Archive for Islamic Extremism

The Irrationality of Moderation

Posted by: Jason | July 26th, 2008 · 4:19 AM

If politics is indeed the art of compromise, than we wouldn’t admire names such as Lincoln, Roosevelt, and Reagan. Comparing the latter two of these American presidents, whose names will forever dominate our historical view of twentieth century politics, we would certainly find discrepancies in philosophy, leadership style, and in the challenges they each faced during their presidencies.

But of course, we would also find many commonalities between these men. As much as Roosevelt’s New Deal was considered radical, as was Reagan’s insistence on boldly calling the Soviet Union an evil empire, or the suspension of habeas corpus under the Lincoln administration controversial, these men shared in their ability to refuse compromise of their core principals.

As children, we’re taught to excel in all areas of life, whether it be sports or academics. At the workplace, we value the well being of our associates, but know that our own accomplishments are paramount to the survival of our families. In our own personal lives, to compromise in our faithfulness to our wives or time spent with our children is shunned upon.

Concerning the smaller things in life, like deciding which restaurant to eat at or which movie to see, compromise is certainly appropriate. But who would argue the virtue in tolerating things like one of our children failing in school, a verbally abusive manager at work, or relating to politics, a law that we consider devoid of justice or morality.

Political moderation is arguably the most harmful of these examples, because as politics defines the government that controls us, the lives of entire nations are affected. In recent American politics, there is no greater example of this than in our current government. And if there is one lesson to be learned from the Bush Administration, it is that moderation produces failure.

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Unity!

Posted by: Jason | September 7th, 2007 · 10:24 AM

(image: townhall)

Why would a conservative senator from Tennessee, whose politics outline a vision of V-Tech students defending themselves with guns, where Roe vs Wade is bad science and bad medicine, and where entitlement programs need to be overhauled, talk about a word like “unity”?

Lee and I were discussing this yesterday. He was admittedly less enthusiastic about the word, one of the three main staples of the newly formed Thompson message, citing a link to some Barack Obama cheeseball idea. And true, unity is a bit cheesy and Oprah… but let me explain here.

During Fred’s web announcement speech he talked about an appropriate subject, the War On Terror. Within it, he sited the one reason America could fail in her challenge to fight radical Islam… Unity. Why is America perceived as failing in Iraq? Unity.

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Amidst the Shadows

Posted by: Ion | June 27th, 2007 · 5:10 PM

For a Jamaat ul-Fuqra update, Baron at Gates of Vienna has an interesting letter from a friend. Domestically known as the “Muslims of America” (MoA) the headquarters of this Pakistani terror group’s subsidiary, is in a rural compound just outside the tiny hamlet of Deposit, New York. That’s just a wee bit west of the familiar Catskill Park.

The MoA organization is perhaps best described as a militant black Muslim, separatist sect. But much about the group is mysterious and unknown.

In Deposit, range gunfire is frequently heard coming from the secluded facility. Baron’s friend includes this snappy exchange he had with a local clerk about it:

Me: Hi. Have you seen those Muslims from Hancock lately?
Cashier: (Grim faced) Is that what we’re calling them?
Me: Yeah that’s what we’ll call them.
Cashier: They don’t come in as much since the price of grain went up.
Me: Guns going off all hours of the day and night. You know they live in squalor over there?
Cashier: (Snort) That’s their choice isn’t it?
Me: Two by fours propping up the ceilings of the trailers, open sewage.
Cashier: (Phut) Like I care.
Me: They want us dead.
Cashier: Yes, they do.
(Gates of Vienna)

Dialog that good, would make for a tense premonitory moment in a novel. However, it’s reality in a small town in New York. Baron’s friend’s reflection on the event is equally well stated:

Our live-and-let-live attitude lines up perfectly with their we’ll-live-and-they’ll-die plan.
(Gates of Vienna)

A true and ominous insight…but ultimately, a ridiculous ambition any for half-assed, a impoverished guerrilla army. I don’t know how well I’d survive dropped in the midst of a squalid, hyper-concentrated urban prison of fanatics like Sadr City or Tehran. But in the old mountains, in Appalachia, we rule the land.

