Although bombings, civilian slaughter and barbaric beheadings in Pakistan may seem a long way away from U.S. and European communities, the tentacles of terrorism are poisonous and long. Linked to a common body of radical Muslim religious beliefs, fueled by hatred of the West and disdain for "infidels," and trumpeted in calls for jihad, the messages are clear: Taliban, Al-Queda, and related groups are waging long-term war against the rest of the world.
Last week,
public street slaughter marked Benair Bhutto's return to Pakistan. Suicide bombers, possibly linked to a direct Taliban threat, killed 143 people and injured hundreds of others in a bloody assassination attempt.
Bhutto is the first woman to overcome the sexist ghettos of the Muslim world and capture such a high leadership position. Before her return, Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud, who reportedly commands 35,000 fighters,
had previously bragged that his suicide bombers would greet her. Bhutto,who recently received another death threat, has now been prohibited from leaving Pakistan.
The attack on Bhutto's convoy sent a message: Taliban and Al-Qaeda terrorism and violence will not cease. Calling for jihad--a Muslim holy war--Taliban religious leader
Maulana Fazlullah has only begun his body count in the Swat region of Pakistan.
In the name of Mohammed,
civilians were yanked out of a van in northwest Pakistan and slaughtered. Several police and security officers were captured and summarily beheaded. Although a Fazlullah aide issued the pro-forma denial and condemnation of the murders, the public statement is a direct contradiction to Fazlullah's call for jihad and his politics. He's the leader of TNSM, a vengeful Taliban group.
Among his accomplishments so far: the halting of a polio vacccination program in the Swat area, where several cases of polio have been reported. Added to that: a recent suicide bombing that killed about two dozen people and injured many more, and Fazlullah's tally of suffering and death is mounting.
The idea that daily doses of repression, hatred, death and destruction are limited to other portions of the world are central to the covert spread of radical Islamism. Regardless of whether it's Fazlullah calling for an extreme version of Sharia laws or radical Muslims forcing those beliefs on other cultures, the goals are the same: subjugation and control.
Using well-plotted interpretations of Sharia, radical Islamists in the United States have successfully challenged common-sense airport security, diverted focus from suspicious passengers to cries of racial victimization, all but shut down airport taxi service in Minneapolis, and created tempests over the simplest things, including supermarket checkouts. As Katherine Kersten points out in
The Wall Street Journal, " By piggy-backing on our civil rights laws, Islamist activists aim to equate airport security with racial bigotry and to move slowly toward a two-tier legal system. Intimidation is a crucial tool."
In Amsterdam and Brussels, violence and riots among Muslim immigrant communities have become so common that entire areas are designated as too dangerous for police to enter. The politically correct NewSpeak for that is "sensitive urban area."
NewSpeak, too, has evident in the Holy Land terrorism financing trial in Dallas. Featuring a Muslim "religious" group accused of funneling charity funds to Hamas and other terrorist groups, the trial was the biggest in U.S. terror financing history.
One juror literally tried to run away. After the torturous deliberations, the trial was declared a mistrial. Although PC and NewSpeak efforts valiantly tried to present the defendants as poor victims of religious and racial persecution, it just wasn't so.
Instead, an eight-year federal investigation into the Richardson, TX Holy Land group found solid evidence of Hamas support. President George W. Bush ordered the charity shut down after agents tracked
numerous links to terrorism, including:
Electronic surveillance of conversations in which Hamas leaders and Holy Land Foundation officers discussed the foundation's role in Hamas fund raising.
*Contributions made to the foundation by Mousa Abu Marzook, a former U.S. resident who was political leader of Hamas in the 1990s.
*Analyses showing that the majority of funds collected by the foundation went to support Hamas activities, including schools, hospitals and annuities for the families of suicide bombers. "
A succinct FBI memo noted: "In the United States they could raise funds, propagate their political goals, affect public opinion and influence decision-making of the U.S. government." Not only that, extreme Muslim views can re-shape efforts to fight crime. And it goes beyond just "sensitive urban areas."
As
Planck's Constant points out, police now have to take special measures if they--gasp!--try to enter a Muslim residence, or arrest a Muslim. Among them:
Don't enter a Muslim home if only females are present.
If people are praying at home officers should stand aside and not disrupt the prayer. They should be allowed the opportunity to finish.
Use of police dogs will be considered serious desecration of the premises and may necessitate extensive cleaning of the house and disposal of household items.
Officers should not take shoes into the houses, especially in areas that might be kept pure for prayer purposes.
For reasons of dignity officers should seek to avoid entering occupied bedrooms and bathrooms.
Not only that, but in London, police have to notify a panel of Muslims before carrying out an anti-terrorism action. Among the items to be considered: how the raid would affect "community relations."
Police in the U.S. are also having to grapple, not with crime,but with not offending Muslims even if a crime has been committed. The U.S. Department of Justice has released special training materials for dealing with "Muslim Americans."
As best I recall, the U.S. government has survived for hundreds of years without making "special rules" for any one group. Why is it now so important that law enforcement be literally handcuffed when dealing with one special interest group?
Because the tentacles are long. Because the U.S. has a culture of accepting differences, we are at high risk to be undermined, bit by bit, by a culture and belief that intends to destroy the decadent West and the "infidels."
Because there are political leaders and groups who, wanting to hop on the PC band wagon, have literally caved in to preposterous demands. Better to sell out your country than to risk being called "racist" or "discriminatory."
The solution is simple: if you wish to come to the U.S., do what every other immigrant group has done: adapt to the existing culture. If you are not willing to do so, then return whence you came.
But putting that solution into action will be hard, given PC, NewSpeak, and the prostituting of freedom to political and religious groups who have only one goal in mind: destruction. Whether it be by bomb, riots, or demands that investigations and arrests be done their way, the goals are exactly the same.
Take another look at the photo with this post. If the Taliban, Al-Qaeda, and their political allies will do this to their own countrymen, what do you think they will do to infidels? In the long run, the terrorist acts of 9-11 will be proven to be only the beginning of a long, multiple-front war on Western culture and beliefs. And most of the gambits will be waged bit by bit, eroding even common sense applications of normal community activities, from policing to schooling.
Note: the cropped photo is used under the NY Times "share" option and also under Fair Use Doctrine. My thanks to the Times for the use of this photo.
