Excellent post and something we all should be thinking about. I don't think the average Westerner is psychologically prepared to deal with radical Islam. Their mindset, produced by their religious beliefs, is so different from ours.

Posted by: Taylor at December 26, 2006 10:03 AM

I'm not so sure it's "self-hatred" as Pipes says. It seems to me that western countries (including Israel) have a certain cultural welcoming aspect to it that doesn't want to offend anyone. It does so out of kindness. Unfortunately, Muslims are learning to use that against us.

Posted by: Marissa at December 26, 2006 10:25 AM

Myths in religions cause the Conflicts

Jews know about Christianity very well, same is the case of Christian that they know Islam in details. But there is a mind set which is very well guarded with the vested interests by these denominations. A barrier of divisive myths is woven and kept up at all the times and made sure that it always stays twisted. Any cross over is forbidden. Then there is lot of business of wealth and estate involved in these arenas. There are economic empires standing on the foundation of perception. The prestige, the splendour, opulence and pomp and show of these fogy empires, all simply restrict to accept the truth knocking so loud at the doors. A tremendous courage, is required to step out of delude and cross over.

Islam; the custodian of the latest word of God; finds it facing a tremendous challenge to guide and lead the world; as the previous denominations in religion; Christianity and Judaic are fixed in their self made ruts of myths that they have erected around them.

The Biblical verdict: "And it shall come to pass on that day, that the Lord will set His hand again the second time to recover the remnant of His people, that shall remain from Assyria, and from Egypt and from Pathros and from Kush and from Eklam and from Shinar and from Hamath and from the islands of the sea. And he shall set up an ensign for the nations and will assemble the dispersed of Israel and gather together the scattered of Judah from the four corners of the Earth." Isaiah 11:11;

Where as the ten out of twelve tribes of house of Israel were forced by Assyrians to leave Israel and migrate to the neighbouring countries. Few traversed their journeys as far as to Hearat, Khyber in Afghanistan in the North-East and on ward to Kashmir and beyond.

Afghanistan is a rugged mountainous country with a dry harsh climate. It is very sparsely populated with very few links roads; a rough, unapproachable land; serving as a haven for the fugitives to harbour. Most of the populace is Pashtun and they live in the north eastern area along Afghanistan-Pakistan border. Present day Taliban are mostly Pashtun and they come from this area. Their sub tribes are; Shinwari, Efredi, Reuveni and Gadun.

Earlier; these Pashtun from both sides of the border joined together and along with other Eurasian and Arabs fighters formed a fighting force called ‘Mujahideen’. They were able to defeat a super power of area; Soviet Union and evicted them out of Afghanistan. This war was sponsored by US and managed by a US-proxy; Pakistan. The Soviet eviction from Afghanistan also resulted into fall of Soviet Empire; leaving US as the ‘Lone super power’. This proved to be a big ideological victory for Mujahideen.

Soviet departure from Afghanistan created a vacuum and their great sponsor US also abandoned them. Vacuum turned into mayhem and presence of abandoned brutal forces of Mujahideen resulted into take over of power in Afghanistan by Taliban.

Taliban are staunch Muslim and their ideology has got their history and connections right back to their earlier migrated ancestors from Palestine. Although their ancestors claimed to be from Jewish race but with the passage of time they accepted the reality in religion and very graciously embraced Islam. In Afghanistan, if we explore; the tribe living bear Jewish features and their habits. Other than the names of their tribes that they are Jewish roots; the valleys, the towns and mountain ranges bear the Jewish imprints**; i.e. Koh-e Sulemon (main mountain range) and Musa kheil and Esaa Kheil , Musa Qila (fort) are the administrative districts and towns names of the area. Although with the passage of time these tribes converted to Islam; but are still keeping some of their old Jewish law practices prescribed by Torah. Incidents of stoning to death etc do exist among them. They carry out these acts as per their old diehard Jewish traditions. Islam does not dictate them.

