The Enemy Has a Name
INTERNATIONAL ANALYST NETWORK: If you cannot name your enemy, how can you defeat it? Just as a physician must identify a disease before curing a patient, so a strategist must identify the foe before winning a war. Yet Westerners have proven reluctant to identify the opponent in the conflict the U.S. government variously (and euphemistically) calls the "global war on terror," the "long war," the "global struggle against violent extremism," or even the "global struggle for security and progress."

This timidity translates into an inability to define war goals. Two high-level U.S. statements from late 2001 typify the vague and ineffective declarations issued by Western governments. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld defined victory as establishing "an environment where we can in fact fulfill and live [our] freedoms." In contrast, George W. Bush announced a narrower goal, "the defeat of the global terror network" – whatever that undefined network might be.

"Defeating terrorism" has, indeed, remained the basic war goal. By implication, terrorists are the enemy and counterterrorism is the main response. The Enemy Has a Name >>> By Daniel Pipes | June 19, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Dust Jacket Hardcover, direct from the publishers (US)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Paperback, direct from the publishers (US)

The West’s Problems with Islam Exacerbated by Bush’s Determination Not to Identify the Enemy!
EDITORIAL: 9/11, a day that will go down in history as a ‘day of infamy’, should have marked a turning point in our dealing with the Islamic world. Alas, no such ‘turning point’ came about.

Instead, the President of the US, George W Bush, insisted that the US was not at war with the Islamic world. I dare say it was true – to a point. What he failed to say was its corollary: namely, that the Islamic world was at war with America, and by extension, the West!

That this was so should have been made clear to all Americans, and to all Westerners alike. It wasn’t. The result of this is that we now have fuzzy thinking on the war we are engaged in, fuzzy thinking on the problems we face, fuzzy thinking on the growth of Islam in the West, fuzzy thinking on how to tackle our enemy: Islam!

Make no mistake about it: Islam is our enemy. Islam represents all that is abhorrent to the West: coercion, lack of religious freedom, totalitarianism, and much else besides. But, as the West was built up on largely Christian principles, it is also the negation of the notion that Jesus Christ is man’s Saviour, man’s Redeemer. They say that Jesus Christ was not the Son of God; we say that He was! The West, as a civilization, has been built up on that notion.

No problem, you say. Let them believe what they will. Wrong! You are wrong, so wrong, to take this viewpoint.

Muslims have principles. Indeed, it may be said that they have very strong principles. And they fight for them. How many of YOU have principles that you will fight for? It would appear that Westerners have few principles they are willing to fight for; indeed, many Westerners are not sure what their principles are! And therein lies one of the major problems we face today: not knowing what the West stands for; and, by extension, not knowing what we must fight for.

Yes, all right, we have some vague notions of freedom and democracy. But let’s face it, they are just that: vague notions! How many people truly understand what freedom is, still less what democracy entails? Do we really understand both concepts? Freedom is not just being able to go on your favourite foreign holiday when you please; democracy isn’t just about voting for this handsome guy, or that one. No! It’s about more than that. Much more!

How is the West going to deal with the onslaught of Islam when Westerners don’t even know what they should believe in? In years gone by, Westerners knew exactly what they should believe in: in Judeo-Christian principles. But as churches have emptied, many people now know sweet little about Judeo-Christian principles, and care still less about them.

It may be said, in no uncertain terms I have to say, that we ignore our Judeo-Christian heritage at our own peril! Islam is knocking on our door; in fact, we have already let it in. And the religion is growing apace in the West; and make no mistake about it: it is DIAMETRICALLY-OPPOSED to EVERYTHING we stand for; and it is only biding its time to take us over. The sickness of out time is that ordinary folk have no understanding of what is going on!

It is my belief that George W Bush must shoulder a lot of the blame for this ignorance. For, in stubbornly refusing to apportion blame for the atrocities of 9/11 on Muslims, he has also brought confusion into the minds of many Westerners. Westerners, as a result, have little understanding of what motivates Muslims. To be fed the nonsense that Muslims are our friends is a lie. A damn lie! And Bush, unless he is stupid, knows that very well. Islam is our enemy. It has to be, for it seeks to destroy us.

