Jewish World Review - July 19, 2005
What happened to unconditional surrender? By Cal Thomas
DOLGELLAU, Wales - Thank goodness for those history channels that bring back the generals and politicians of the past who, by contrast, make many of today's leaders look indecisive.
I saw President Harry Truman on one of them last week. In a speech to the nation near the end of World War II, Truman rejected suggestions that the Allies seek accommodation with Japan, rather than victory. Truman would have none of it, saying only Japan's "unconditional surrender" would be acceptable.
Contrast that with the conciliatory blather of today. Prime Minister Tony Blair is inviting British and Muslim leaders to a meeting Tuesday at 10 Downing Street where it is reported he will urge worldwide action to uproot what he has called the "evil ideology" and "twisted teaching" that lay behind the London bombings.
Here's what Blair should say to the Muslim leaders: "The onus is on you guys. You find and shut down the terrorists and their network. You turn those who incite, plan and encourage violence over to the authorities. If you don't act, we will by closing and bulldozing the mosques and schools that incubate and instruct the killers, prosecuting the terrorists we find and deporting them and their clerics, and closing our borders to anyone from countries that harbor and teach terrorists. Those who are British citizens will be stripped of their citizenship."
As part of its continuing disinformation campaign in America (reminiscent of Nazi, Soviet and Japanese propaganda of the not-too-distant past), the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) is providing public service announcements to American television stations titled "Not in the Name of Islam." A CAIR press release says the spots are designed to "highlight the Muslim community's condemnation of terrorism and rejection of those who carry out terror attacks."
Just who are these spots designed to influence? Does CAIR wish us to believe the jihadists in America will see them and convert to democratic ideals, or is this Tokyo Rose propaganda designed to keep our guard down?
It is helpful to quote what two prominent senators have said about CAIR: "(CAIR is) unusual in its extreme rhetoric and its associations with groups that are suspect," said Richard Durbin, Illinois Democrat. "We know (CAIR) has ties to terrorism," added Charles Schumer, New York Democrat.
The problem with the cluttered Western contemporary mind is there is little room for anyone or any philosophy based on absolutes and convictions. The terrorists benefit from Western self-indulgence, ignorance about history and aversion to war. If we think of depravity at all, it is in the Michael Jackson vein and not religious fanatics, who kill school children, behead "infidels" and seek world domination.
Western secularists cannot comprehend people who link their private faith to public actions. Too many think terrorists can be dissuaded from their bloody goals by using Western logic and trying to "understand why they hate us."
I don't want to understand why they hate us, anymore than my father's generation sought to understand Nazis, or the ideological slaves of Hirohito. Like that generation, since the jihadists have declared war on us, I want to kill them before they kill me.
To make us feel better and allow us to "get on with our lives," we make believe the jihadists are a tiny minority and not "mainstream Islam." But what if they are mainstream ó part of an elaborate conspiracy designed to dupe the West while the infiltration of Britain, America and all of Europe continues unabated?
What if the "moderates" are too intimidated to speak out for fear they will be killed? If that is the case, it is all the more reason to declare total war on the jihadists, because that is what they have declared on us.
Would it not be a clever strategy to put insurgents among us who dress and speak as Westerners, work in our schools and restaurants (as one of the bombing suspects did in London), but are secretly plotting the death of total strangers?
They know they don't have the power of a conquering army to defeat us from without, but they believe the virus they are spreading can weaken us from within until we surrender because we favor "peace" over conflict.
Wake up, America and Britain! The jihadists are after us and they will stop at nothing until we all live under the banner of Islam, either by fear or by force.
Where have you gone, Harry Truman and Winston Churchill? Our nations turn their lonely eyes to you. Boo-hoo-hoo.
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JWR contributor Cal Thomas is the author of, among others, The Wit and Wisdom of Cal Thomas.