Nearly a year later I am dismayed and furious that most people don't seem to realize that we are engaged in a war not with a handful of terrorists, but with a religious movement. Call it what you will: evangelical Islam, medievalist Islam, radical Islam. The war has only just begun, I'm afraid.
--T. W. K.
No adjectives are necessary. Islam will do (evangelical, medievalist, radical are a part of its definition).
After church a couple of weeks ago, a friend said to me, ‘How can you say that Muslims are the enemy of Christianity? They allow Christians to live in Arab countries.’
I gave him that much (and no more). Needed to point out that Christian islands do exist in Arab countries, and some such islands are of ancient origin. But they have also been rendered lifeless, and without influence, by centuries of Muslim rule, having been the focus of everything from simple persecution, to slavery, and execution (simply by virtue of their non-Islamic status). And their populations continue to shrink with time.
Islam is not only in eternal war (since its beginnings) with Christianity. It is in eternal war with western civilization, and with the concept of individual liberty itself.
I am a staunch non-interventionist. Would much rather avoid a war with the Muslim world (it won’t be easily won). But, at the same time, not recognizing Islam as an enemy (the enemy) of our republic – and an enemy that will never have a change of heart (it’s the nature of the if you are not one of us, you are an infidel beast) – could prove to be much more than a dangerous oversight.
The idea that negotiation, or olive branches of any kind, will have any effect on the single-minded goal of Islamic leaders (madmen, by definition of their cause) is ludicrous. The only solution is fortification (here) and eradication (there). Trouble is, that solution was unpalatable to the majority of Americans, pre-9/11 – because the majority of Americans consisted of (1) leftists in leadership positions who place little value on that which Islam abhors, and (2) those who swallow their peace mantra. If we can manage to stay angry enough as a people as a result of 9/11, maybe we can permanently awaken enough of those in category (2) to make a difference. If not, the war is lost already. You’ve already had a firsthand taste of what such a war will be like. I pray that the rest of us will be spared what you had to endure.
I wish you would come visit us again, a bunch of Hog Wild FReepers would love to meet you. We would love to hear all this first hand.