September 05, 2007

To Eradicate the Islamist Killers, We Must Destroy the Mechanism that Produces Them

Weekly, sometimes daily, new plots - and often, new successful attempts - by radical Islamists, to kill people, are reported. Just to take the ones from the past 5 days:

Germany: "BERLIN (AP) - Three suspected Islamic terrorists from an al-Qaida-influenced group nursing "profound hatred of U.S. citizens" were arrested on suspicious of plotting imminent, massive bomb attacks on U.S. facilities in Germany, prosecutors said Wednesday."

Norway: "Three Muslims have been indicted in Norway in connection with attacks on a synagogue and a plot to attack the US and Israeli embassies."

Pakistan: "Twenty-five dead and at least 70 wounded in mass murder attacks in Pakistan: Suicide bombers kill 25, wound 70, in Pakistan."

Denmark: "Danish authorities have arrested eight Al Qaeda-connected Muslims planning a bomb attack..."

Thailand: "Three more dead in the south Thailand jihad."

America: "Those two Egyptian students at the University of South Florida who were caught with pipe bombs near a South Carolina Navy base have been indicted, and one of them turns out to have a history of involvement in terrorism."

We're all mad as hell about it. All over the world, people feel paralyzed about how to deal with this, saying that it's impractical to expel all the members of a religion. But Daniel Pipes has identified a workable strategy so that we can start to say, as one of writer Paddy Chayefsky's characters did in the movie Network, "I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this any more."

Before we get to Pipes' strategy, let's recall that radical Islam doesn't work, as the mafia did, by direct instruction to specific Islamists to commit specific attacks. The radical imams don't address their audiences and single out someone and say, "You, go out and blow up a bus next Tuesday." Instead, Islamist religious, government, and media leaders routinely address their audiences in a manner so as to fill them with rage and hatred toward everything in the non-Islamic world. The result is that their mosques constantly produce Islamists who independently come up with specific plans to go out and kill - thus providing their mosques with legal cover. For example:

Fox News: "American-Born Imam Spews Message of Hate in England"

From a NY Police Dept. Report:

The jihadist ideology combines the extreme and minority interpretation [jihadi- Salafi] of Islam with an activist-like commitment or responsibility to solve global political grievances through violence. Ultimately, the jihadist envisions a world in which jihadi-Salafi Islam is dominant and is the basis of government.

...Two key indicators within this self-identification stage that suggests progression along the radicalization continuum are:

• Progression or Gravitation Towards Salafi Islam

• Regular Attendance at a Salafi mosque [emphasis in original]

British TV exposed the hate-filled preachings of the Green Lane mosque in Birmingham, England.

The Society of Americans for National Existence exposed similar events at mosques in the U.S.

Imam of the "Red Mosque" in Islamabad, Pakistan Threatens to Send Students to Anti-Government Suicide Operations

Egyptian Cleric Hazem Sallah Abu Isma'il on the Rewards of the Martyr

Children of Palestinian Suicide Bomber Rim Al-Riyashi on Hamas TV: Mama Killed Five Jews and She Is in Paradise

Dr. Muhammad Salim Al-Awa, Secretary-General of the International Union for Muslim Scholars, Explains the Rationale for Supporting Female Suicide Bombers

Sheik Yousuf Al-Qaradhawi Justifies the Killing of Israeli Women and Children in Suicide Operations

Palestinian Minister of Religious Endowment Speaks in Praise of Martyrdom at Friday Sermon in the Presence of Abu Mazen

This is the precise mechanism that produces the Islamist killers that we must eradicate. To eradicate the killers, we must destroy the mechanism that produces them.

Now, let's review Pipes' strategy for doing just that. He writes:

I understand the security-based urge to exclude the Koran, Islam, and Muslims, but these efforts are too broad, sweeping up inspirational passages with objectionable ones, reformers with extremists, friends with foes. Also, they ignore the possibility of positive change.

More practical and focused would be to reduce the threats of jihad and Shariah by banning Islamist interpretations of the Koran, as well as Islamism and Islamists. Precedents exist. A Saudi-sponsored Koran was pulled from school libraries. Preachers have gone to jail for their interpretation of the Koran. Extreme versions of Islam are criminally prosecuted. Organizations are outlawed. Politicians have called for Islamists to leave their countries.

Islam is not the enemy, but Islamism is. Tolerate moderate Islam, but eradicate its radical variants.

Prosecute, expel, ban, arrest, and jail Islamist leaders who preach that the Koran says Muslims must kill non-Muslims, and who preach that the Koran says that our freedoms must be overthrown and that Shariah must replace the American Constitution. 

As shown by Pipes' links, this strategy is already beginning to be implemented.

And it may be the answer to the question of how to eradicate the cancer of radical Islamism, from Western nations.