Shoeless George Bush--Washington's continuing confusion with Islam

FrontPageMagazine.com ^ | July 4, 2007 | Daniel Pipes

[SJackson]

When Dwight D. Eisenhower dedicated the Islamic Center in Washington, D.C., in June 1957, his 500-word talk effused good will ("Civilization owes to the Islamic world some of its most important tools and achievements") even as the American president embarrassingly bumbled (Muslims in the United States, he declared, have the right to their "own church"). Conspicuously, he included nary a word about policy.

Exactly 50 years later, standing shoeless, George W. Bush rededicated the center last week. His 1,600-word speech also praised medieval Islamic culture ("We come to express our appreciation for a faith that has enriched civilization for centuries"), but he knew a mosque from a church – and he had more on the agenda than flattery.

Most arresting, surely, was his statement that "I have invested the heart of my presidency in helping Muslims fight terrorism, and claim their liberty, and find their own unique paths to prosperity and peace." This cri du coeur signaled how Mr. Bush understands to what extent actions by Muslims will define his legacy.

Should they heed his dream "and find their own unique paths to prosperity and peace," then his presidency, however ravaged it may look at the moment, will be vindicated. As with Harry S Truman, historians will acknowledge that he saw further than his contemporaries. Should Muslims, however, be "left behind in the global movement toward prosperity and freedom," historians will likely judge his two terms as harshly as his fellow Americans do today.

Of course, how Muslims fare depends in large part on the future course of radical Islam, which in turn depends in some part on its understanding by the American president. Over the years, Mr. Bush has generally shown an increased understanding of this topic. He started with platitudinous, apologetic references to Islam as the "religion of peace," using this phrase as late as 2006. He early on even lectured Muslims on the true nature of their religion, a presumptuous ambition that prompted me in 2001 to dub him "Imam Bush."

As his understanding grew, Mr. Bush spoke of the caliphate, "Islamic extremism" and "Islamofacism." What euphemistically he called the "war on terror" in 2001, by 2006 he referred to with the hard-hitting "war with Islamic fascists." Things were looking up. Perhaps official Washington did understand the threat, after all.

But such analyses roused Muslim opposition and, as he approaches his political twilight, Mr. Bush has retreated to safer ground, reverting last week to decayed tropes that tiptoe around any mention of Islam. Instead, he spoke inelegantly of "the great struggle against extremism that is now playing out across the broader Middle East" and vaguely of "a group of extremists who seek to use religion as a path to power and a means of domination."

Worse, the speech drum-rolled the appointment of a U.S. special envoy to the Organization of the Islamic Conference, directing this envoy to "listen to and learn from" his Muslim counterparts. But the OIC is a Saudi-sponsored organization promoting the Wahhabi agenda under the trappings of a Muslim-only United Nations. As counterterrorism specialist Steven Emerson has noted, Bush's dismal initiative stands in "complete ignorance of the rampant radicalism, pro-terrorist, and anti-American sentiments routinely found in statements by the OIC and its leaders."

Adding to the event's accommodationist tone, some of the president's top female aides, including Frances Townsend and Karen Hughes, wore makeshift hijabs as they listened to him in the audience.

Sitting in the front row at the Islamic Center on June 27, 2007, senior Bush administration staffers Frances Townsend (left) and Karen Hughes wore makeshift hijabs.

In brief, it feels like "déjà vu all over again." As columnist Diana West puts it, "Nearly six years after September 11 — nearly six years after first visiting the Islamic Center and proclaiming ‘Islam is peace' — Mr. Bush has learned nothing." But we now harbor fewer hopes than in 2001 that he still can learn, absorb, and reflect an understanding of the enemy's Islamist nature.

Concluding that he basically has failed to engage this central issue, we instead must look to Mr. Bush's potential successors and look for them to return to his occasional robustness, again taking up those difficult concepts of Islamic extremism, Shari'a, and the caliphate. Several Republicans – Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney, and (above all) Fred Thompson – are doing just that. Democratic candidates, unfortunately, prefer to remain almost completely silent on this topic.

