Secy of State Clinton promises not to talk to the Taliban's "really bad guys"

This all goes to show how utterly clueless our political class has become. This is one more instance where Dame Hillary acts like the little girl who insistently inserts herself into the big boys' tackle football game and goes crying to the adults when she gets knocked down.

Hillary Clinton: the most eloquent argument for the repeal of the XIXth Amendment.

However, she [Clinton] added: "I don't think there is cause for alarm that the current government or any foreseeable government would turn the clock back like that."

Apparently she thinks more highly of Afghan governments than of an American Republican one. The standard Democratic tactic in election after election has been to frighten the voters with the line that the Republicans mean to "turn back the clock"; i.e. that the Republicans will bring back JIm Crow, or take Social Security away from retirees. To left-liberals like HRC, American Republicans are more alarming than Afghan Talebans. Just like they think that white militias are a bigger threat to the country than Islamic terrorists. Talk about living in a fantasy world!

This "bad guys" stuff began in Iraq, with soldiers and Marines being forced to talk about "the bad guys" when such words as "Hajji" were frowned upon. "The bad guys." The infantilization of practically everything.

I was thinking, if only we had distinguished between the "really bad" Nazis and Japanese Imperial supremacists, we could have avoided all the WWII unpleasantness.

it's not only SECSTATE Clinton, it's government wide. "He's a real bad guy....that one's not such a bad guy..." And the strangest characterization of all....those who are "reconcilable" with money and weapons and job offers.

Read a very disheartening article today on Afghanistan. It talked about the utterly pathetic quality of the Afghan National Army recruits that are supposed to secure the country in the coming years. They are completely unmotivated and thoroughly infiltrated by the Taliban.

It don't look good folks.

Hillary, from London calling... All's well on the Afgan front. A tad more Crown and a pinch more verbiage and all's Peachy! Ahhhhhhh, it's all so dreamy in London this time of year. Thinking of all those Afgan Women reminds me I need to get some nice Pillow Cases while I'm over here.

This is the same bimbo who took it upon herself to endorse a global treaty banning public criticism of Islam.

*** 92:8 ***

Our choice last presidential election was between her and Osama. Wellesley/Ysle vs. Columbia/Harvard: It was a classic football game a century ago; it's a scam today.

*** Bukhari Vol 6 Bk 60 Nbr 662 ****

The nation's collapse into effete elitism has been disastrous. To lead nowadays one must bear a certificate issued by a sufficiently prestigious Dumbass Factory, a widely enough known Pedigree Diploma Mill. Once these alums soar into the mist, they are no longer required to account for reality.

*** 47:24 ***

So what we're left with is doggerel like Moderate Talibans and the Wonders of Islamic Science. In other words, we're left holding the bag.

If only we had sought out the moderate SS officers in the 1930s; Or appealed to the moderate side of Stalin, Mao, Castro, Ho Chi Min, Pol Pot, Chavez, or Obama bin Barry! We could have headed off disaster and all held hands and skipped or sung kum by ya!

Just how many Taliban are we fighting? We get reports from different media outlets that say the Taliban did this or that and then we find out from other sources that some killings or bombings where actually just tribal conflicts that had nothing to do with the Taliban.

It once again reminds us of how archaic these people are throughout Afghanistan let alone the border areas of Pakistan.

The tribal regions of Afghanistan of which there are thousands will fight and kill each other over the slightest provocation according to Afghans themselves but the media continuously runs on the theory that killings among Muslims in Afghanistan are all Taliban related.

This administration is making up a scenario where there is a moderate Taliban. Now they can hand back the country to these swell chaps, and exit stage right. Maybe it's a good idea because I'm not sure how one would go about winning this war.

does that mean Democrats can now talk to Fox?

Read a very disheartening article today on Afghanistan. It talked about the utterly pathetic quality of the Afghan National Army recruits that are supposed to secure the country in the coming years. They are completely unmotivated and thoroughly infiltrated by the Taliban.

