Old Enemy

A Muslim has been elected to the US House of Representatives. Should we be worried? Yes.

There would be no problem if he were a moderate Muslim. I’ve heard they’re around, but I wish they’d speak up so I can be sure. Anyway, our first Muslim congressman doesn’t seem to be one. His name is Keith Ellison, a Democrat from Minnesota. He’s is a past (I hope) member of Louis Farrakhan’s Nation of Islam and supported by CAIR (Council on American Islamic Relations), an organization with ties to Hamas, Hezbollah and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. They are not moderate. They are enemies of the United States. This is a problem.

That very few Americans understand it’s a problem is our biggest problem. That’s why the war isn’t going well. People don’t understand what we’re up against. For this, I blame President Bush.

Mr. President? You’re inarticulate and you know it. So hire someone who speaks well to educate America about who our enemies are. First, let’s stop calling this the War on Terror. Let’s not call it the War in Iraq or the War in Afghanistan either. Let’s call it what it is: The War Against Radical Islam. If you like acronyms, call it WARI. We can refer to the Iraq Theater or the Afghanistan Theater but keep reminding us that our enemies are global. You started off well, warning countries that they were either with us or against us, and that if they supported Islamic terrorists, they were enemies. People began to understand that we’re not fighting a country, but a fanatic, transnational movement.

You went into Afghanistan to rout the Taliban and Al Qaeda. Great. Bin Laden escaped into Pakistan and you didn’t go after him. Mistake.

You went into Iraq to rout Saddam. Great. Four American civilians were murdered, mutilated, burned, dragged, stomped on and hanged from a bridge in Fallujah by terrorists. American soldiers were ready to clean out Fallujah in response. Great. But for months you held them back. Mistake.

Moqtada Al Sadr defied you and our soldiers had him surrounded, ready to destroy his Mahdi Army. Great. But you held them back. Mistake.

Iran and Syria called your bluff, sending weapons and terrorists into Iraq to kill Americans and Iraqis. You’ve allowed it for years. Mistake.

People are losing confidence in you.

Our enemy isn’t new and Congressman Ellison’s swearing-in ceremony is instructive here. After some controversy about taking his oath of office with his hand on a Koran instead of a Bible, he sought to neutralize it by using a Koran that belonged to Thomas Jefferson. The irony is that Jefferson very likely used that Koran to study what motivated the Barbary Pirates who sold over a million white Europeans and Americans into slavery. These Muslim pirates had been raiding American and European ships, killing and enslaving men, women and children all over the Mediterranean. Women were sold as concubines while boys were castrated to serve as eunuchs in their harems. With future president John Adams, Jefferson questioned a Barbary representative in London, asking by what right they were raiding and enslaving Americans. As Jefferson later reported:

“The ambassador answered us that [their right] was founded on the Laws of the Prophet, that it was written in their Koran, that all nations who should not have answered their authority were sinners, that it was their right and duty to make war upon them wherever they could be found, and to make slaves of all they could take as prisoners, and that every [Muslim] who should be slain in battle was sure to go to Paradise.”

Sounds familiar, no? Later, as president, Jefferson made war on the Barbary pirates. It’s likely that the same Koran Ellison used for his oath, Jefferson used it to read about the “right” of Muslims to kill, rape and enslave non-Muslims. If a Muslim should be killed in the process, he’d go straight to Paradise (to enjoy the services of 72 black-eyed virgins for eternity, as Jihadists believe today). Jefferson wouldn’t appease the pirates as European leaders and his predecessor President John Adams did. Adams paid them tribute amounting to as much as 20% of the federal budget. Jefferson knew what the Koran said and he got tough. “Millions for defense,” he declared, “but not one cent for tribute.” He sent the US Marines to Tripoli and the rest is history. “From the halls of Montezuma, to the shores of . . .” You know the words.

We face the same enemy Jefferson did, only now they have a worldwide reach and are fueled by petrodollars, giving them access to weapons of mass destruction. Iran, Syria and Pakistan house and support them but deny doing so, and although the whole world knows they’re lying, we’re reluctant to call their bluffs. President Bush started well, but buckled under intense criticism from American appeasers, European appeasers, and their media minions.

Yet he’s our commander-in-chief. He must educate Americans about the nature of our enemy and why we can’t negotiate with them - why we need to take the war to Iran and Syria rather than wait like sitting ducks while they orchestrate cross-border raids on our soldiers in Iraq. The rest of us have to buck up and prepare for the sacrifices necessary to win. That’s what you do in war. Americans - Christians, Jews, moderate Muslims and atheists - must band together and win this. There’s no other way.