Almost 30 years after Islamists first attacked Americans, and on the eve of three major attempted terrorist attacks in Great Britain, the president's speech reveals how confused Washington remains.

[wolfinator]

There was a time when Christians believed their God wanted them to kill and conquer. But that was nevertheless the same God Christians worship today.

[omega4179]

Clueless George.Aside from Arabic Guitar Scales I can’t think of any contributions from those scumbags.

[omega4179]

Are you referring to the conquistadors or the crusades?

[rageaholic]

There was a time when Christians believed their God wanted them to kill and conquer. But that was nevertheless the same God Christians worship today.

No such instructions exist in the Bible. The Koran on the other hand, trashes Christianity and Judaism and contains express instructions to exclude, kill and enslave them.

Sounds like the same god to you? Anyone who thinks muslims worship the same god as Jews and Christians have either never read the koran, is a dumb sucker, or is practicing false tolerance.

[Savage Beast]

Mexicans demand U.S. citizenship. Can U.S. citizens become Mexican citizens??? Nooooo.

Mexicans regularly hold dual U.S./Mexican citizenship--and vote in both U.S. and Mexican elections. Can U.S. citizens do that??? Nooooo.

Mexicans own property in the U.S. Can U.S. citizens own property in Mexico???? Nooooo.

George Bush and the Leftists who agree with him want "justice" for foreigners for not for U.S. citizens. That's not justice.

For even advocating such things a President of the United States should be impeached!

And this does not even mention the fact that Bush has REFUSED and CONTINUES TO REFUSE to uphold and enforce U.S. immigration laws--despite his oath to do so!

[wolfinator]

The Bible also contains some imperatives and admonisions that many, if not most, followers ignore. Most Muslims, I believe, reject those small portions of the Koran that advocate killing followers of other religions.

And, my main point remains, we all worship the same God.

I know there is a group here on FR that believe all or most Muslims are evil and that the practice of Islam itself is evil. I reject that view entirely.

[rageaholic]

those small portions of the Koran that advocate killing followers of other religions.

Just as you tried to claim earlier in this thread that Bush never said "islam is peace" once again, its clear you are misinformed.

If you actually read the koran, and I'm convinced you haven't, it would be clear to you that advocating jihad and the conquering of all other religions are not "small portions" but central to islam. These instructions from allah cannot be "rejected" by muslims, to do so would be apostasy.

Ask any practicing muslim you know if they will "reject" the violence and calls to jihad in the koran. They will either flatly refuse, or attempt to evade the question.

[John Frum]

The dangerous segment of islam is all of it; islam is an enemy ideology. If September 11th didn’t teach you this simple fact then you are truly ignorant. How many more innocent people need to die to prove this so???

You’re entitled to your wrong opinion (which was proven wrong by rageaholic). And I’m entitled to my opinion that since you are incorrect; whatever comments you make furthermore, aren’t worth consideration, PERIOD. In MY opinion.

[wolfinator]

If I personally know Muslims who are decent patriotic Americans, then it would be impossible for anyone to prove that all Muslims are evil. And your thesis would be wrong. But, by the way, what exactly is your thesis?

[rageaholic]

The dangerous segment of islam is all of it; islam is an enemy ideology.

Exactly right. Funny, liberal fools like Wolvinator cry how wrong it is to judge a religion by a few fringe elements, but that's exactly what he does when he says islam must be good because he's acquainted with a few non jihadis. Islam is not a handful of people who Wolvinator selects, it is the sum of its parts, and the sum is poison.

How could islam be anything else when their contract with their god is expressly opposed to the basic freedoms that we guarantee in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights: freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom from bondage, etc, etc?

Wolvinator's pathetic platitutes are like saying Nazism must be good, because there were a few good Germans, except that would be more true, because at least the Nazis produced useful technlogical achievements. Islam produced nothing, it only feeds off the corpses of the civilizations it destroys.

Know them by their fruits, not by the politically correct whinings of people like Wolfinator who make up facts to suit themselves, e.g. Bush never said "Islam is Peace." LOL He is either so ignorant of events or brazen in his lies, that one can't take anything he says at face value. Not even worth reading his BS

[John Frum]

Yeah, right, Muslims are decent Americans *SARCASM*. I cannot name one muslim who fits such a profile.