It don't look good folks." -- from a poster by "Cornelius" above

That posting from one who has argued tirelessly, in ways little and big, that the enterprise in Iraq, and even more in Afghanistan, was worthwhile, and who has spent a good deal of the last few years arguing with those who, at this site, steadily maintainted otherwise, and suggested quite a different strategy.

"It doesn't look good folks" if you were part of the "folks" who ever thought the American government's inability to identify the Camp of Islam as the enemy, and to figure out ways to weaken, by dividing and demoralizing that camp, that Camp. But to those who saw things differently, what the poster just read, and was apparently shaken by, comes as no surprise at all.

"The chief US diplomat, a longtime advocate of women's rights, acknowledged that some Afghan women were concerned about dealing with the Taliban -- "

I can see where swords, canes, stones, bullets and explosives would heighten that concern....

Mrs. Clinton, its iran!!!
one lunatic with a megaton is worse than a million lunatics with AK's.

Shrillary and "the bad guys"-

Not so different from the equally clueless Condollleeeezzzzza before her who declared that

the "United States doesn't have permanent enemies".

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8TM1F6O5&show_article=1

I never liked Hillary. Even back in the early '90's "headband" days.

Now I know she's a drooling idiot. That's our Secretary of State. Good God.

"really bad guys" - Hillary.

Are you in the 8th grade mentally, or what?

Secy of State Clinton promises not to talk to the Taliban's "really bad guys"

This is discrimination and profiling. They should sue.

Secy of State Clinton promises not to talk to the Taliban's "really bad guys".

You are telling me that there are bad Muslims and "really bad" Muslims. This is news indeed. For once a senior member of the government has acknowledged such a distinction when looking at Muslims.

Has Hillary spoken to Geert Wilders yet? Maybe he is too much of a Western extremist, believing in democracy, challenging doctrines an' all.

Far better for Hillary to talk to the "moderate" Taliban, just as Nick Griffin talks to "non-violent" KKK, than for her to talk to an extremist like Wilders.

That's the thing about Islam - it can send people bonkers, so that they either become Muslims or, even worse, become apologists for Muslims.

Simple question. Why aren't the "moderate" Taliban fighting the "really bad guys"?

Moderate Taliban ?????? is that like being a little bit pregnant???

"We're not going to talk to the really bad guys because the really bad guys are not ever going to renounce Al-Qaeda and renounce violence and agree to re-enter society," Clinton said in an interview with National Public Radio broadcast on Friday.
........................

"Re-enter society"? Has Ms. Clinton forgotten that the Taliban were the ones who *dictated* the form that "society" took in Afghanistan in the 1990s?

And what did that "society" look like? Virtually *hell on earth*. Women flogged in the streets, women stoned and thieves executed in Kabul's soccer stadium, minority Hazzara tribesmen massacred, women subject to the *burkha*—besides which even draconian garments like the chador seem almost humanistic, women not allowed out of their houses without a close male relative, girls' schools shuttered and destroyed, women denied even the most basic health care, men arrested for not having long enough beards, music banned, kite-flying banned, women laughter banned, the destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas, the destruction of much of Afghanistan's artistic heritage. I could go on with this appalling litany.

The only regime that at all compares to the full horror of the Taliban in contemporary times is the hideous Al-Shabab of Somalia.

That we are talking about dealing with the *Taliban* seems to mark the far edges of insanity. General McChrystal may be "tired of fighting", but the Taliban are not. They will, some of them, take our Jizya, and use it to wage more Jihad.

And those Taliban who are in favor of "the fast Jihad" will reject even the temporary appearance of compromising with the Infidel.

more:

The chief US diplomat, a longtime advocate of women's rights, acknowledged that some Afghan women were concerned about dealing with the Taliban...
........................

Where did these women ever get the idea that there should be any "concern" about dealing with the vicious Taliban? Just because, according to a Taliban spokesman, "the face of a woman is a source of corruption".