The latest bid to separate the fact from the myth of Taliban and Israel lost tribes comes from award winning documentary by filmmaker Simcha Jacobovici in ‘Quest for the Lost Tribes of Israel’

Mr. Jacobvici do***ents his travels to Tunisia, Afghanistan, Burma and Uzbekistan. In every place, he found evidence that not only had the Jews been there thousands of years ago but that people still had Israelites names, practices and an Israel consciousness.
"I didn’t approach this differently than any other story. I was quite prepared to report there ain’t nothing here," Mr. Jacobovici said in an interview. "If I land in Afghanistan and the Pathans say they’re Israelites, it’s my job to report it honestly."

His quixotic trek took him to Afghanistan, where he found hill-dwelling people who belonged to the tribes of Shinwari, Efredi, Reuveni and Gadun, corruptions, he believes, of the tribal names of Simeon, Ephraim, Reuven and Gad.
They also call themselves children of Isaac, an odd appellation for Muslims who would more likely to follow the tradition of Ishmael, the father of the Arab nation, not his Jewish half-brother Isaac. . .
In Central Asia, where Mr. Jacobovici found treasure troves of objects with Hebrew and Aramaic writing hidden away in museum basements, there was, he believes a deliberate effort by the former Soviet Union to suppress the history of the tribes.

While another sect of Islam called; ‘Ahmaddiya Muslim’, also press their ‘claim of evidence’ of travel of Jesus* to North India. As per their claim Jesus* after going through the trivial of cross; left his disciples and the three tribes among whom he was living and migrated in disguise to present day Iraq, then to Iran, and onward to Herat in Afghanistan; where some of the other Judaic tribes had migrated. He finally travelled to Kashmir hill tracks; a part of Himalaya ranges and died there at the age of 120 years. His tomb is located in Khanyar, Srinagar. Kashmir, India. Jesus mother also accompanied him in his long journey. She died on her way to Kashmir and her grave yard known as Mai Maree (respected lady maree) is located on the hill tops of a town, a big rest resort, known as Muree Hills. Muree Hills is some 30 miles north of Islamabad, in Pakistan.

There is a big challenge ahead to come to a compromise and to do the reconciliation by all in the fields of religion to accept the truth.

Ahmadiyya Muslim website reference: http://www.alislam.org/library/jesusinkashmir.html

* peace be upon him ** Musa means Moses* and Essa means Jesus*
-------------------------------
Love for all, Hatred for none

Posted by: A Khokar at December 26, 2006 10:32 AM

I respectfully disagree with you Melissa. Rather it is the liberals and politically correct left that is 'inclusive' Look at America, which historically been open to immigration. Before, people came here to become Americans and leave the old world behind. How many examples are there of people who would not speak European languages at home in favor of English? Today you have to press to '2' to get English.. How long is it before we have to press '3' and so on? Really PC has gone too far and is disruptive of American culture.

Posted by: lonewolf at December 26, 2006 10:33 AM

Aside from the horrors that will likely be the result of Iran getting nuclear weapons, Pipes gives a good discription of what is going on in Western countries. He calls it "Lawful Islamism."

He says:

"Quietly, lawfully, peacefully, Islamists do their work throughout the West to impose aspects of Islamic law, win special privileges for themselves, shut down criticism of Islam, create Muslim-only zones, and deprive women and non-Muslims of their full civil rights."

"Lawful Islamists advance their cause through lobbying politicians, intimidating the media, threatening international boycotts, making predatory use of the legal system, advancing novel legislation, influencing the contents of school textbooks, and in other ways exploiting the freedoms of an open society. They advance their agenda in incremental steps, each of which in itself is minor but in the aggregate point to fundamental changes in society."

Sounds a little like the CAIR organization we all know and love and describes the European situation to a tee.

Posted by: Taylor at December 26, 2006 10:42 AM

A Khokar,
Interesting post. I would like to add some more facts to it. One of the 10 lost tribes of Israel is in Manipur, North East India. They were accepted by Israel, and some of the villagers have moved to Israel from India. 9 of them are in the IDF.

You mention "Mai Maree". "Mai" is Hindi for "Mother". "Matru" is Sanskrit for Mother, and in Hindi "Mata", "Mai", "Maiya" (this is also a Latin word meaning "good mother), or "Ma" mean "Mother".

