The "common ground" for all Islamic radicals is hatred of the United States and Israel. Shia leaders like Iranian Ayatollah Khameini, Sheikh Nasrallah and "President" Ahmadinijad, routinely proclaim that Israel, the "Little Satan," must be "destroyed," and that the United States, the "Great Satan," must be "driven from the lands of the prophet" -- meaning places where Islam is practiced as a state religion.
Sunni terror leaders -- like al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden and his second-in command, Ayman al-Zawahiri, have openly pledged to establish a new global caliphate. They have loudly and proudly proclaimed Islam will rule the world, and that the West and its "infidel" religions and cultures will be destroyed.
Bin Laden has boasted, "the pious caliphate will start from Afghanistan." Al-Zawahiri envisions the reestablishment of the caliphate, writing, "history would make a new turn, God willing, in the opposite direction of the United States and the world's Jewish government." Fazlur Rehman Khalil, an al-Qaeda apologist has written, "due to the blessings of jihad, America's countdown has begun. It will declare defeat soon," and will be followed by a new caliphate.
Western political leaders and media elites appear unwilling to acknowledge the threat posed by these two repetitive themes in modern radical Islam -- an Armageddon-like final battle -- and the call for a new globe-spanning caliphate. The failure of the "international community" to fully support democracy in Afghanistan and Iraq, to insist on disarming Hezbollah in Lebanon or to stand unified against Iranian efforts to acquire nuclear weapons place all of us -- not just Israel -- in great peril.
Instead of confronting radical Islam, the response in the United Nations, most of Europe and much of the United States is to preach "tolerance," "understanding" and "dialogue." The belief that poverty, lack of education or inadequate economic opportunity has incited Muslim rage against the West is totally mistaken.
The terrorists left to re-arm in Lebanon weren't recruited into Hezbollah by the promise of a square meal. Apparently most of the would-be suicide killers apprehended last week here in London had jobs. Like the 19 hijackers who killed nearly 3,000 in the United States on Sept. 11, several had university degrees. And like the seven who blew themselves to pieces here in London on July 7, 2005 -- they all intended to die. Understanding that is going to be important in the days ahead -- particularly so if the Iranians deploy "an Islamic bomb." |