Moderate Taliban ?????? is that like being just a little bit pregnant???

Moderate Taliban ?????? is that like being just a little bit pregnant???

Why is anyone surprised? How many times have we been told we can't blame the world's Muslims for the actions of a few "extremists"? Hillary isn't alone in her views.
Bush, Cheney, et al told us that after 3,000 people died on their watch. (The terrorists would have killed 100 times that many if they could have. They might have killed at least 30,000 people if they had hit lower floors or taken later flights.)
Our military has been infiltrated but nothing can interfere with diversity.

Roscoe said: "Moderate Taliban ?????? is that like being just a little bit pregnant???"

The same can be said about "moderate Islam". We hear it every day from leaders in both parties. Our policy is "diversity uber alles". We'll go to our grave, as a nation, championing diversity for its own sake.

Abscedere: Yes, I wrote what I wrote. trying to be droll.

Hillary Clinton has long been the big role model of how women can be all they're meant to be etc. etc. etc. I wasn't stating what I thought of women voters so much as what I thought of the poster girl for female empowerment.

Gotta be careful. Right before Thanksgiving, I got fed up with what one of my liberal friends was saying, and said, "Well, since I'm an Evangelical, I've got to trap a few liberated lesbians to live-roast for the feast..."---and the stupid person thought I was in earnest. There just isn't much of any sense of proportion with people these days.

I would be quite happy to help Hillary out on this one.

The really bad taliban are the ones that are walking around, breathing, talking, consuming and excreting.
Those taliban that are not engaged in these activities are good taliban.

I'm Blackfoot Indian and Irish so...Yeah. The only good talibani is a dead talibani.

I quite purposely avoid the use of capital letters at the beginning of islamic words, as I have no respect for same and this is one of the ways I can show it.

islam is a lie and
Truth is killing it.

I feel like I'm in a time warp here.

About this time last year didn't we see Obama trying to negotiate with the moderate Taliban only to be rebuffed for being illogical and the Taliban reminding him that they don't sit at home (who can blame them!).

While I am always one to admire perserverance I am constantly reminded of someone way more intelligent than me (Benjamin Franklin) saying "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and
expecting different results."

Well, who am I to argue with such wisdom. Allow me to officially diagnose Hillary's insanity.

If you think the situation with the State Department is bad.

The ROE, Rules of Engagement for fighting these Islamic barbarians have been drastically changed!

General McChrystal is a disgrace and the blood of our soldiers are on his and Obama's hands !!!!

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/nov/16/us-troops-battle-taliban-afghan-rules/

http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/us/2009/December/New-Battlefield-Rules-Putting-US-Troops-at-Risk/

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/bombs_not_away_V6ppdVraYHSl0xTI9mRp8M

U.S. troops battle both Taliban and their own rules

Sara A. Carter

KASHK-E-NOKHOWD, Afghanistan | Army Capt. Casey Thoreen wiped the last bit of sleep from his eyes before the sun rose over his isolated combat outpost.

His soldiers did the same as they checked and double-checked their weapons and communications equipment. Ahead was a dangerous foot patrol into the heart of Taliban territory.

"Has anyone seen the [Afghan National Army] guys?" asked Capt. Thoreen, 30, the commander of Blackwatch Company, 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry Regiment with the 5th Stryker Brigade. "Are they not showing up?"

A soldier, who looked ghostly in the reddish light of a headlamp, shook his head.

"We can't do anything if we don't have the ANA or [the Afghan National Police]," said a frustrated Capt. Thoreen.

"We have to follow the Karzai 12 rules. But the Taliban has no rules," he said. "Our soldiers have to juggle all these rules and regulations and they do it without hesitation despite everything. It's not easy for anyone out here."

"Karzai 12" refers to Afghanistan's newly re-elected president, Hamid Karzai, and a dozen rules set down by Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the commander of U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan, to try to keep Afghan civilian casualties to a minimum.