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The Terrorist Concession

Posted by: Ion | · 12:25 PM

Indonesia’s extremist cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, says he’s rubber and we’re glue:

“There are no terrorists in Indonesia. What there are, are counter-terrorists,” Bashir said.”The aims and sacrifices of the bombers, in their efforts to defend Islam and Muslims in making war against the real terrorist - that is, the United States of America and its allies - need to be taken as a model,” Bashir said.
(News, Limited via Thoughts of an American Infidel)

No doubt you’ve noticed that this has become a popular inversion among Islamists.

To me, it’s highly reminiscent of how segregationists would oddly accuse the civil rights movement of being the “real” racists in the 1960s. That is, where the supposedly noble motives of the segregationists were concerned with the development and protective care of an allegedly benighted black race, civil rights advocates wanted to cast them to their fate in a cruel world that hated them. Also, it’s similar to when the fascists argued the case for their greater “compassion,” through euthanasic “mercy killing” of the weak and sickly. Or indeed, the abortionist who argues that by killing the infant, he’s relieving it of the suffering that would follow being born into a violent and broken home.

But contained in those attempts to manipulate language in order reverse moral polarities in a debate, is the tacit acknowledgment that there is something ultimately wrong with being a racist, being uncompassionate toward the sick, using violence against children, or in this case, being a terrorist.

Such concessions are always demonstrative of the last gasps of a morally bankrupt ideology. They appear in the last intellectual throes, when the ideologue is desperately trying to justify his beliefs in a world where even he has finally begun to recognize his actions are hideous crimes. Crimes which in order to morally justify, he must exchange his position with his opponent.

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Romney on Confrontation in the Middle East

Posted by: Ion | June 18th, 2007 · 9:33 PM

You know, Amigo Mitt actually articulates the challenge of the Salafi advent better than Rudy. Here he is on the subject at a townhall styled appearance in Waterloo, Iowa:

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McCain: Can’t Get it Right

Posted by: Jason | May 16th, 2007 · 8:34 AM

(image: npr)

Mr. McCain… The country has just suffered multiple terrorist attacks, more are said to be on the way, and we’ve caught three suspects trying to escape the country who we believe may be behind them. What do you do? “Well… I’ll tell you what you don’t do, torture them”.

Tom Tancredo said it best last night, and it speaks volumes to why John McCain may be a war hero, but just doesn’t get the world. Western civilization, as Tancredo put it, rests in the hands of the United States. If this nation falls, so do all the rest, because we won’t be here to protect them anymore. And during a crisis such as the hypothetical question laid out by Brit Hume yesterday evening in Fox’s Republican debate, you don’t think about the dangers of water boarding, and how its use might affect world opinion in a time of crisis.

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Checkmate: Hezbollah Positioned in South America

Posted by: Jason | May 9th, 2007 · 10:48 AM

(image: uta)

What do you get when you take Islamic radicalism, an organization sworn to the West’s destruction, a nearby base in South America, a lack of will in America to fight, and a southern border without walls or troops? Answer: Checkmate.

According to militia members, U.S. officials, and police agencies across the South American continent, the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia has taken root in South America, boasting a well-financed force of Islamic radicals ready to prove their hatred for the west.

From the divided borders of Paraguay, Brazil, and Argentina, known as the Tri-border, Hezbollah is recruiting Muslims who immigrated during the 1948 and 1985 Lebanese civil wars with Israel. The operation funnels large sums of money to militia leaders in the Middle East, financing training camps, propaganda operations, and bomb attacks, according to U.S. and South American officials.

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Radical Islam In My Hometown

Posted by: Jason | May 8th, 2007 · 10:28 AM

(image: brave soldiers who were a target at fort dix today)

Being a resident of the state of New Jersey, I suppose I’m the most qualified to talk about this story today, at least from the standpoint of our website. I’d like to address the facts, and then give my opinions on the realities of the situation.

Close to my place of residence is a town called Cherry Hill, NJ. It’s a quiet, family-oriented place, the furthest destination in America where you would expect to foil a terrorist plot.

It is there where six men of Yugoslavian descent where arrested this morning. Their crime? They were caught in the planning stages of a plot to illegally purchase AK-47 assault rifles (so much for gun control), in hopes of storming nearby Fort Dix to “kill as many soldiers as possible”, federal authorities said Tuesday.

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