherwise about some of you then you are going to have to give us deeds as well. It's not fair but the faith, trust and goodwill you had with the non-Muslims in America was seriously overdrawn on 9/11. You will have to build it back again.

a.cricket

First you will have to realize that some of the 5.6 million are part of the problem. Some, No, a lot of them, are shouting "Death to America” Your voices will have to be louder. Get creative. Wear your patriotism on your sleeve. Show the flag and what ever you do DONT say yes the terrorist were evil but... The but wipes out all that went before. Learn not to just say it, you need to believe it.

How many actual moderates are there? If it is even 50% I would be shocked but if it is more you need to take control. If it is less you have a lot of work ahead of you to change them to your point of view. There need to be many voices and they need to be loud. Good Luck! You will need it.

a.cricket

What part of WarSlut's statement is not in essence found in the Koran? I have read it, in English of course, so supposedly I haven't really read it, but it does seem to me to divide the world into two camps--one of believers and one of unbelievers. Believers are subject to strict laws of thought and behavior, particularly women. Non-believers are subject to death at the hands of believers unless they are people of the Book, in which case they are subject to a heavy tax and ultimately also to death for non-belief.

I have also read other Islamic documents that are generally withheld from the Moslem world, such as the early writings of the Imam's from Mecca and Medina that held that the holiness of the Dome of the Rock and Mohammed's alleged night ride there were a fiction concocted to pull the people away from the true faith in Mecca and Medina to Jerusalem where the Islamic leaders had built the Dome and invented the fiction of the ride in order to compete with the beauty of the Christian churches of the area. Where in the Koran do we find an account of the holiness of the Dome and the flight to heaven of Mohammed? Could it be that this great religion has men fighting for centuries over a piece of earth that has worth only because the local yokels made up a story to justify the building of a pretty mosque? According to Islam's own historical writings, this is just the case: rivers of blood to justify a lie so that the Christians would not have a church more pretty than the Jerusalem mosque.

Whereas Moslems kill others to spread their religion of peace, Christians die to give testimony to the truth of their faith.

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