"It's a framework to ensure cultural sensitivity in planning and executing operations," said Capt. Thoreen. "It's a set of rules and could be characterized as part of the ROE," he said, referring to the rules of engagement.

Dozens of U.S. soldiers who spoke to The Washington Times during a recent visit to southern Afghanistan said these rules sometimes make a perilous mission even more difficult and dangerous.

Many times, the soldiers said, insurgents have escaped because U.S. forces are enforcing the rules. Meanwhile, they say, the toll of U.S. dead and injured is mounting.

By mid-November, Capt. Thoreen's unit had lost five soldiers to suicide bombings and improvised explosive devices (IEDs). Many more had been wounded and three of their Stryker vehicles had been destroyed.

In his Aug. 30 assessment of the situation in Afghanistan, which was leaked to the press, Gen. McChrystal said that the legitimacy of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) had been "severely damaged … in the eyes of the Afghan people" because of "an over-reliance on firepower and force protection."

To succeed, he wrote, "ISAF will have to change its operating culture to pursue a counterinsurgency approach that puts the Afghan people first." This entails "accepting some risk in the short term [but] will ultimately save lives in the long term."

The Times compiled an informal list of the new rules from interviews with U.S. forces. Among them:

• No night or surprise searches.

• Villagers have to be warned prior to searches.

• ANA or ANP must accompany U.S. units on searches.

• U.S. soldiers may not fire at the enemy unless the enemy is preparing to fire first.

• U.S. forces cannot engage the enemy if civilians are present.

• Only women can search women.

• Troops can fire at an insurgent if they catch him placing an IED but not if insurgents are walking away from an area where explosives have been laid.

The mission

Without Afghan army or police, Capt. Thoreen and his troops were about to scuttle their mission: a house-to-house search for weapons and insurgents in the poor Pashtun village of Kashk-E Nokhowd, combined with an effort to win over the village's 200 residents by passing out toys, pencils and toiletries.

Finally, a small ragtag group of Afghan police arrived to accompany the Americans. The Afghan army was a no-show.

The police, some of whom who looked as young as 13 in their oversized uniforms, have a poor reputation in the local Maywand district for corruption and extortion.

"I'm guessing it was too early for the Afghan National Army to get up out of bed and help us out," Capt. Thoreen said. "They're probably still asleep. Unbelievable."

"Is everyone accounted for?" he asked. "Let's move — stagger your positions."

As the sun revealed the Red Mountain of Maywand, the soldiers headed out the gate of combat outpost Rath with weapons ready.

They set up a security perimeter near a more than century-old British fortress, whose crumbling walls overshadowed the small outpost.

In 1880, British and Indian forces fought and lost a battle here against Afghan forces led by a girl named Mawali, a Pashtun interpreter told The Times. He asked that his name not be used to protect himself and his family from Taliban retribution.

"She told the men in the village that they were not men if they would not raise their arms to fight the enemy," he said. "They were so embarrassed they went to battle and Pashtun farmers killed more than 6,000 British and Indian soldiers."

The interpreter said this Pashtun Joan of Arc was buried not far from the village. On this day, however, there was not a woman in sight. Under the Taliban's strict interpretation of Islam, women are discouraged from appearing in public and are supposed to be shrouded head to toe in burqas.

Because of the Karzai 12 rules, U.S. forces have had to bring in American women to conduct searches of their Afghan counterparts.

So Cpl. Amy B. King, 42, a medic from Springfield, Mo.; Spc. Dionalyn O. Bird, 29, a cook from Bloomfield, Conn.; Spc. Toni Winkler, 20, a medic from South Carolina; and Sgt. Frevette J. Skelton, 31, a cook, entered the village with Capt. Thoreen's men.

"We have the women say their names before we search them because sometimes it's a man under the burqa," said Cpl. King. "In some cases, there are weapons on them."

