Kenneth Ballen wrote an article in the Christian Science Monitor on Feb 23rd that theorizes that Islam is not really to blame for the terrorist acts of its followers. Here’s his closing argument:

Terror Free Tomorrow’s 20-plus surveys of Muslim countries in the past two years reveal another surprise: Even among the minority who indicated support for terrorist attacks and Osama bin Laden, most overwhelmingly approved of specific American actions in their own countries. For example, 71 percent of bin Laden supporters in Indonesia and 79 percent in Pakistan said they thought more favorably of the United States as a result of American humanitarian assistance in their countries – not exactly the profile of hard-core terrorist sympathizers. For most people, their professed support of terrorism/bin Laden can be more accurately characterized as a kind of “protest vote” against current US foreign policies, not as a deeply held religious conviction or even an inherently anti- American or anti-Western view.

In truth, the common enemy is violence and terrorism, not Muslims any more than Christians or Jews. Whether recruits to violent causes join gangs in Los Angeles or terrorist cells in Lahore, the enemy is the violence they exalt.

Our surveys show that not only do Muslims reject terrorism as much if not more than Americans, but even those who are sympathetic to radical ideology can be won over by positive American actions that promote goodwill and offer real hope.

America’s goal, in partnership with Muslim public opinion, should be to defeat terrorists by isolating them from their own societies. The most effective policies to achieve that goal are the ones that build on our common humanity. And we can start by recognizing that Muslims throughout the world want peace as much as Americans do.

Kenneth, I would just like you to take a few moments to *think* about what you just said. We should win people over with goodwill gestures and not violent, dominating acts. We need both Kenneth. We need to help feed the hungry and help cloth the poor, but we also need to control and eliminate the fanatical, homicidal element. Think about your analogy. Would we be better served giving the gang bangers $100,000 per year NOT to join a gang, or should we punish gang-bangers AND reward good grades, etc. in a carrot-and-stick fashion? You said:

Whether recruits to violent causes join gangs in Los Angeles or terrorist cells in Lahore, the enemy is the violence they exalt.

No, Kenneth. There is a vast difference which people of liberal persuasion fail to grasp, or (perhaps) admit: the violence used in defense of freedom and liberty is A GOOD THING. Violence used in terrorist acts, such as drive-by shootings and suicide-bombers, are a bad thing. Violent acts are not our enemy, Kenneth, it’s the perpetrators’ intentions!

For example, a man who sets out to rape a woman and then kills her with a gun to avoid prosecution is a rapist and a murder. He is vile and evil. But the husband who shoots and kills that would-be rapist in his home is not a murder. He is a protector and a hero. See the difference? In both acts a gun was used, but one story has an ugly ending and the other has a happier ending.

In closing, you said:

America’s goal, in partnership with Muslim public opinion, should be to defeat terrorists by isolating them from their own societies.

In this case, the ugly ending would be catering to “Muslim public opinion” and to withdraw our troops prematurely. The happier ending would be to “isolate them from their own societies”…  in a nice pine box.

H/T: Girl on the Right (and her liberal commentators)

ProphetJoe

Round Two: Mrs. McCarthy of New York introduced House Resolution 1022 “to reauthorize the assault weapons ban, and for other purposes.” I would suggest the “other purposes” are to subjugate the masses…

Read all about it here.

E.M. Zanotti has the scoop at The American Princess. Interestingly enough, E.M. has found herself in a position of defending Amanda’s right to free speech, but, (if I read her correctly) not the actual substance of her speech. You can also read the Announcement at Pandagon, but I don’t know why you would want to visit her site…

E.M. has suspended comments as of last evening, but she said she will enable them today. I hope so, I would like to comment on this subject!

Many people hate America… why is that? Even more interesting is the significant number of Americans who hate America. Lately, I hear this “hate speech” coming in various flavors:

• They hate white males; claiming we are oppressive racists bigots trying to oppress the minorities.
• They hate conservatives; claiming we’re against freedom and personal choice.
• They hate Christians; claiming we’re either mindless, unenlightened fools or we’re homophobic pedophiles hiding behind the cloak of religion.
• They hate American business; claiming capitalism is the downfall of all things good.
• They hate American manufacturers; claiming “our pollution” is causing global warming and killing the “fragile” Mother Earth.
• They hate the U.S. Armed Forces; claiming our heroes in uniform are rapists and baby-killers who are ignorant, stupid, muscle-headed thugs for an Imperialistic Regime.
• They hate George W. Bush; claiming he is an ignorant, draft-dodging moron who stole the election(s) for his own evil plans to subjugate Americans and become unimaginably wealthy at the same time.

OK, you get the picture…

Why is it that Americans see America in this light? For all of our admitted faults, we do a pretty damned good job.

