Posted on 03/25/2003 4:33:36 AM PST by SJackson
Suppose the traitor who rolled three grenades into the tents of our soldiers in Iraq, killed a captain and wounded 15 others, was a member of Jerry Falwell's Thomas Road Baptist Church or Robert Schuller's Crystal Cathedral. Do you think his picture might be on the evening news or page one of the New York Times? In fact, the culprit, Asan Akbar (aka Mark Fidel Kools) is a black Muslim from South Central Los Angeles, and a member of the Masjid Bilal Islamic Center there. What this incident would show us, if the press were doing its job, is that there is a connection between the ideas people devote themselves to and what they wind up doing. (The fact that Akbar's former middle name -- which looks adopted as well -- is "Fidel" is probably not without significance either.)
Last July, the spiritual leader of the Nation of Islam, Louis Farakhan, traveled to Baghdad and had this to say: "The Muslim American people are praying to the almighty God to grant victory to Iraq." What people say they often wind up doing. America needs to wake up to the fact that there is an army of people in this country, some Muslim some not, who identify with our enemies and pray for their victory. On this website, we have called them the Fifth Column left. This has made many people on the left angry at us. It is suggested that we lack the proper respect for First Amendment rights and values and that accusing dissenters and opponents of the war of betraying this country has a chilling effect on speech. It certainly does, but it is also the case that real traitors hide behind free speech rights and that ideas do have consequences.
In fact, we have never accused critics of the war of being members of a Fifth Column or traitors for opposing the war. We have always been specific in identifying those opponents (and only those opponents) who attack America and its leaders in irrational and and apocalyptic terms, and those opponents who are members of self-styled revolutionary parties who identify with America's enemies like Communist North Korea. "Dissenters" who are willing to break the law and tie up Homeland Security forces during a high terror alert also identify themselves as enemies of America and its people, since they are prepared to endanger their fellow citizens' lives and to actively aid and abet an enemy force.
Examples of irrational and apolocalyptic hatred are easy to come by. "Bush is the disease. Death is the cure" is example taken from a Los Angeles demonstration against the war. We live in a democracy, where the people are sovereign and elect their leaders. Calling for death to the President, or revolution for that matter, are signals of criminal intention, and need to be taken as such. "We Support Our Troops When They Shoot Their Officers" -- a banner paraded at an illegal demonstration in San Francisco -- is another sign of criminal and treasonous intent. Those who participate in illegal efforts to sabotage homeland defense, and who proclaim irrational hatred of America and its leaders are telling us something it is important that we hear. They are telling us who they are. They are telling us that they are at war, and that we are their enemy. They deserve to be taken seriously, not for their sake, but for ours.
What a great explanation to her question!!
No, they are not the same. For one thing, Black Muslims believe that Whites and Jews were spawned from the devil, or something like that. When Malcolm X went to Mecca, he renounced that way of thinking, instead wanting to embrace anyone who wanted to become a Muslim, and was murdered by his former allies shortly afterwards.
Cut & paste :).
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