"It's OK for the insurgents to use their women to hide weapons but it's not OK for us [men] to search them," said Staff Sgt. Joshua Yost, 27, of Shelton, Wash. "So now, we have to break our own rules and bring women into combat just so they can search the women."

Dusty little faces peered over ancient salmon-colored mud walls as the Americans entered the village. The children giggled and pointed at the soldiers.

"Stop, don't walk any closer," the Pashtun interpreter told a farmer and two boys who emerged from the back of the old British fort. "Stop where you are."

They kept walking in the soldiers' direction but the soldiers did not raise their weapons.

"Stop," the interpreter yelled again. "Don't move."

He then asked the man and boys to lift their traditional tunics to show the soldiers that they were not carrying weapons or explosives. Eventually, they were allowed to pass.

The platoon members spread across and around the fields surrounding the village. An announcement from a dilapidated mosque alerted villagers of the impending search.

"Well, the bad guys know we're coming," said the interpreter, laughing. "They're probably hiding their weapons by now."

Some of the men squatting outside the mosque looked stoic. Others stared in anger.

In the mosque, the soldiers discovered a 9 mm handgun with clips.

A U.S. civil affairs officer, who asked that his name not be revealed because of the nature of his work, said only insurgents carry such handguns. "Everyone here has Kalashnikovs, very few have these," he said.

The mosque's imam, who gave his name as Sahed, walked alongside the U.S. soldiers down a narrow dusty road, followed by a gaggle of children.

"We need help getting clean water," he told Capt. Thoreen through the interpreter. "Water is what is most important."

Civilian aid workers and State Department officials rarely visit Maywand because of security concerns, so development work falls on the U.S. military's shoulders.

"We have to be everything from the soldier to the engineer, water expert to medical care," Capt. Thoreen said.

"We try to hire locals but first we need to secure the region," he said. "We are not going to get the [nongovernmental organizations] out here until we do that."

Imam: U.S. 'needs to go'

Interviewed by The Times, Sahed the imam said U.S. troops were "respectful to his people and provided security."

"I tell my people in the mosque to not become suicide bombers and to not kill those who want to help us," he said.

However, asked about the presence of U.S. troops in his village, Sahed said they "need to go. Get out of Afghanistan or it will never be resolved. Between Islam and the infidel there can never be a relationship."

"In my personal opinion, the Americans won't be able to resolve this problem," he added. "The longer they stay the more likely there will be another attack like Sept. 11. It's only the Afghan people who will be able to resolve this problem."

The next day, however, the imam visited the U.S. combat outpost for the first time, bringing a gift of homemade yogurt candy. He told Capt. Thoreen that he had asked his people to stop targeting the U.S. soldiers.

Capt. Thoreen said he appreciated the gesture but wasn't sure whether the imam was telling the truth.

"To some degree we are trying to pull the people of Maywand back over," he said.

"In some ways, we're not just fighting for their security but our own and those of the ones we love back home."

Then he added, referring to the rules of engagement that his forces try to observe, "For our guys, it's tough. Sometimes they feel they have their hands tied behind their backs."

Contacted by e-mail after The Times' reporter and photographer had returned to the U.S., Capt. Thoreen described a clinic his unit had since hosted, which treated 75 locals including 20 women.

"It was a huge success. The people are becoming much more open and friendly," he said. As evidence of that success, he cited a drop in IED attacks on his soldiers.

We Australians are chipping in with the 'give lots of money to Afghanistan' stupidity, too.

Well, our government is. Islamosavvy citizens are NOT pleased.

I was talking to one of my sisters the other day. Now, she hasn't been following the Jihad news as closely as I have. She hasn't gone into what Islam teaches as thoroughly as I have (though she knows it's Bad News). Nevertheless: she raised the topic of this dumping of money into the bottomless pit that is Afghanistan, herself, and we were completely agreed that it was a *total waste*. We also agreed that Australia's 'contribution' to Afghanistan would have a much better effect if redirected toward our own Homeland Defence.