The city of Gandhar, mentioned in several ancient Hindu books, is now called as kandhar. Also, Panjsher (afghanistan), is a Sanskrit word. There are also lots of other cities whose names have Sanskrit origin.

Another fact. The Hindus also make the Star of David. Only, we call it "Brahma Shutkosh".

The Sanskrit words "Eeshwar", "Eesh", mean "God". The word "Eesha" means "Goddess". There are hundreds of synonyms of "Eeshwar" but this is most common word and has descended directly into Hindi. "Hey Eeshwar" is Hindi for "Oh God" and is a very common expression. I point out this word because it sounds very like "Isa".

There are lots of signs linking ancient civilizations together. What we need is some unbiased people to put it all together.

Posted by: arjun.sevak at December 26, 2006 10:56 AM

Yes, I do see your point lonewolf. But the western-style cultures do seem to produce the very politically correct liberals you describe. It seems that only the west is producing liberals in such massive numbers sufficient to bring about the suicide of the west.

Posted by: Marissa at December 26, 2006 10:57 AM

In the 1992 election, Begala and the Clinton team called Pat Buchanan a bigot to want to stop immigration. Then in Feb 1993, the first WTC attack came. At that point, they should have admitted their error and stopped immigration. Instead of telling the truth, like Pipes and a few others were about the threat, they let in the 19 immigrants who attacked WTC again and the Pentagon.

On 9-11, Peter Jennings and the MSM and Norman Mineta realized that they had done this. Rather than admit their error, they pre-emptively attacked Pat Buchanan, the families, the people still dying, and their potential champions as bigots if they brought up this history.

Bush joined that in his "religion of peace" speech. We now know that Bush had in fact had a specific warning on Aug 6, 2001 in his PDB reflecting prior warnings. He ignored those. As did others at top positions in their administration. They are supposed to protect us, not call those who do or try, bigots. That was happening from Feb 1993 to Sep 2001. That is going on from Sep 2001 to the present.

The 9-11 Commission did the same. They were big pushers of the immigration that after WTC 1993 attack and the Pat is a bigot ply of 1992, (and thus Republicans and immigration restrictions are).

Now they are attacking Virgil Goode just as they attacked Pat. Paul Begala called Virgil Goode a bigot on CNN with Bay Buchnan. (For link to transcript go here. ) Then she was forced to do a ritual denunciation of Virgil Goode. Begala planned that in advance. He was making Pat's sister, Bay, in effect ritually denounce her own brother.

Begala should have apologized to Bay Buchanan and Pat and the 9-11 Families. Instead he planned in advance this ploy to cover up his past responsibility. This is what the MSM did on 9-11 on TV as the smoke went up to heaven from a funeral pyre they had created to cover up their prior errors.

Where does the bigotry start in the following sequence:

Make Pakistan give up its nuclear weapons.

Don't let Iran have them, even if it takes a ground invasion now, and it does.

Don't let Muslims in Russia have control of Russian bombers or missile silos with nukes, or subs. (Russia will be 50 percent Muslim in less than 50 years.)

Don't let Muslims in the UK have control of UK bombers or missile silos with nukes, or subs.

Don't let Muslims in France have control of French bombers or missile silos with nukes, or subs.

Don't let Muslims in the US have control of US bombers or missile silos with nukes, or subs.

Where does the obviousness stop and the bigotry begin?

What would we do if a US B2 Bomber crew of Muslims nuked our major cities? Nothing? Praise Islam?

We could have Begala back on CNN with Bay Buchanan, and he could call Goode a bigot and make Bay criticize Goode. That apparently is what we have adopted as our national "strategy", self-indulgent self destruction.

Posted by: Old Atlantic at December 26, 2006 11:01 AM

Pipes makes valid points. However, the non-Muslim world is becoming very aware of the deception DNA in the belief-system. This is the only major belief-system that gives any permission to deceive. The teachings of Jesus (e.g.) mandate absolute honesty and directness-even with enemies. Jesus said "Let your Yes be Yes and your No be No. All else comes from the evil one". Even non-believers in Christ respect this aspect of the true followers of Jesus. For this reason deceivers (Hitler e.g., and the majority of Muslims) must have contempt for the message of Christ. (Hitler said Christianity was weak and called it "the Jewish Christ creed with its pity ethics".)

