Avoiding the M-word
http://www.iht.com:80/articles/2007/07/11/opinion/edjacoby.php
Jeff Jacoby
The Boston Globe
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
BOSTON:
Is radical Islam connected to terrorism? Notable British voices spoke out on
that subject after Britain's recent terrorist near-misses - the two
unexploded car bombs in London's West End and the fiery SUV rammed into the
main terminal at Glasgow's international airport.
Consider what four of those voices had to say:
One declared that the word "Muslim" must not be used in connection with
terrorism, and insisted that even the phrase "war on terror" should be
scrapped.
The second likewise cautioned against pointing a finger at Islam, contending
that in London, "Muslims are . . . less likely to support the use of
violence to achieve political ends than non-Muslims."
The third, asked whether Muslim extremists might be responsible for the
attempted atrocities in London and Glasgow, counseled: "Let's avoid
presumptions. . . . It can be the work of Muslims, Christians, Jews or
Buddhists."
By contrast, the fourth noted the resemblance of the latest terror attempts
to "other recent British Islamic extremist plots," pinpointed "Islamic
theology" as "the real engine of our violence," and described British
jihadists as "mindless killers" who have "declared war upon the whole
world."
The first three statements, disingenuous but quite politically correct, were
made respectively by 1) Britain's new prime minister, Gordon Brown; 2)
London Mayor Ken Livingstone, and 3) Daud Abdullah, deputy secretary general
of the Muslim Council of Britain.
Just days before the second anniversary of the deadly 7/7 London transit
bombings, and less than a year since 24 British Muslims were arrested for
plotting to blow up passenger jets over the Atlantic, the three men spoke as
if they had no inkling that Britain is a battleground in militant Islam's
global jihad - as if only a boor or a bigot could imagine that Muslims might
somehow be linked to the car bombs in London and Glasgow.
And the fourth statement? Those were the blunt words of Hassan Butt, a
onetime spokesman for the radical Islamist organization al-Muhajiroun, who
has renounced his former life.
In an essay published last week in the Daily Mail, Butt emphasized that
jihadists are motivated not by opposition to British or U.S. foreign policy
but by a fundamentalist theology that seeks to subject the entire world to
"Islamic justice." Radical Imams teach their followers that they must fight
for Dar al-Islam (the House of Islam) against Dar al-Harb (the House of War
- i.e., infidels to be defeated). And "in Dar al-Harb, anything goes,
including the treachery and cowardice of attacking civilians."
By turning a blind eye to the radical theology of the jihadists, Butt says,
mainstream Muslim institutions make it easy for the extremists to recruit
new followers. His words apply equally to political leaders like Brown and
Livingstone: "They refuse to broach the difficult and often complex truth
that Islam can be interpreted as condoning violence against the unbeliever -
and instead repeat the mantra that Islam is peace, and hope that all of this
debate will go away."
Wars cannot be won through denial and willful blindness. Yet in ways large
and small, Western leaders and institutions deliberately avert their gaze
from the reality of the Islamist threat.
The UN secretary general, Ban Ki Moon, blames global warming, not Sudan's
jihadist regime, for the genocide being carried out in Darfur. A leading
candidate to succeed President George W. Bush, Illinois Senator Barack
Obama, maintains a lavish campaign Web site, complete with detailed position
papers that have nothing to say about radical Islam's aggressive war.
Another candidate, former senator John Edwards, prepares a 5,200-word speech
to the Council on Foreign Relations - and devotes just 19 of them to the
menace of Islamic extremism.
The obfuscation is sometimes almost comical. The New York Times, reporting
the Glasgow attack on Page 1, carefully avoided using the M-word to identify
Britain's Muslim terrorists. Instead it attributed the 7/7 bombings to
Britain's "disenfranchised South Asian population" and reported that the
terrorists in Glasgow "were South Asian." (As Joel Mowbray pointed out for
Powerline, Indian Hindus are Britain's largest South Asian demographic.)
Similarly, seven reporters contributed to AP's story on the arrested
jihad-doctors ("Diverse group allegedly in British plot"), yet somehow
missed the radical theology they presumably shared.
Political correctness is no strategy for victory. Islamic fascists will not
hate us less if we avoid all mention of the theology that inflames them.
Winning the war the jihadists have declared - the war of Dar al-Islam and
Dar al-Harb - begins with moral clarity. Denial is a luxury we cannot
afford.
Jeff Jacoby's column appears regularly in The Boston Globe.
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