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International Affairs
The Media is 'Willfully Ignoring'
the Islamic War against the U.S.
Toby Westerman
America is in a war it does not understand, fighting an enemy it has not clearly identified, and is unable to "summon the will" to defeat its adversary, according to a best selling author.
The "war on terror" is, in reality, part of an ongoing 1,400-year war waged by militant Islam against non-believers. A politically correct media are, however, "willfully ignoring the evidence" about the true "motives and goals" of militant Islamic jihadist leaders and warriors dedicated to our destruction, according to Robert Spencer in an exclusive interview with International News Analysis.
Spencer has written extensively on militant Islam. His books include the Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam, The Myth of Islamic Tolerance, Onward Muslim Soldiers: How Jihad Still Threatens America, other books on the threat of militant Islam, as well as articles on the Internet site Jihad Watch.
The real war on terror is not with the religion of Islam or all Muslims, but is against militant Islam, "an ideology that is deeply rooted within Islamic tradition." The established media refuses, however, to acknowledge that America is at war with a powerful and dangerous tradition within Islam.
Jihad against America is a reality the media refuses to acknowledge |
The term for the struggle against the enemies of Islam is "Jihad," and the leaders and followers of Jihad know quite well that their actions are sanctioned by religious tradition that is as old as Islam itself.
The media's unwillingness to acknowledge the true nature of this war is a "willful omission" of fact, "a myopia of immense and dangerous proportions," Spencer stated. Media distortion of militant Islam's motives and goals cripples America's ability to properly defend itself, because America "does not even admit that these motives and goals exist," observed Spencer.
Americans are uninformed as to the dangers pressing upon them because the media are unable to go beyond their own stereotypes and unexamined assumptions, which often passes for news. Media explanations of events threatening America are put in terms of previously held dogma and a socially sanctioned conventional wisdom.
Reality in the form of enemy statements and actions have little impact upon media doctrines.
Part of media dogma and doctrine is that the jihad against America is somehow the fault of the United States and its European-descendant population, according to Spencer.
"There is a fundamental, bedrock assumption" in the established media "that the West, white people, and Christian people cannot possibly be victims," Spencer asserted. If a conflict "involves white people and brown people, the media considers that the brown people are right and are victims," Spencer told International News Analysis.
"Racial terms have nothing to do with the present conflict." The jihad against the U.S. and the West is propelled by "an ideology to which people of any race can ascribe," said Spencer.
America is ignorant of the perils before it because the mainstream media "out of anxiety to avoid the appearances of racism, is refusing to break out of old and established paradigms," Spencer said.
While the war America faces is not against Islam or all Muslims, Islam is the only major religion "that has developed a doctrine, a theology, and a legal system that mandates warfare against unbelievers," observed Spencer.
It is this "deeply rooted tradition" in Islam that is the real challenge to America and the West in general. It is an ideology that compels jihad leaders and warriors to seek the establishment of an Islamic social order by force.
And it is this ideology that the media does not acknowledge.
"You can't defend against it, if you don't recognize it," Spencer said of the jihadist ideology.
Partisans of the jihad burn the American flag in Peshawar, Pakistan - US News, May 30, 2005 |
Spencer criticized U.S. policy in Iraq and Afghanistan which allowed the establishment of governments in those nations which are based upon Islamic law, "Sharia" law, and cited the case of Abdul Rahman, an Afghani accused of apostasy. Rahman, who had converted to Christianity fifteen years previously and returned recently to Afghanistan, faced a death sentence for leaving the Muslim religion. Spencer stated that the U.S. should have never allowed Iraq and Afghanistan to base their national constitutions on Islamic law. In so doing, he concluded, we are actually "ultimately aiding our enemies."
America's inability to correctly identify its enemies or the nature of the struggle gives encouragement to those seeking to destroy the United States. Jihadist leaders see the political conflict and confusion over the war on terror, and "see us devouring ourselves… You can't defeat an enemy you won't define," observed Spencer.
While the goals and strategies of militant Islam remain unrecognized, Muslim jihad warriors are infiltrating through our porous borders. In Arizona, Americans owning land on the Mexican-U.S. border informed Spencer that they had found jihad literature and prayer rugs.
"They are not trying very hard to cover their tracks," Spencer told International News Analysis.
Spencer urged Americans to recognize the threats facing them and demonstrate unmistakable resolve of purpose. Warning that the truth must be told, Spencer stated that "If we don't have people willing to stand up… even if it is difficult and risky, then everything is already lost."
Fortunately there are those who do tell the truth, and they are beginning to break the stranglehold of the established media and their allies in academia. A growing number of books and publications are chipping away at the conventional misunderstanding of the dangers facing America.
It is now necessary for America's political leaders to respond and take the measures necessary to defend the United States and the values for which we stand.
Posted May 24, 2006
Toby Westerman writes and edits
International News Analysis - Today
An investigative, analytical, and uncompromising weekly analysis of the world situation
Contact T. Westerman at
www.inatoday.com
or P.O. BOX 5182, Rockford, ILL, 61125-0182
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