There are probably 100-200 million Muslims who actively support the violence mandated by the belief-system. They are honest and direct in their expressions re the belief-system.

However, deception is really perceived by humans to be more dangerous than overt hostility. We cannot love that which we cannot trust. Deception produces distrust and that evokes fear and fear evokes a flight or fight response. Many non-Muslims now fear the belief-system's deception permissions more than Islamist violence. It is the doctrines of deception in Islam that will mandate its containment and ultimately will be its undoing.

Posted by: Frank at December 26, 2006 11:26 AM

The good thing about muslims is they are muslims. They can't stay with the peaceful method for long. They always expose themselves. The question is once they expose themselves (Dougie Hooper) what should be done with them?

Posted by: greatcometof1577 at December 26, 2006 11:32 AM

Doggie Hopper and the deception permissions in the belief-system are feared more than belief-system violence. That's more frightening than the overt violence.

Posted by: Frank at December 26, 2006 11:36 AM

It's stunning that Pipes could discuss the topic of how we could lose to Islam and not mention immigration.

We are welcoming the enemy into our communities and are too politically correct to mention the fact.

FDR didn't have a student outreach program to Nazi youth in WWII, but Bush has provided college slots for many thousands of young Saudi males. FDR didn't celebrate the holidays of Japanese militarists, yet GWB has honored Ramadan in the White House. FDR understood that you don't welcome enemies into your house -- you kill them.

The New York Times reported in early September that Muslim immigration to America is increasing...

http://blog.vdare.com/archives/2006/09/09/just-in-time-for-911-muslim-immigration-up/print/

Posted by: Dana at December 26, 2006 11:37 AM

"It's stunning that Pipes could discuss the topic of how we could lose to Islam and not mention immigration." Dana

The Saudi Religious Police, I mean CNN, are out rounding people up for saying this right now. We have to say it for him, e-mail your Congressman and Senator. Go to house.gov, senate.gov, and you can look it up by your address.

We have to start quoting verses from the Koran and asking our representatives to denounce them. Its more fun if you just say them without mentioning they are from the Koran and asking if they agree.

One question for presidential candidates. If you learned a B2 bomber crew was all Muslim would you order them taken off?

Posted by: Old Atlantic at December 26, 2006 12:14 PM

Interesting article- to me, pacifism, self-hatred, and complacency are all hallmarks of liberalism. And perhaps even socialism.

All we need now is a do-it-yourself guide to defeating the Islamic/liberal threat, since it certianly seems that the government as well the media isn't really that keen on tackling the problem.

Posted by: s at December 26, 2006 12:18 PM

Pipes also doesn't mention what seems to me to be a gigantic crucial "software bug": the West's way of looking at itself and the Third World (including the Muslim World) is structured by a dominant and mainstream paradigm.

This paradigm persistently separates

Islam as well as a vast majority of Muslims who must be moderate

from

Muslims who do bad things -- which, perforce, must be a small minority and must have little or nothing to do with Islam itself.

This paradigm continues to prove remarkably (one could say pathologically) resistant to mountains of data that should rationally call for its readjustment.

The major reason why this paradigm is in place, dominant and mainstream, is revealed by a coin, only one side of which Pipes alludes to: "self-hatred".

The other side of that coin is the modern Western elevation of other cultures -- particularly non-white non-Western cultures -- to a place higher than ours, a place where they remain relatively impervious to ethical responsibility and blame (in a sense, it's also, paradoxically, a place lower than ours, a condescending pedestal, if you will, since it seems to treat people of these other cultures more like "Noble Savages" or like beautiful animal species who have no self-determination and whose every nasty action must be imputed to outside (i.e. Western) forces, than like equal human beings meriting ethical responsibility and judgement for their actions). And since the vast majority of Muslims are non-white non-Westerners and it has always had, since its birth, an exotic non-Western flavor, it naturally and logically engenders the paradigm noted above.