You say that you "personally know Muslims who are decent patriotic Americans" and yet thousands of 'supposedly' decent muslims cheered the attacks that happened on Sept 11th. These were muslims in the USA and also overseas. You can do a variety of searches on the internet and else where and see these disgraceful images, including ones where they burn the American Flag.

These so called decent muslims are part of the silent majority who don't bother to speak up against militant/extremist islam. Daniel Pipes has it right, if you bother to read and understand what he's saying, all the warning signs are right there. And thus I condemn the silent majority as being complicit and share as much guilt as those in the militant/extremist factions.

[stainlessbanner]

bttt

[anglian]

"If I personally know Muslims who are decent patriotic Americans."

That some people who claim to be Muslims still function in the modern world is a tribute only to their ability to ignore much of Islam. There may be moderate muslims. But there is no moderate islam.

Thomas Jefferson: "Too long, for the honor of nations, have those Barbarians been [permitted] to trample on the sacred faith of treaties, on the rights and laws of human nature!"

And what about this version of the Quran that Thomas Jefferson possessed? and that Ellison used in his swearing-in photo opportunity? Its author, George Sales, translated the Quran in 1734 so that his Protestant readership, in learning more about its contents, could "attack the Koran with success" and Sales maintained that it would be Protestants to whom, within Christianity, would fall the task of checking Islam: "for them [the Protestants]...Providence has reserved the glory of its overthrow!"

“Islam isn't in America to be equal to any other faith but to become dominant. The Koran, the Muslim book of scripture, should be the highest authority in America, and Islam the only accepted religion on Earth.” -- Omar M. Ahmad, Chairman of the Board, Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), Islamic Conference in Freemont, California.

More

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9oX5Q2ftmA&eurl=

[anglian]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9oX5Q2ftmA&eurl=

[rageaholic]

I condemn the silent majority as being complicit and share as much guilt as those in the militant/extremist factions.

Agreed. The majority muslims are like lazy, dirty welfare neighbors-- they don't keep clean, so we get their cockroaches. They are totally to blame.

PC propaganda is a virus, some unfortunates like wolvinator contract it and never recover, while other people such as you and I are immune to it. America is fortunate to have us on watch.

[wolfinator]

I hear your anger and I understand it. But I think your anger has affected your ability to see clearly. For example, there was never really any significant occurance of American Muslim celebration after 9/11. To the contrary, there were far more displays of outrage and patriotism among that group.

Just yesterday I posted an article here about Arab American US military veterans, many if not most of whom were Muslim, turning out to celebrate Memorial Day in Dearborn Michigan. These men and women have risked and in some cases given their lives for this country.

I’m all for encouraging Muslims to speak out against extremism. But it will never happen if we succumb to hatred of all Muslims.

[TheLawyerFormerlyKnownAsAl]

Yeah, those women look real thrilled to be sitting there in makeshift head veils. They couldn’t look more detached from the b.s. event.

I'm unfamiliar with Townsend, but I don't agree with you as to Hughes. She has Bush's ear and is principally responsible for his cockeyed views of statements about Islam, IMO. Disinterested she was not.

[Leftism is Mentally Deranged]

So Bush is a clueless dhimmi!

[Dajjal]

dhimmitude bump

[John Frum]

I see clearly and without prejudice. There were plenty of SIGNIFICANT american muslim celebrations on 9/11.

Here is a perfect example of such celebrations: http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=12138

And for those who cannot read this link, as a favor to them I will cut and paste the text of such, below:

