Posted on 07/13/2005 9:03:47 AM PDT by CHARLITE
The jihadist attack on innocent London residents as they made their way to work during the morning rush hour illuminates the grim reality of this era. Despite all of the claims about assimilating radical Moslems or moderating their sentiments, it is clear that whatever Western motives may be, jihadist goals are unremitting: undiluted destruction and sanguine nihilism.
With another 700 injured and at least 50 killed, it is time to face this truth. These fanatics are intent on killing and maiming as many people as they can. Negotiations are not possible. With whom would one negotiate in any case?
As long as the West is saddled with political correctness there will be a reluctance to deal with the enemy in our midst. Difficult as it may be for well meaning liberals to accept, jihadists are different from those of us who share Judeo-Christian principles. They are at war with the West and it is a war in which civilization itself is at risk.
Once that idea is imbibed, once it goes beyond the conscious level to the very heart and soul of our being, we will realize that every means at our disposal must be employed to destroy this enemy. ACLU prescriptions must be ignored. And the absurd conjunction of fantasies about reformation and “aren’t we all human” must be abandoned in favor of genuine stability.
In fact, the jihadists are not human in any sense of the word since they want to kill any human who does not embrace their religious fervor.
A call for realism is in order. We can no longer tolerate sermons from mosques that justify slaughter or martyrdom. We can no longer allow fanatics to live in our nation or any civilized nation where they plan attacks or marshal support for attacks. We can no longer simply assume that through Herculean effort radical Muslims will embrace the essential creed of our civilization. We can no longer allow our Constitution to be used against Americans. Freedom of religion is not freedom to promote carnage. The Constitution is not a suicide pact.
Because we are immersed in a world view that people everywhere are basically the same, we cannot imagine that people would willingly kill innocents and kill themselves. It is hard for students, who have imbibed the pabulum of cultural relativism, to believe some nations are better than others, indeed, some people are better than others.
We no longer make value judgments because we have been taught that discrimination of almost any variety is wrong, except, of course, when it comes to environmental purity. But what sense does it make to maintain a revulsion with discrimination that makes self preservation parlous?
After all, this is not merely a war for hearts and minds, it is a war of life and death. Remarkably even those I consider sensible refuse to consider current reality. The West is at the crossroads. It is one thing to say, as Tony Blair has, that we will prevail. How we will prevail; what we must do to prevail? These need to be answered.
I should note here that my comments are not a function of retribution. They are based on a dispassionate analysis of what it will take to defeat a relentless foe intent on destruction. Those who are not humane do not deserve humane consideration.
Many people I’ve talked to after the London attack share my basic opinion, yet very few are willing to say so. They have been chastened by the orthodoxy of liberalism, fearful of being called reactionary or racist.
It is instructive that MI5 reports that “only 1 percent of Muslims in the U.K. are extremists.” However, that one percent translates into 16,000 potential terrorists. The “only” in the intelligence report speaks volumes about British political correctness.
Even after 9/11 our Secretary of Transportation refused to consider “profiling.” From any perspective he was more intent on the maintenance of a liberal agenda than public safety. That decision is a metaphor for the war on terror. We cannot fight this war effectively with at least one hand tied behind our backs.
Now that body parts have been exploded on to London streets, the public may awaken from its tranquilized state. This war depends on an all-out effort to win. Half measures won’t do, nor will good-will. The time has come to remove our ideological shackles and fight this war with every once of strength we, as a people, can muster. Our destiny and the destiny of our civilization depend on it.
Herbert London is president of the Hudson Institute and Professor Emeritus at New York University and author of the book Decade of Denial (Lexington Books).
Not until someone in their own immediate family lies dead by a bus, under a subway, or beheaded on the steps of their front door. Only when it touches them personally.
Ping
They have been brainwashed for their entire lives to become haters. They hate so much that in order to murder American soldiers, they are willing to drive into a crowd of children and explode a bomb. They have no value of any human life, not even their own.
When you have an enemy like that, the best thing you can do is to kill them as you capture them because there is absolutely no chance that they could ever be rehabilitated and returned to society and even in prison, they will only sow their hatred among the petty criminals to make them into murderers, too.
I think Herb London goes off the rails on this point and leaves the door open for criticism of his otherwise valid arguments.
All human beings are always human, no matter how twisted and depraved they may be. What we are talking about, here, is the reality of what is known as original sin, and actual sin, and the depravity that results from being sunk in sin and confusing it with virtue.
These are human beings. They just happen to be evil, depraved, possibly unsalvageable human beings. They should be killed like mad dogs, but we should not imagine that they are anything other than human.
That was one of the key errors of the Enlightenment: the illusion that all human beings are innately good, sometimes known as the perfectability of man. That was the Utopian illusion that led to Communism and Fascism. No, human beings are prone to evil, and if they let themselves fall into evil, it can become worse and worse, until it is irretrievable unless God intervenes with a miraculous act of grace.
That's God's business. Ours is to kill murderers before they destroy us, our friends, our families, and our countries, and if necessary to teach them that their Allah does not rule the affairs of this world.
"how long before liberal appeasers see their own peril?"
Maybe when the number of American deaths at the hands of terrorists equals or exceeds the number that die at the hands of drunk drivers? As cruel and senseless as these murderers are I think Mr. London gives them too much weight. And it won't be the deaths of individuals alone that moves the gov't to action, it'll also be the financial impact of having to shut down a major city several times in one month that'll get things moving toward wherever he (London) wants them to go.
That leads to my second point... Mr. London sounds like a typical aggitator, calling for action without describing what actions he wants done. Probably because the devil is in those details.
Islam has achieved something that no other culture has achieved.
Systematic production of psychotics.
It is their one claim to fame.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.