Posted by: remote_control at December 26, 2006 12:20 PM

Now you know why I say that 2006 feels worse than practically any other past year in living memory. We (the West) have been caving into our enemies like Iran, who will achieve their nuclear ambitions thanks to our weakness, and Syria, in sharp contrast to us never caving in to Germany, Italy and Japan at any time during World War II. Even in our darkest days back then, there were the inspiring and reassuring words of Churchill to keep our spirits up, and give us an unshakeable belief that he knew what he was doing and that we would triumph in the end. Where are the words of encouragement and defiance today? We, and more importantly our leaders, dare not even name the enemies we are up against, and worse still, we shat on allies like Israel by urging them to be 'proportionate'. Indeed, our enemy is more than the terrorists, their religion, and the states who support them. It also numbers the vast bulk of our press and media, an assortment of leftie academics and other whackjobs who want the enemy to win without a single thought as to what defeat for us will entail. Our morale and belief that we can win has suffered a serious setback during the course of this year, and for the life in me, I cannot see 2007 being any better, unless we ditch political correctness and let the troops fight as they see fit without interference from human rights activists, the MSM, all manner of PC eejits and nefarious lawyers.

Posted by: Spirit Of 1683 at December 26, 2006 12:53 PM

I am eagerly awaiting the debate he will be having with Livingstone - I have ordered tickets.

http://www.london.gov.uk/mayor/equalities/clash-conf.jsp

Posted by: Alex at December 26, 2006 1:32 PM

It shouldn't be much of a debate. Livingston knows nothing.

Posted by: Hugh at December 26, 2006 3:03 PM

This is a great article. I am not a writer but the way it is spelled out has been clear for several years now.

We'd rather sit our fat asses and drive back and forth to work in our SUVs drinking Starbucks coffee and complain about the oil prices and stock market and let the democratic party take our attention elsewhere.

America has not awaken. It is unclear what it will take for us to.

Posted by: chep at December 26, 2006 3:45 PM

In my opinion, the crucial thing that in Islamic theology loyalty to the umma trumps loyalty to non-muslim governments or non-muslim allies. Until the west comes to grips with that fact, and addresses it appropriately, they will have major problems fighting off the Islamic theology inspired bid for world domination.

In Bosnia, you had a Yugoslav province that was a least 50 percent Christian, with a very secularized and integrated muslim community. That muslim community radicalized practically overnight, with the Christians virtually waking up one day living in an muslim state with an Islamic government led by Izbegovic, with thousands of foreign muslim jihadis now in the country.

Posted by: godfreyofbouillon at December 26, 2006 4:10 PM

I agree with you Marissa one hundred percent.

It's not that western society lacks moral values, it's that we are TOO moral which is the problem.

In western society, it's very important to be nice, not to offend, to be kind and welcoming to others, and to understand "the other" and celebrate their cultures.

This is the problem; not that we lack moral values or that we feel self-hatred.

Posted by: Voltaire at December 26, 2006 4:48 PM

America is by large spoiled. We expect everything on a platter served up. Also that other nations should heed our word and that they should step aside if we came into a struggle. Our nation was viewed with credibility and one that was capable of standing behind our words and actions. The time when our government was stronger and our nation stood together in a national causes seems to have passed. If the US thinks that we will win this type of struggle by sitting on our haunches there will come a time of a larger scale battle later on.

I'm not against any religion for the most part. However many of the standards and beliefs which this government was originally comprised and created from are being washed down the drain by people which are on campaigns of political correctness and socialism movements.

If we can't have Chrismtas Trees in our airports and if we can say the pledge of allegiance in our own schools because it has references to go then what kind of nation are we now? Certainly one that has strayed from it's origins very far.

When the US decides to pick it's next battles I hope they are well calculated and we act with great force and vengeance if necessary. Because many of the world's nations view our inability to go in and do a job right as a major weakness. I agree with them too. I think the whole Baghdad Iraq problem is a quagmire. Bush should have raised the big whipping stick on the enemy and waged an all out war instead of declaring premature victory. Don't commit to something if you're not ready to finish the job right.

I stand behind my troops regardless of what mistake a politician can make.