Australia's Foreign Minister, and the Shadow Foreign Minister also, will be getting some short, sharp letters in the near future; from me and from her and - I am sure - from others in Australia who share our views.

Karzai's plan for the government to hire their own Taliban makes sense to Hillary. Why not, there's already lots of Afghans on the payroll shooting U.S. troops. That disgruntled interpreter no problem, ruled out. Earlier in the week a military convoy open fire on a threatening vehicle, killing the driver. He was an imam. After the angry demonstrations, an apology "On behalf of ISAF, I express my sincere regrets for this loss of life and convey my deepest condolences to his family."
And the freindly fire ambush on the special forces. The Afghan Defense Ministry spoke up strongly, calling for the pilots to be punished.
This war is spinning out of control, Hillary should be demanding women's rights.

Can someone please remind Mrs. Clinton to please be reassured, despite her belief otherwise, that she has a vagina, not a penis. For a Jihadist, this is a no no.

A Jihadist, will never deliberate or negotiate with a kafir and that too with a vagina, far from it, he only knows only how to order the vagina owner and expect her to obey in humble servitude, or else face the dire consequence of beatings, whipping, stoning, rape or death among other popular but less severe punishments for disobeying, according to the Jihadist manual. In their tradition:
1 penis = 2 vaginas, but when the penis is a defendant then the formula changes:
1 penis = 4 vaginas (4 witnesses a must for rape charge proof). Unlike our culture where 1 penis = 1 vagina.
Good try Mrs. Clinton, but sorry! You may be a quick learner, but in this case your taquiyya is showing in public!
Have you tried telling them you can wear a full burqa to the meeting, just maybe Mullah Omar might oblige Mrs. Clinton dear??

I want to share with you an e-mail my cousin forwarded me the other day. I think it is quite pertinent in this thread, because it foretells America's future thanks to those who think there exists a "moderate Muslim", and those elitists among us can tell the difference between the moderate and extreme Muslim:
  
       This is by far the best explanation of the Muslim terrorist situation I have ever read. His references to past history are accurate and clear. Not long, easy to understand, and well worth the read. The author of this email is said to be Dr. Emanuel Tanay, a well-known and well-respected psychiatrist.
  
 
       A German's View on Islam
  
 
      A man, whose family was German aristocracy prior to World War II, owned a number of large industries and estates. When asked how many German people were true Nazis, the answer he gave can guide our attitude toward fanaticism. 'Very few people were true Nazis,' he said, 'but many enjoyed the return of German pride, and many more were too busy to care. I was one of those who just thought the Nazis were a bunch of fools. So, the majority just sat back and let it all happen. Then, before we knew it, they owned us, and we had lost control, and the end of the world had come. My family lost everything. I ended up in a concentration camp and the Allies destroyed my factories..'
 
 
 
 
      We are told again and again by 'experts' and 'talking heads' that Islam is the religion of peace and that the vast majority of Muslims just want to live in peace. Although this unqualified assertion may be true, it is entirely irrelevant. It is meaningless fluff, meant to make us feel better, and meant to somehow diminish the spectre of fanatics rampaging across the globe in the name of Islam.
 
 
 
 
      The fact is that the fanatics rule Islam at this moment in history. It is the fanatics who march. It is the fanatics who wage any one of 50 shooting wars worldwide. It is the fanatics who systematically slaughter Christian or tribal groups throughout Africa and are gradually taking over the entire continent in an Islamic wave. It is the fanatics who bomb, behead, murder, or honour-kill. It is the fanatics who take over mosque after mosque. It is the fanatics who zealously spread the stoning and hanging of rape victims and homosexuals. It is the fanatics who teach their young to kill and to become suicide bombers.
 
 
 
 
      The hard, quantifiable fact is that the peaceful majority, the 'silent majority,' is cowed and extraneous.
 
 
 
 
      Communist Russia was comprised of Russians who just wanted to live in peace, yet the Russian Communists were responsible for the murder of about 20 million people. The peaceful majority were irrelevant. China 's huge population was peaceful as well, but Chinese Communists managed to kill a staggering 70 million people.
 
