Four Myths About Muslims

CNSNews.com ^ | June 13, 2002 | C.T. Rossi

[Stand Watch Listen]

If Robert Frost was correct when he quipped that "a liberal is a man too broadminded to take his own side in a quarrel," then America has descended into the depths of leftism. The systematic way in which government and the media have consistently followed the path of self-loathing and self-negation could be the source of great humor, if the matters being bungled were not so grave.

While the attacks of September 11th roused a dormant patriotism in the collective American bosom, it also unveiled how deeply entrenched public discourse is in political correctness. Day after day the "war on terror" brings more misinformation, disinformation and propaganda. Most security measures are either window dressings for public consumption or usurpations of civil liberties by power-hungry elements within the bowels of bureaucracy.

The myths need to be dispelled and the elephant in America's living room needs to be addressed for the sake of that rarest of post-modern commodities - the truth.

Myth #1: Terrorism is not about Islam.

In fairness, someone did try to warn America to this sobering fact last fall in a Wall Street Journal editorial. The author, Amir Taheri, is a Muslim. He declared that "to claim that the attacks had nothing to do with Islam amounts to a whitewash." Some may think it ironic that a Muslim author is the one sounding the warning bell about his own faith. It isn't ironic in the least. Given the ground rules of politically correct discourse, only a minority may criticize a minority - only a Muslim may criticize Muslims.

Myth #2: Profiling is an evil to be avoided at all costs.

Profiling is an integral part of detective work and one component of the process is a person's race. When a cross is set ablaze on a black homeowner's lawn, you can guess that "white male" is placed atop the list of likely attributes of potential perpetrators. A white male is also most likely to be a serial murderer.

Truthfully, there is nothing in the genetic composition of a race that dictates social behavior. The real danger is that similar groups of people tend to share common cosmologies. If an ethnic group (pygmies for example) adopts an evil practice (cannibalism) in their world view, one may rightly call them backwards and savage - not because they are animists or short or black or from a different part of the globe, but because they have chosen to dine on human flesh. Terrorists are, overwhelmingly, Muslim males between the ages of 17 and 40 and from Middle Eastern ethnicities. If there doesn't exist a genetic predisposition to terrorism in the genes of peoples of the Tigres and Euphrates, then it must be their shared belief system - Islam.

If you are a young Islamic Arab male, you fit the profile for 19 of 19 terrorists of September 11th and you should be prepared to face additional security in airports.

Myth #3: Part of the FBI's failure on September 11th was lack of Arab or Muslim agents.

This laughable idea comes from the spin machine of the FBI's restructuring. Director Mueller has announced an Arab-American/Muslim affirmative action hiring policy as a part of the new proactive FBI. What Mueller or Attorney General Ashcroft have not done is explain exactly how having stuffy white-bread types at the Bureau led to the success of the attacks. If anything, there is evidence that just the opposite is the case.

FBI counter-terrorism special agent-turned-whistleblower Robert Wright has related an episode of some import. Wright asserts that while investigating possible Islamic terrorist activities, a Muslim special agent refused to wear an undercover wire, stating that "Muslims don't record other Muslims." Mueller and Ashcroft have not addressed this claim.

Uncooperative Islamic FBI agents aside, the FBI does not receive the lion's share of the blame for the incidents of September 11th. That honor goes to the Immigration and Naturalization Service. Because of INS's incompetence, the United States is overrun with illegal immigrants - some are past terrorists, some are potential terrorists.

Myth #4: We must ally the "moderate" Muslims.

The truth be told, we don't understand who's who in the world of Islam. President Bush trotted out Sheikh Muhammad Sayyid Tantawi as the imam of "peaceful Islam." However it wasn't long before Tantawi was advocating the suicide bombers in Israel.

Even Mullah Omar calls himself a "moderate" Muslim, in that his Taliban regime did nothing more nor less than is called for in the Koran. With causuistries like that, Omar should move to Washington. After all, the FBI is hiring.

C.T. Rossi comments on contemporary culture for the Free Congress Foundation.
Free Congress Foundation

[Stand Watch Listen]

Related Articles:

Trying To Find A `Moderate' Islam Is A Quixotic Quest
Source: CNSNews.com; Published: May 20, 2002;
Author: C.T. Rossi

The Islaming of Europe
Source: CNSNews.com; Published: May 20, 2002;
Author: Alan Caruba

Why Islam Can't Join the Modern World
Source: FrontPageMagazine.com; Published: May 16, 2002;
Author: Jamie Glazov

It's The Attitude, Stupid [re: Palestinians]
Source: Toogood Reports; Published: May 14, 2002;
Author: Philip Safran

Reports of Moderate Islam's Existence Have Been Greatly Exaggerated
Source: CNSNews.com; Published: April 22, 2002;
Author: C.T. Rossi

It's time to snap out of Arab fantasy land {Steyn}
Source: National Post; April 19 2002;
Author: Mark Steyn

Islam Vs. The World
Source: Toogood Reports; Published: December 2, 2001;
Author: Alan Caruba

Will the Real Islam Please Stand Up!
Source:Van Jenerette Editorial Comment, Various Publications;
Published: October 14, 2001; Author: Van Jenerette

Civilization Envy
Source: National Review Online; Published: September 28, 2001;
Author: Jonah Goldberg

Terror's Homebase, All Over The Map -- Jihad: The Trail of Political Islam
Source: Wall Street Journal-- Book Review; Published: | March 29, 2002;
Author: Adrian Karatnycky

They Live to Die (Islam Martyrdom)
Source: Wall Street Journal; Published: April 7, 2002;
Author: Reuel Marc Gerecht

20 Suppressed Facts About Israel, Islam
Source: Koenig's International News; Published: April 9, 2002;
Author: Jim Bramlett

HOROWITZ: A MIDDLE EAST HISTORY PRIMER
Source: News and Opinion.com; Published; April 10, 2002;
Author:David Horowitz

Arafat Must Go!
Source: CNSNews.com; Published: April 10, 2002;
Author: Alan Caruba

Netanyahu speaks before US Senators
Source: http://netanyahu.org/netspeacinse.html; Published: April 10, 2002;
Author: Netanyahu address US Senators

[rageaholic]

This country needs another Senator McCarthy.

