Barack Obama’s relationship with Islam is definitely strange, at least as relative to that of most Americans. The United States may not be a Christian nation, but it is has always been a nation of Christians in that the overwhelming majority of the country has always been Christian, and remains so today. Given that 0.6% of the United States’ population is Muslim, most American’s familiarity with and knowledge of Islam comes from reading and what they see on TV. Neither can give someone the same familiarity with Islam as would be felt had the grown up with the faith as part of their family and their neighborhood. As shallow as is most of America’s familiarity with Islam today, before 9-11 it was even more so.
But of course September 11 did happen. Watching the scenes of revelers in the West Bank and other places cheering the attacks and thinking back on the first WTC attacks, the USS Cole, the embassy bombings in Dar es Salaam and Nairobi… Americans could have easily come to the conclusion that Islam was at war with the United States. But they didn’t. In fact, after September 11 President Bush was quite clear that that was not the case. And the predicted wave of attacks against Muslims across the country never materialized.
In fact, although there were some isolated attacks, just the opposite occurred. Prayer events where Imams were invited to speak took place across the country. Muslims were interviewed on TV and radio programs seeking to understand the religion and the motivations behind the attacks. In 1942 the hero of the left locked up 120,000 Japanese Americans in internment camps while in 2001 the bête noire of the left encouraged Americans to embrace Muslims.
Then in 2008 something remarkable happened. Americans elected to the presidency someone who, although ostensibly Christian, was the son of a Muslim, who grew up in a Muslim country, who attended a mosque (irregularly) and who was educated in a Madrasa. That, in a country where only 50 years before serious questions existed as to whether or not a Catholic could be elected.
All of this is to simply say, America knows that it’s not at war with Islam.
That being said however, apparently Islam is at war with much of the world… and in some places, with itself. Of the 31 active wars going on in the world today (those with at least 100 causalities per year) fully 20 of them involve Muslims on one side or the other… or both. That’s 65% of the conflicts while Muslims make up 20% of the world’s population. At the same time, 29 of the FBI's 30 most wanted terrorists are... Muslims.
Which brings us back to Barack Obama and his unwillingness to call the Islamist terrorists Islamist terrorists. While most Americans understand that not all Muslims are terrorists, they recognize the demonstrable fact that Islamic terror is a real thing, a real threat, and are simply puzzled by Obama's obfuscation on acknowledging the obvious. But he has given Americans much to be puzzled about when it comes to his perspective on Islam.
In 2007 candidate Obama, after reciting the Arabic call to prayer (apparently with a perfect accent) he told a reporter for the NY Times that that sound was “one of the prettiest sounds on Earth at sunset.”
In 2009 after Major Nidal Malik Hasan killed 13 soldiers and injured more than 30 at Ft. Hood, Texas, while yelling Allahu Akbar – a thread that seems to run through such attacks – Barack Obama told the country this was simply “workplace violence”.
In 2010 Charles Bolden, Barack Obama’s head of NASA told Al Jazeera that one of the president’s three mandates for NASA was: “to find a way to reach out to the Muslim world and engage much more with dominantly Muslim nations to help them feel good about their historic contribution to science, math, and engineering.”
What was the answer to then Radical Islam? Medievel Christianity and it was absolutely necessary.
I make no distinction about Muslims. Peacable, indifferent, co-conspirators and vile actors.
Islam is a disease and it won’t be long before the world becomes the cure.
For the so called peacable Muslims, this is their problem to clean up if they truly want to be inclusive, accepting/accepted and live in peace amongst the whole human species, occupying the same planet.
They can work toward to solving the perception and reality problems and my guys don’t have to get killed trying to attrit them and remove any global religious ambitions they have.
Hindus have about 1.5 billion adherents and they don’t mess with us or anyone else.
“Nothing” from the 500 million Buddhists either.
But, Islam has been at war with the rest of humanity for 1,400 years and I am intolerant?
How so, jerk offs?
The Crusades? Christianities answer to Islam taking over the Holy Lands, Portugal and Spain.
Battle of Tours? Held Islam in check for its geographic expansion.
Queen Isabella finally, after three requests gave Christopher Columbus the money and ships to find an alternative route around The Silk Road, which was controlled by the Muslims.
In 1491 the Muslim hordes were finally removed from Europe and as a coming out party, looking for new wealth and worlds to expand the empire and trade, Chris went in search of that Alternative.
Thank God, he made a mistake and discovered America instead.
For the next 300 years, any expeditions for trade were held for ransom and the men carrying treasures, in search of revenues for their respective countries held as hostages.
Any country who sent ships into Muslim waters was taken and demand was made by the Barbary Pirates and Imams for “restitution”.
WTF were they willing to trade of value for anything we had of value? Nothing.
But, if you wanted to get your stuff across sea and then transported over land, you were going to pay heavily and the whole thing really was a lose/lose.
Now, on the day of inauguration for Thomas Jefferson he received a letter of demand for $1 million per year. Our men, treasures and ships would be given right of passage if the demand was met.
This demand was being given to every nation at that time.
Well, we had just smoked the worlds most powerful armed force and Jefferson was in no mood to be pushed around.
He sent a letter back saying we were coming and while the letter was in transport he directed the ships Enterprise and Constitution be built.
He sent those two ships to Tripoli, along with an Armada.
Without firing a shot Tripoli saw the wisdom of not engaging our ships and relented.
American then doesn’t hear a peep from Muslims until the Robert Kennedy assassination.
Around the time of Jimmy Carter Muslims are again on the rise, very much agitated and on the move around the world.
They overthrow the Shah of Iran and take our American Brothers and Sisters hostage.
Reagan comes into office and Iran must’ve got the message, as they released them freely.
For the last 35 years all we’ve heard is their belligerent Bull Shiite.
Over the last 15 I have heard over and over how they are “hurt” that we, the infidels, are in their lands.
Well, D***kheads. We made those lands, helped you explore, tried to set you up with modernity and you have been resisting the whole time.
Even now, I have idiot fellow Americans who think we should try to reason with them and understand them.
I don’t have any capacity to understand killers and will not waste time trying to break bread with them, while they are looking for the opportunity to break open my head.
Burning a man alive? In the name of your Gawd? Uhm, FK allah.
I make no apologies for my views. They are based on observable facts and an extraordinarily long period of religious intolerance, belligerence and outright desire to dominate the rest of us.
Watching in real time the events of the last 15 years ought to inform your conscience and reason should be the basis of your action.
Not some feigned emotion hoping the world will be any different than it currently is.
Those millions in Africa hacked to death for the glory of Allah? That’s a good thing right? Because a bunch of dead Christians is better than peace, the right of the individual to live, pursue happiness and improve the lot of their family.
Boko Haram is more important than 300 little girls? Well, you make sense more and more.
Al Qaeda’s observed acts, stated goals and roach like existence of glorifying death and a heaven that debases women, objectifies them and turns the idea of hope of eternal life into some macabre whorehouse. That idea is worth my respect? The hell it is.
And the latest franchise of ISIL/ISIS? Hacking the heads off reporters and the latest some Japanese guys. In addition to murdering women and children because they didn’t conform to their interpretation of Islam?
Oh yeah. I feel you man. They are beautiful people.
Christians in Iraq? Well, not anymore. The oldest churches, some nearly 2,000 years old have been destroyed.
Christians and their artifacts are now fairy tales in the so called “Cradle of Civilization”.