Make no mistake about it: Islam is waiting in the wings; it is just ready to take us over. Do you think that Muslims don’t realize and understand that Westerners have little stomach for a fight? Have none of it! They perceive YOU as WEAK! Really weak! After all, look what we are allowing them to get away with!

Only this week, it has come to our attention that our bankers are allowing the ideas of Shari’ah banking to be put in place here in the West. Now, in the United Kingdom, Shari’ah banking is to be made available to Muslims and Muslimahs across the United Kingdom, on every high street. Imagine the uproar in the UK in the 1940s with headlines such as Nazi banking to be made available to Nazis by all high street banks across the United Kingdom! It would have been totally unacceptable to people then; and it should be totally unacceptable to people now, too.

In the States, shrines to Islam, our enemy, are to be built by the US Marines. Just how stupid and naïve is that? How many shrines to Christianity are there in Saudi Arabia? We are giving these people an importance above their station!

A war – and George W Bush tells us we are at war – has to be fought from a position of strength. Furthermore, for a war to be successful, it has to be fought in the right atmosphere. The enemy has to be - yes, wait for it – demonized! I make no apologies for the use of that word. We are either at war with an enemy, or we are not! It’s as simple and straightforward as that!

No war in history has been fought like this ridiculous war! We are trying to fight a war without demonizing the enemy. It cannot be done! Either we are at war, or we are not. To say that we are at war with some vague notion of terrorists is nothing less than absurd. Terrorism equates to the Jihad. Indeed, the Jihad is terrorism unadulterated. The Jihad is nothing more and nothing less than terrorism used for the furtherance of the cause of Islam. It is used to Islamize your country and mine. Make no mistake about that!

I am reading a very good book at the moment entitled Defying Hitler. In it, the author , Sebastian Haffner, talks about how the enemy was demonized during the Great War. He talks about France’s “lust for revenge”, England’s “commercial envy”, and Russia’s “barbarism”. That’s how to do it, folks! You cannot win a war when everything has been sanitized. Everything, today, must be sanitized! No war has ever been so won! No war will ever be so won! Either we are at war; or we are not. It’s as simple as that! If we are at war, then we have to demonize the enemy.

President Bush, the day after 9/11, came on TV, almost embracing the Qur’an, stating that the US was not at war with the Islamic world. What he should have stated was that the Islamic world was at war with America and the West. And it still is. Indeed, the war has been intensified. Had he done this, we wouldn’t today be seeing the growth of Islamic banking in the West, the building of shrines to Islam in the US Marines, and we wouldn’t be in such a mess with Islam in general. President Bush! You have failed! You have failed miserably! You’ve had your chance, and you’ve blown it. Move over, Sir! Let someone else try and clear up your mess!

©Mark Alexander

All rights reserved

The West’s Problems with Islam Exacerbated by Bush’s Determination Not to Identify the Enemy!
9/11, a day that will go down in history as a ‘day of infamy’, should have marked a turning point in our dealing with the Islamic world. Alas, no such ‘turning point’ came about.

Instead, the President of the US, George W Bush, insisted that the US was not at war with the Islamic world. I dare say it was true – to a point. What he failed to say was its corollary: namely, that the Islamic world was at war with America, and by extension, the West!

That this was so should have been made clear to all Americans, and to all Westerners alike. It wasn’t. The result of this is that we now have fuzzy thinking on the war we are engaged in, fuzzy thinking on the problems we face, fuzzy thinking on the growth of Islam in the West, fuzzy thinking on how to tackle our enemy: Islam!

Make no mistake about it: Islam is our enemy. Islam represents all that is abhorrent to the West: coercion, lack of religious freedom, totalitarianism, and much else besides. But, as the West was built up on largely Christian principles, it is also the negation of the notion that Jesus Christ is man’s Saviour, man’s Redeemer. They say that Jesus Christ was not the Son of God; we say that He was! The West, as a civilization, has been built up on that notion.

No problem, you say. Let them believe what they will. Wrong! You are wrong, so wrong, to take this viewpoint.

Muslims have principles. Indeed, it may be said that they have very strong principles. And they fight for them. How many of YOU have principles that you will fight for? It would appear that Westerners have few principles they are willing to fight for; indeed, many Westerners are not sure what their principles are! And therein lies one of the major problems we face today: not knowing what the West stands for; and, by extension, not knowing what we must fight for.