[txhurl]

causuistries

Am I the only one zeroing out here on that word?

[2sheep]

Good article.  Thanks for posting it.  Here is another early warning:

Why America Has Already Lost the War by Moshe Feiglin

The politics of the middle way of compromise and tolerance will get the nation spewed out.  There really are polar opposites such as black/white, good/evil, high/low, truth/lies, murderers/victims.  Saying it isn't so and wanting peace and safety when there can be none won't work.  There is a time for love and a time for war.  Now is a time for being strong and resisting the onslaught of the Muslims who are sworn to kill all Jews, Christians and Americans. 

[DoctorMichael]

Bump!

[TrappedInLiberalHell]

"a liberal is a man too broadminded to take his own side in a quarrel,"

I like it. It lampoons the left's self-image of being open-minded, while showing the uselessness of having no discretion. My sister, bless her, once said there is no absolute good and evil, it's all how we view it. That's a noble, utopian, dangerous idea. I asked her if she'd concede that Hitler was evil. "Only as we see it." she said, or something to that effect. You can imagine I avoid talking politics with her.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Must have a bigger dictionary than I do.

[ppaul]

This one's a keeper.
BOOKMARKED
BUMP

[wita]

bump

[txhurl]

Must mean ~convictions~ or something.

[Palmetto]

The myths need to be dispelled and the elephant in America's living room needs to be addressed for the sake of that rarest of post-modern commodities - the truth.

Brilliant. Simply brilliant.

[exmarine]

This is all true and really goes to the heart of America's weaknesses. We have an exposed underbelly. I have the surefire solution to win the war on terror. Here it is:

Warn the terrorist nations that should the U.S. be attacked again, Mecca, Medina will be destroyed. Islam is a religion that is tied to places - take away these places and Islam is destroyed. What kind of God is Allah if he can't protect the holy places? A WEAK OR NONEXISTENT ONE!

This is the only thing that will get their attention. The risk of losing Islam is the only thing these people fear. We should issue this ultimatum immediately and stick to it! It is for our own self-defense! If we don't do it, we will not win this war. Kindler gentler wars are for idiots and cowards.

[Stand Watch Listen]

Main Entry: ca·su·ist·ry

Pronunciation: 'kazh-w&-strE, 'ka-zh&-
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural -ries
Date: 1725
1 : a resolving of specific cases of conscience, duty, or conduct through interpretation of ethical principles or religious doctrine
2 : specious argument : RATIONALIZATION

[Quila]

Myth #1: Terrorism is not about Islam.

Well, not all. I believe all those bombs and murders in England and Ireland were the work of Protestants and Catholics. And don't forget our home-grown Christian terrorists.

Myth #2: Profiling is an evil to be avoided at all costs.

We just have to tiptoe that fine line between due diligence and extra inspection based on a consistent (this is where the drug war lost it) set of known profiles, and treating an innocent citizen as if he were a criminal just because of ethnicity.

Myth #3: Part of the FBI's failure on September 11th was lack of Arab or Muslim agents.

Wrong target. I'd say it was a lack of Muslim CIA operatives. The cells were already formed to be set up in the U.S., so I doubt having more Muslim domestic agents would have done us much good. We needed to nail those suckers at the source.

Myth #4: We must ally the "moderate" Muslims.

Yes, we must. This is a basic fact. There's no way we can go to war with 1,000,000,000 Muslims and expect to win. We have to get the vast majority to live peacefully with us and help put pressure on those who won't.

[2sheep]

causuistries

The author probably meant:  casuistries

Ca-su-ist-ry
Pronunciation: 'kazh-w&-strE,
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural -ries
Date: 1725
1:  a resolving of specific cases of conscience, duty, or conduct through interpretation of ethical principles or religious doctrine
2: specious argument : RATIONALIZATION

SOURCE:  Merriam-Webster OnLine

---

casuistry (kàzh´¡-î-strê) noun
plural casuiistries
1. Specious or excessively subtle reasoning intended to rationalize or mislead.
2. The determination of right and wrong in questions of conduct or conscience by the application of general principles of ethics.
[From CASUIST.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Third Edition copyright © 1992 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Electronic version licensed from InfoSoft International, Inc. All rights reserved.

[Palmetto]

causuistry - holding simultaneously two views which mutually exclude one another. Moreover, seeing this action as perfectly normal.

Or so as I recall.

[Inkie]

Boy, that Moshe Feiglin article was MUY DEPRESSING.

[HIDEK6]

causuistries

I think it means BS.

[Palmetto]

Further research shows the sheep's definition correct.

[Travis McGee]

Radical Islam is an insane death cult, "moderate" Islam is its Trojan Horse in the West.