• Americans have “saved” Europe twice in the last century. Not only did we (with the aid of our allies) defeat German Nazism and Italian Fascism, but we also spent million upon millions of dollars to rebuild Europe under the Marshal Plan. The same is true for Japan as well.
• Americans spent millions of dollars in foreign aid each and every year. If the other countries in the world were to repay us over the next 10 years, we could cut taxes, AND replace all of our schools, government buildings and re-fit the military at the same time! Yet, we have no expectations of that happening.
• Americans are quick and decisive to respond to natural disasters. As much as Katrina has been a fiasco (on many levels), look at our response to the Tsunami in Indonesia, to the earthquakes in the middle east and to the famine in Africa.
• Americans are tolerant. We take an America First approach to politics. We have a tendency to think of foreign conflicts (like the Arab-Israeli struggle or the Irish-English struggle) as “their fight”. We will subsidize countries like Israel when we see a need to protect our national interests (or to ensure their survival), but we often don’t want to get too involved. While this is sometimes good, it can also lead to bad situations like World War II and the current War on Terror. Had we addressed the despots earlier and used a decisive military solution, we wouldn’t have the mess we have today.

All in all, I think most Americans are decent, hard-working people. They want to pursue their dreams. They want to help others when they NEED help, but not every time someone whines about how unfair life is being to them at that particular moment. They want to be able to pray to God, or not, as they see fit. They are caring, compassionate people, but they don’t want to know what’s going on in their neighbor’s bedroom.

Live and let live. That’s a pretty fair assessment of the American sentiment.

Unfortunately, we have morons like Stan Goff of the Insurgent American (and no, I’m not linking to the moron’s web site) who offers this tidbit of intellectual feces:

February 6th, 2007

An appeal to people outside the United States to break US imperial power

BY Stan Goff

NOTE: Please translate this into as many languages as possible, and distribute as widely as possible.

This series of suggestions is written because my country is on a path that will first destroy other societies — upon which we depend — and the biospheric basis of life itself; and this means eventually our own society. Our society now — an imperial society — is deeply alienated, desperately unhappy, and thoroughly indoctrinated into the acquisitive individualism that creates that alienation and unhappiness. We continue down this path because the weight of the system gives it such enormous inertia. We need you to do these things, not just to ensure your own futures… but for our own good.

The United States now exists as a parasite upon the rest of the world. In this system, this political entity called the United States of America is not only a parasite, but a parasite that is destroying its own host. There is only one outcome in the end for such a relationship; we will all perish together. With the help of the people of the world — and I will outline ten ways you can help us — we can all escape this fate. Each of us — with the destruction of US imperial power — will be in a better position to work for a sustainable and indpendent future for ourselves, our children, and our grandchildren.

(1) If there is a US military base in your country, begin a concerted campaign to get rid of it. These bases are exercises of imperial power against your own sovereignty. They are creating base-economies of crime, corruption, and prostitution. They are environmental disasters. Wage a sharp political struggle to make them untenable.

(2) If there are US companies, be they factories, financial offices, or retail outlets, in your country, organize sustained boycotts of them.

(3) If you live in a country that owes an external debt to the US or the US-controlled International Monetary Fund, begin a fight to either default on that debt outright, or secure low-interest or no-interest loans from other countries to pay down the principle. Your nations’ debt is your peoples’ slavery.

(4) Boycott any American agricultural products being dumped on your national markets; and wage a political fight to stop them coming in. US industrial agricultural corporations are heavily-subsidized and predatory monstrosities that destroy the environment and are used as a weapon to destroy your local, traditional agriculture. Ending agriculture for export and supporting your own subsistence and local market agriculture is necessary to break your dependency upon and subjugation to the United States. Fight for you nations’ land; and do not let it become an export platform for dollar-crops in the US market.

(5) Boycott American cultural products. They are propaganda aimed at turning your children into mindless consumers and your nations into obedient colonies.

(6) Make these political issues at home. Fight politicians who are called “pro-American,” This means they are stooges for US-based transnational corporations or for the US state.

(7) Fight to nationalize your most valuable natural resources; and support politicians who will abrogate agreements that allow US finance capital unlimited access to your national markets.

(8) Try to close down any projects that are run out of the US Embassy by the US Agency for International Development (USAID). These projects are designed to drain talented local people away from national independence movements, and the USAID works closely with the Central Intelligence Agency.

(9) Expose and resist any political activity by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), also operating in concert with the US Embassy. This is a front organization for the purpose of engineering elections outcomes in your nation that are seen as favorable to US transnational corporations and the US state.

(10) Mount massive political efforts directed at US Embassies everywhere that oppose the US occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan, and demand not only withdrawal, but that no US bases be left behind.

NOTE: I have not called for violence in any of these suggestions. These are generic recommendations.

Posted by stan in Analysis-Synthesis

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 6th, 2007 at 9:58 pm and is filed under Analysis-Synthesis. You can follow any responses to this entry through the comments RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

Comments are closed.

Stan’s argument makes me wonder how he can function with such a seemingly low IQ…

H/T to Bushwack at American and Proud 

The American Princess has an outstanding post on the subject. One might suspect that Barack will soon claim the Abraham Lincoln connection too — nah, too inflammatory to some Southern voters and he already “has” the Illinois vote locked up thanks to Durbin, Daley and Blagojevich. (hell, if history is any indication, Obama will take Illinois with a 120% of the registered voters).

Semper Vigilans!