Yes, all right, we have some vague notions of freedom and democracy. But let’s face it, they are just that: vague notions! How many people truly understand what freedom is, still less what democracy entails? Do we really understand both concepts? Freedom is not just being able to go on your favourite foreign holiday when you please; democracy isn’t just about voting for this handsome guy, or that one. No! It’s about more than that. Much more!

How is the West going to deal with the onslaught of Islam when Westerners don’t even know what they should believe in? In years gone by, Westerners knew exactly what they should believe in: in Judeo-Christian principles. But as churches have emptied, many people now know sweet little about Judeo-Christian principles, and care still less about them.

It may be said, in no uncertain terms I have to say, that we ignore our Judeo-Christian heritage at our own peril! Islam is knocking on our door; in fact, we have already let it in. And the religion is growing apace in the West; and make no mistake about it: it is DIAMETRICALLY-OPPOSED to EVERYTHING we stand for; and it is only biding its time to take us over. The sickness of out time is that ordinary folk have no understanding of what is going on!

It is my belief that George W Bush must shoulder a lot of the blame for this ignorance. For, in stubbornly refusing to apportion blame for the atrocities of 9/11 on Muslims, he has also brought confusion into the minds of many Westerners. Westerners, as a result, have little understanding of what motivates Muslims. To be fed the nonsense that Muslims are our friends is a lie. A damn lie! And Bush, unless he is stupid, knows that very well. Islam is our enemy. It has to be, for it seeks to destroy us.

Make no mistake about it: Islam is waiting in the wings; it is just ready to take us over. Do you think that Muslims don’t realize and understand that Westerners have little stomach for a fight? Have none of it! They perceive YOU as WEAK! Really weak! After all, look what we are allowing them to get away with!

Only this week, it has come to our attention that our bankers are allowing the ideas of Shari’ah banking to be put in place here in the West. Now, in the United Kingdom, Shari’ah banking is to be made available to Muslims and Muslimahs across the United Kingdom, on every high street. Imagine the uproar in the UK in the 1940s with headlines such as Nazi banking to be made available to Nazis by all high street banks across the United Kingdom! It would have been totally unacceptable to people then; and it should be totally unacceptable to people now, too.

In the States, shrines to Islam, our enemy, are to be built by the US Marines. Just how stupid and naïve is that? How many shrines to Christianity are there in Saudi Arabia? We are giving these people an importance above their station!

A war – and George W Bush tells us we are at war – has to be fought from a position of strength. Furthermore, for a war to be successful, it has to be fought in the right atmosphere. The enemy has to be - yes, wait for it – demonized! I make no apologies for the use of that word. We are either at war with an enemy, or we are not! It’s as simple and straightforward as that!

No war in history has been fought like this ridiculous war! We are trying to fight a war without demonizing the enemy. It cannot be done! Either we are at war, or we are not. To say that we are at war with some vague notion of terrorists is nothing less than absurd. Terrorism equates to the Jihad. Indeed, the Jihad is terrorism unadulterated. The Jihad is nothing more and nothing less than terrorism used for the furtherance of the cause of Islam. It is used to Islamize your country and mine. Make no mistake about that!

I am reading a very good book at the moment entitled Defying Hitler. In it, the author , Sebastian Haffner, talks about how the enemy was demonized during the Great War. He talks about France’s “lust for revenge”, England’s “commercial envy”, and Russia’s “barbarism”. That’s how to do it, folks! You cannot win a war when everything has been sanitized. Everything, today, must be sanitized! No war has ever been so won! No war will ever be so won! Either we are at war; or we are not. It’s as simple as that! If we are at war, then we have to demonize the enemy.

President Bush, the day after 9/11, came on TV, almost embracing the Qur’an, stating that the US was not at war with the Islamic world. What he should have stated was that the Islamic world was at war with America and the West. And it still is. Indeed, the war has been intensified. Had he done this, we wouldn’t today be seeing the growth of Islamic banking in the West, the building of shrines to Islam in the US Marines, and we wouldn’t be in such a mess with Islam in general. President Bush! You have failed! You have failed miserably! You’ve had your chance, and you’ve blown it. Move over, Sir! Let someone else try and clear up your mess!

©Mark Alexander

All rights reserved