http://www.gunsmagazine.com/Odd0607.html
Here I Stand
The religion of "piece."
To say "Islam is a religion of tolerance and peace" is to refute the
evidence of history and deny the reality of the present. It might be more
accurate to say, "Although Islam is a religion of intolerance and violence,
many of its adherents would prefer to practice tolerance and live in peace"
- but even that statement has to be carefully qualified.
In response to my February '07 column, "My Camel Is Dying," dozens of you
wrote with your own concerns about "the elephant in the living room;" an
immense presence world leaders and "polite society" either do not recognize,
or will not admit as a grim reality: the murderous global Islamic jihad. You
had many questions, and you asked about my own experiences. This is a column
- a small one - not a volume, so the most I can give you are some "bullets"
and CAT-Scan slices, woefully brief.
The politicians and "talking heads" on TV keep repeating ad nauseam "Islam
is a religion of peace and tolerance;" that "We are not at war with Islam;"
that "The majority of Muslims want only to live in peace with people of
other faiths," and they completely avoid the issue of a "global jihad."
These "leaders" reflexively and constantly apologize to the Islamic world
for real or imagined insults, slights, or perceived disrespect.
There are approximately 50 wars and conflicts of varying sizes, intensities
and casualty counts currently being fought which share these common factors:
First, Muslims are the aggressors; second, their aims are to create Islamic
theocracies in which the government is the mosque, and sharia law replaces
statutory law. Third, they do not distinguish between "combatants" and
innocent civilians when dealing out death - only between "infidels" and
Muslims - and fourth, their justification for slaughter is they are
"commanded by Allah" to carry it out.
Ask yourself these questions: Of the last 1,000 suicide-bombers who have
zealously murdered tens of thousands of innocents worldwide, what percentage
were Muslim jihadists? Ninety-nine point-seven? One hundred percent? How
many nations have not experienced terrorist acts by Muslims? Luxembourg, San
Marino and who else? And where is there a single influential Islamic cleric
who dares to condemn jihad? Where?
Peaceful, Silent Majority?
In fact, where are there any significant numbers of "mainstream Muslims" who
will stand and declare their personal belief in religious freedom and peace?
We are asked to blindly accept they exist as some kind of "silent majority."
If they are a majority, they are invisible. If they are silent, they are
irrelevant, just as the "good Germans" were irrelevant in the Third Reich,
and "pacifist Rwandans" have been irrelevant in that country's genocidal
spasms.
In the hours following 9-11, Muslims gleefully celebrated that bloody
attack, with crowds rejoicing in the streets of virtually every Muslim
population center on earth. Scattered video clips of this were initially
shown on US and Western television - and then stopped. Powerful people
didn't want us to see it, simple as that. We might have been enraged, or, we
might have been informed, which is potentially even more upsetting to
certain powers, because it makes people less controllable.
There are undoubtedly tolerant Muslims who desire only peace. I've known
them. However, in both Islamic theocracies and in democratic societies, they
stay quiet and keep a low profile for their own protection - not from us,
but from their Muslim brethren.
A Little History
"We are not at war with Islam?" I think that's true; we as a nation are not.
However, Islam has been at war - jihad; "holy war" - with the entire
non-Islamic world for more than a 1,000 years. Historically, those who
refuse to recognize they are being warred against are called "victims" - and
"losers." In Islamic literature it is said of such enemies that "Cawing
crows see no arrows pointed at them." Guess who the crows are - and who's
pointing those arrows?
Centuries of Islamic jihad are well documented, including America's
continuing clashes with Muslim terrorists, dating back to 1783, the same
year our own Revolutionary War ended. Marines did not land on "the shores of
Tripoli" to rescue hostages from Presbyterians. Lutherans were not seizing
American ships and slaughtering the crews, selling them into slavery, or
holding them for ransom - which, by the way, we paid. I suggest you read the
books while you can.
My own history? Here's a slice: For a time, I had the honor of teaching
non-Arab Muslims how to fight an industrialized invader. They were fine,
brave people, and they were grateful. Their country had been conquered by
Islam centuries before and, they explained, their original and continuing
choice was "Islam or death."
Mad Mullahs
Everywhere we went, two mullahs tagged along. They neither worked nor
fought, but they were the first to tear at the bread, and to tear into loot.
Their moods seemed to range from sullen, seething hatred to screaming
frenzies, berating the men for offenses like laughing, or "suspicion of
impious thoughts." It seemed to me if these guys were in Los Angeles, you'd
find 'em ranting on street corners, rattling their shopping carts and
cursing light posts. I thought they were psychotic.
"We are famous for our mad mullahs," the men told me. "They are our
punishment for not being 'people of the Book'" - more history you should
read. They did not have the status of Arab or even Persian Muslims. They
were suspected and watched - closely. Privately, most still followed the
tolerant animist beliefs of their forefathers; just "going through the
motions" for the mullahs. The alternatives were being stoned or slowly
beheaded with a knife. All it would take was a word and a nod from one of
the mad mullahs.
Over two decades on three continents, I was occasionally "engaged" with Arab
Muslims, non-Arab Muslims, and Arab non-Muslims, dealing with them as
allies, enemies, and "parties with (some) shared interests." I'm neither a
theological scholar nor an international statesman - just a guy with a
room-temperature IQ who's been around the block.
Am I prejudiced? No. Prejudice is pre-judgment, without knowledge,
experience or the application of reason. I have no prejudice against lions,
lambs, llamas or rattlesnakes - but I know them and their natures, and I
would be a fool to pretend lions don't eat meat, or vipers are non-venomous.
I'll leave that to the cawing crows - and be wary of pointed arrows.
You asked, and I answered. Here I stand.
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