7th Rangers: In a war motivated by Islamist ideology, appeasement is a policy certain to fail - Dar al-Islam and Dar al-Harb can’t coexist. By Clifford D. May
Fighting Seventh
The Fighting Rangers On War, Politics and Burning Issues
Rudyard Kipling"
“When you're left wounded on Afganistan's plains and
the women come out to cut up what remains, Just roll to your rifle
and blow out your brains,
And go to your God like a soldier”
General Douglas MacArthur"
“We are not retreating. We are advancing in another direction.”
“It is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it.” “Old soldiers never die; they just fade away.
“The soldier, above all other people, prays for peace, for he must suffer and be the deepest wounds and scars of war.”
“May God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won't .” “The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.
“Nobody ever defended, there is only attack and attack and attack some more.
“It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.
The Soldier stood and faced God
Which must always come to pass
He hoped his shoes were shining
Just as bright as his brass
"Step forward you Soldier,
How shall I deal with you?
Have you always turned the other cheek?
To My Church have you been true?"
"No, Lord, I guess I ain't
Because those of us who carry guns
Can't always be a saint."
I've had to work on Sundays
And at times my talk was tough,
And sometimes I've been violent,
Because the world is awfully rough.
But, I never took a penny
That wasn't mine to keep.
Though I worked a lot of overtime
When the bills got just too steep,
The Soldier squared his shoulders and said
And I never passed a cry for help
Though at times I shook with fear,
And sometimes, God forgive me,
I've wept unmanly tears.
I know I don't deserve a place
Among the people here.
They never wanted me around
Except to calm their fears.
If you've a place for me here,
Lord, It needn't be so grand,
I never expected or had too much,
But if you don't, I'll understand."
There was silence all around the throne
Where the saints had often trod
As the Soldier waited quietly,
For the judgment of his God.
"Step forward now, you Soldier,
You've borne your burden well.
Walk peacefully on Heaven's streets,
You've done your time in Hell."
In a war motivated by Islamist ideology, appeasement is a policy certain to fail - Dar al-Islam and Dar al-Harb can’t coexist. By Clifford D. May
Thursday, May 30, 2013
In his 6,000-word speech at the National
Defense University last week, President Obama devoted only one paragraph
to the ideology of those who proclaim themselves America’s enemies. But
those 101 words are worth a closer look. “Most, though not all,
of the terrorism we face is fueled by a common ideology,” the president
began. Quite right: Al-Qaeda, the Taliban, Iran’s rulers, Hezbollah,
Hamas, and many others who utilize terrorism do indeed see the world
through similar lenses. The president did not name their ideology, but
most of us have come to employ such terms as “jihadism,” “Islamism,”
“political Islam,” and “radical Islam.”
The president described this ideology as “a belief by some extremists
that Islam is in conflict with the United States and the West.” This,
too, is accurate. If you read the writings of Osama bin Laden, the
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, and such Muslim Brotherhood intellectuals
as Sayyid Qutb and Hassan al-Banna, there can be no doubt that, by their
lights, this conflict is inevitable.
The
extremists also believe, Obama continued, “that violence against
Western targets, including civilians, is justified in pursuit of a
larger cause.” He refrained from defining that cause, though earlier in
the speech he did mention that “deranged or alienated individuals” have
been “inspired by larger notions of violent jihad.” More
specifically, they believe that Muslims have been divinely commanded to
wage war against those who refuse to accept Allah as the supreme
authority of the universe; Mohammed as Allah’s prophet; the Koran as the
revealed and unchanging word of Allah; and sharia as the law that
mankind must obey.
They believe, too, that the world is divided
between the Dar al-Islam, the lands where Muslims rule, and the Dar
al-Harb, the lands where infidels rule. They reject the possibility that
the two realms can — or should — peacefully coexist. On the contrary,
the Dar al-Islam must do whatever is necessary to defeat and destroy the
Dar al-Harb. Many Westerners find it difficult to comprehend that
people actually hold such beliefs. These Westerners — there is no
tactful way to say this — are ignorant of world history, the millennia
of conflicts in which one group after another has attempted to impose
its language, culture, religion, and DNA on others.The use of
religion or ideology to justify such aggression and domination is hardly
new. Contrary to much wishful thinking, “conflict resolution,”
tolerance, multiculturalism, and similar newfangled Western ideas have
not been universally embraced.
Next, the president said: “Of
course, this ideology is based on a lie, for the United States is not at
war with Islam.” That is something of a non sequitur: As noted above, a
central tenet of the ideology he’s discussing holds that Islam is at
war with the United States and other nations that persist in rejecting
Islam’s message — and that the conflict must continue until the infidels
submit.Further: “And this ideology is rejected by the vast
majority of Muslims.” Here, Obama returns to solid ground. Most Muslims
have no wish to wage jihad against non-Muslims, no desire to strap their
children into bomb vests or even to give money to the Islamic
“charities” that support such missions. But if only 5 or 10 percent of
the world’s more than a billion Muslims do see such efforts as virtuous,
we’re still looking at an enormous movement — one lavishly funded by
the plentiful oil under lands ruled by Muslims.
The president
noted that Muslims “are the most frequent victims of terrorist attacks.”
There can be no question about that — in Syria, Iraq, Iran,
Afghanistan, Pakistan, Mali, and many other corners of the world. What’s
more, the extremists reserve their most vehement hatred for fellow
Muslims who reject their ideology, who — as they see it — have abandoned
the true faith in favor of a watered-down interpretation of Islam. They
call such Muslims apostates, and the punishment for apostasy is death.
This is among the reasons so few Muslims dare speak out against the the fundamentalists. Continue here to Page Two of The National Review,,,,,,
