When V-1 buzzbomb attacks struck London during WWII, imagine if Winston Churchill omitted referring to the attackers as being Germans, for fear of offending Germans who weren’t Nazis. Imagine that when referring to the horrible Ku Klux Klan lynchings of black men, people left out that the KKK were white supremacists who claimed Christian beliefs. Imagine referring to abortion clinic bombers and neglecting to mention that the bombers carried out their deed in the name of Christianity. Imagine referring to the Jim Jones’ suicidal death cult and neglecting to mention that he was a Christian minister.
Why, then, are so many people, including world leaders and governments, so hesitant to mention Islam when referring to the endless numbers of terrorist attacks all over the world? Why are they whitewashing the truth? Very simply, it is fear and political correctness. There is no other answer that holds water.
After the recent failed terrorist attacks in London and Glasgow, the new British Prime Minister Gordon Brown advised to not include the words “Muslim” and ”terrorism” together. The European Commission advised to avoid the words ”jihad”, “Islamic” or “fundamentalist” when referring to terrorist attacks. Even prior to this attack, the U.N. Human Rights body expressed concern at “negative stereotyping” of religions and “attempts to identify Islam with terrorism.”
Suicide is a person taking their own life. Homicide is a person taking the life of another. Islamicide is a person killing themselves and/or others in the name of fundamentalist Islam. To neglect to even mention Islam when referring to terrorist attacks carried out in the name of Islam is beyond idiotic. It is pure cowardice and pandering.
In no way am I saying or implying that all Muslims are terrorists. Far from it. The majority of Muslims are good, decent, faithful, peaceful people. However, Islam is at the heart of the matter in the global “War on Terror.” The individuals and groups that carry out these horrific attacks against civilian populations practice an extreme version of Islam. They carry out their sick and twisted deeds while screaming “Allahu Ackbar” (God is great). The imams, clerics, and religious leaders that use firebrand rhetoric amongst their congregations to gin up support for attacks against the West are extremist Muslims. Even the terrorists themselves often leave “martyrdom” videos where they clearly state they are carrying out their deeds in the name of Islam. That’s simple fact.
I’m not saying that Islam itself is the problem. I am, however, saying that radical extremist Islamic fundamentalism is.
Islam is a religion. Islamists are individuals who practice an extreme hardcore version of Islam. As previously mentioned, Islamicide is the act of Islamists carrying out terrorist attacks in support of their fundamentalist version of Islam. To neglect to mention these very basic things completely ignores the driving force behind the terrorists themselves. It is whitewashing and ignoring the root causes. It is fear and pandering and nothing more.
Many people have claimed, including our own President, that poverty and lack of education are what leads to terrorist attacks. That belief is wrong, as proven when the college-educated student pilots flew planes into the WTC and Pentagon on 9/11, and when the recent attacks in London and Glasgow were carried out by doctors, educated individuals from decent families. The mainstream recently referred to the recent attackers simply as a “diverse group” with “few common threads” in their backgrounds, as if there’s some big mystery as to why they did it and what unexplained connection links them all together.
Diana West recently wrote a very good piece in the Washington Times encouraging people to stop pandering, stop whitewashing, and just “call it like it is.” I couldn’t agree more. How in the world can Western civilization ever defeat an enemy that they refuse to properly identify? It is not a “War on Terror.” Terror is a tactic, not a target. It is a global war with radical Islamic fundamentalists. It is a war against an extremist form of religion, against a belief, against an ideology. The attackers believe they are fighting a jihad, or armed struggle, against any and all infidels. The West needs to wake up and realize that and quit playing the political correctness game.
As long as an extremist form of Islamic fundamentalism is being preached and taught in mosques and madrassas (Islamic schools) all over the world, no amount of political correctness, no amount of pandering, and no amount whitewashing will ever defeat them. If Western civilization is truly too afraid to even identify the enemy and their ideology, there is simply no way we will win.
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