 
 
 
      The average Japanese individual prior to World War II was not a warmongering sadist. Yet, Japan murdered and slaughtered its way across South East Asia in an orgy of killing that included the systematic murder of 12 million Chinese civilians; most killed by sword, shovel, and bayonet.
 
 
 
 
      And who can forget Rwanda , which collapsed into butchery. Could it not be said that the majority of Rwandans were 'peace loving'?
 
 
 
 
      History lessons are often incredibly simple and blunt, yet for all our powers of reason, we often miss the most basic and uncomplicated of points:
 
 
 
 
      Peace-loving Muslims have been made irrelevant by their silence.
 
 
 
 
      Peace-loving Muslims will become our enemy if they don't speak up, because like my friend from Germany , they will awaken one day and find that the fanatics own them, and the end of their world will have begun.
 
 
 
 
      Peace-loving Germans, Japanese, Chinese, Russians, Rwandans, Serbs, Afghans, Iraqis, Palestinians, Somalis, Nigerians, Algerians, and many others have died because the peaceful majority did not speak up until it was too late. As for us who watch it all unfold, we must pay attention to the only group that counts--the fanatics who threaten our way of life.
 
 
 
 
      Lastly, anyone who doubts that the issue is serious and just deletes this email without sending it on, is contributing to the passiveness that allows the problems to expand. So, extend yourself a bit and send this on and on and on! Let us hope that thousands, world-wide, read this and think about it, and send it on - before it's too late.
 

From post above... Peace-loving Muslims have been made irrelevant by their silence.
Peace-loving Muslims will become our enemy if they don't speak up...

Peace loving Muslims...? Which ones are those?

What are 'peace loving Mahoundians' going to speak up about?

Inquiring minds want to know...

Maybe they'll play nice if she just asks them "pretty please".

Moderate Unicorns
In medieval times, people created fairy tales and magical creatures to make sense of their world. One of the most endearing is the unicorn, a horse with a single horn that symbolized purity and wholesomeness. In our modern times, people in Europe and the United States consider themselves more sophisticated and rational than people from the Middle Ages, but we still create myths, albeit more subtle ones.

Daily we hear reports of violent acts committed by Islamic terrorists on every inhabited continent. We try to wish it away with the myth of the ‘Moderate Muslim’, telling ourselves the Islamic agenda has been’ hijacked’ by a ‘tiny minority of extremists’ and that soon the huge, silent, moderate majority of Muslims will take charge and change things. However, post 9/11 very few authoritative Muslims have condemned terrorist actions. We are still waiting for moderates to stand and deliver, identifying and removing extremist thugs from their mosques and their communities. Waiting for this self-correction is our modern version of unicorn hunting.

Moderate Muslims will not be able to wrest control of the agenda for several reasons. First of all, Mohammed, the Messenger of Allah’s eternal word, was not moderate. Since Mohammed is 'The Perfect Example for Men in all times and places', ( Qur'an 33.21), moderates have no legitimacy when admonishing fellow Muslims, who commit the same extremist acts attributed to or condoned by Muhammad in the ahadith. Also, the Qur’an condones violence and coercion to further the Islamic agenda. People whom we call moderates are labeled hypocrites by Allah Himself in the Qur’an. Moderates will always lose the argument because, as ex-Muslim author Ibn Warraq says, “There may be moderates in Islam but Islam itself is not moderate.”

Islamic expert Daniel Pipes and others estimate ten percent of the Islamic world to be militant. In 1933 when the Nazi party took control of Germany it had 2 million members, comprising only three percent of Germany’s sixty-six million citizens. A tiny minority of extremists can control a vast number of moderates, making them irrelevant.

Placing hope in ‘The Moderate Muslim’ is like searching for unicorns in the forest.

Zack Highstreet - A Plague on Both Houses