Celebrating 9/11 at the FBI

By Paul Sperry

FrontPageMagazine.com | February 11, 2004

When linguist Sibel Dinez Edmonds showed up for her first day of work at the FBI, a week after the 9-11 attacks, she expected to find a somber atmosphere. Instead, she was offered cookies filled with dates from party bowls set out in the room where other Middle Eastern linguists with top-secret security clearance translate terror-related communications. She knew the dessert is customarily served in the Middle East at weddings, births and other celebrations, and asked what the happy occasion was. To her shock, she was told the Arab linguists were celebrating the terrorist attacks on America, as if they were some joyous event. Right in front of her supervisor, one translator cheered: "It's about time they got a taste of what they've been giving the Middle East." She found out later that it was her supervisor's wife who helped organize the office party there at the bureau's Washington field office, just four blocks from the J. Edgar Hoover Building. "This guy's wife brought the date-filled cookies for the celebration," Edmonds, 33, recalled. At the time, the supervisor, Mike Feghali, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Beirut, was in charge of the FBI's Turkish and Farsi desks. But he's been promoted since then, and now also runs the all-important Arabic desk, which is key to intercepting the next al-Qaida plot. It gets worse. The language service squad is the front line in the FBI's war on terrorism, collecting all foreign language tips, information and terrorist threats to homeland security. Agents act on what the squad translates and reports. The sooner they get the information, the sooner they can thwart terrorist attacks. Investigators had missed clues to both the 2001 and 1993 World Trade Center attacks because they were buried in a backlog of untranslated wiretaps and documents in Arabic. Despite the backlog, Feghali told Edmonds and other translators to just let the work pile higher, according to Edmonds. Why? Money. She says Feghali, who has recruited family and friends to work with him at the high-paying language unit, argued that Congress would approve an even bigger budget for it if they could continue to show big backlogs. "We were told to take long breaks, to slow down translations, and to simply say 'no' to those field agents calling us to beg for speedy translations so that they could go on with their investigations and interrogations of those they had detained," said Edmonds, who was fired without specified cause by the FBI after she reported breaches in security, mistranslations and potential espionage by Middle Eastern colleagues. She claims Feghali actually tampered with her work to slow her down. "My supervisor went as far as getting into my work computer and deleting almost completed work so that I had to go back and start all over again," she said. Edmonds, a Turkish-American who is not a practicing Muslim, made the allegations last month in a 9-page letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee. She also claims that Feghali threatened to sue the bureau for racial discrimination, but dropped the suit once the bureau promoted him, says Edmonds and other sources. The FBI, which like the army suffers from a severe shortage of Arabic translators, instated a bureau-wide Muslim-sensitivity training program after 9-11. Reached by phone at his Maryland home, Feghali was brusque and refused to talk about the allegations. "I'm not at liberty to discuss this thing, OK?" he said before abruptly hanging up. The spokesperson for the FBI's Washington field office, Debbie Weierman, did not return repeated phone calls. Feghali, who holds several foreign language degrees, has been an FBI language specialist for several years. He was a key translator in the government's case against al-Qaida operatives charged in the U.S. embassy bombing in Kenya, and even testified in court. Sources say he is planning to move back to Lebanon. A key player in the 9-11 plot and the likely pilot of United Airlines Flight 93, the suicide plane that crashed apparently en route to the U.S. Capitol, was Ziad Samir Jarrah, a Lebanese. Edmonds has also complained about Feghali and other Middle Eastern translators to the Justice Department inspector general. And on Wednesday, she is scheduled to give a detailed briefing to members of the 9-11 commission in a secure room here. She claims terrorist "investigations are being compromised," and has demanded an independent probe of the FBI's language department. "If there were, and are, persons within the language department that either intentionally prevented translation because of their agendas, or persons who were, and are, not qualified to properly translate, it is likely that terrorist communications prior to 9-11 were missed; and it is likely that current and future terrorist communications will likewise be missed," Edmonds wrote Justice's Inspector General Glenn A. Fine in a Jan. 5 letter. "I have alleged, and the FBI has confirmed (to Senate investigators), that there are in fact such persons in the language department." Fine still has not released the findings of his internal probe, even though Edmonds first filed her complaint with his office almost two years ago. Speaking for Fine, Justice official Carol Ochoa said the investigation is "still ongoing." "We are working hard to complete it expeditiously," she said in a Jan. 6 letter to Edmonds.

Get your facts straight. Your grand pronouncements that 'this isn't so' without checking facts makes all of your arguments weak.

I do see the situation clearly.

Its you who have obfuscated and choose not to understand the true threat that militant islam poses to the world, and the defacto condonement by the majority of moderate (and silent) muslims.