Posted by: chep at December 26, 2006 7:54 PM

A Khokar and A. Shavak,

To paraphrase Oliver Cromwell:
"I beseech the, in the bowels of Christ, think it possible that thou might be a pair of crackpots."

Posted by: wallyUK at December 26, 2006 10:07 PM

Of the people who post here at Jihad Watch, from my long experience, approximately 95% are supportive, and a good 90% seem quite up to snuff on the learning curve, with only relatively minor disagreements now and again about peripheral issues.

Now, all those 95% represent how many people? It seems reasonable to me that, factoring in the possibility of duplications due to nickname changes over time, and even including the last say 3 years, the total would be somewhere around two to three hundred, give or take a couple dozen.

This is of course not factoring in the evident multitudes of visitors who come here but never post. One has no way of knowing where they stand, though it's safe to say that a large chunk of them come here precisely out of a sympathy that may likely blossom into a supportive intelligence, if it hasn't already.

I notice that most of those two to three hundred seem to exhibit a tendency that is all too human: to think that most everybody -- except some nefarious minority in which one can conveniently locate most blame -- thinks like they do. Now, in this observation, my phrases "most everybody" and "nefarious minority" are not at all referring to Muslims or Islam: I am talking about the vast populations of non-Muslims out there, particularly in the West. I think this tendency to think that most everybody thinks like us -- except some nefarious minority in which one can conveniently locate most blame -- leads the majority of posters here to think that the aggravating myopia that rules the day out there concerning the problem of Islam is due either to elemental and oafish attitudes (it would have to be just plain stupidity or oafish sentimentality or as Marissa puts it being "too good", for how could people "like us" not agree with us and see what we can so plainly see?), or to the dastardly shenanigans of a nefarious cabal of "elites", or some combination of the two factors.

This tendency is also facilitated by the temptation to find easier fixes for a vexing problem. But this tendency ignores a subtler, more complex, and ultimately far more difficult to solve explanation that would be more sociological or sociocultural than psychological & logical, requiring more than simply the superimposition of a crude template of the three Esdrujula Elves (sort of like the crude Modalist analogies certain theologians would superimpose upon the Trinity by which to finesse its scandalous paradox) upon the baffling problem of why the West is committing suicide, as though the entire stupendously sprawling problem were reducible to mere character flaws. They may be, ultimately; but between the mess of history and the ground of the personality of actors lies the rich and complicating pageant of society.

Posted by: remote_control at December 26, 2006 10:38 PM

Surely; Allah is quick at reckoning.

Judaic rejected the divinity of their reformer; Jesus*. Jesus* was picked up by the Christianity and under the rightful divine guidance was bound to flourish and prosper; and they did excel and duly reached the climax.

Christianity on the other hands; in order to preserve and draw the insulating precinct around the acquired opulence and prosperity; they devised and created a myth about Jesus; they awarded him the lofty stations as savoir and declared him a... god.
Even the present day endeavour to build and raise the invincible Armed Forces and sabre rattling around the world is; with the intent to keep the world resources under control and forcibly subjugate other nations. This entire execise links to one aim; to deny others their rights and keep the prosperity confined and restricted with in the bounds of strongly guarded capsule of prosperous…‘western society.’

But the history may decide otherwise; that they failed at both their ends; failed to convince the Israelites about the divinity of Judaic reformer- Jesus* and denying the existence of 'the last Word of God' bestowed to Muslims at its summit in Islam.

In the light of Glorious Koran Chapter: 61 Al-Saff:

[61:7] And call to mind when Jesus, son of Mary, said, 'O children of Israel, surely, I am Allah's Messenger unto you, fulfilling that which is before me of the prophecies of the Torah, and giving glad tidings of a Messenger who will come after me, his name being Ahmad. And when he came to them with clear proofs, they said, this is manifest sorcery.'

[61:10] He it is Who has sent His Messenger with the guidance and the Religion of truth, that He may cause it to prevail over all religions, however much those who associate partners with Allah may dislike it.

Chapter: 3 (Al-`Imran) Verse: 20
Surely, the true religion with Allah is Islam. And those who were given the Book did not disagree but, after knowledge had come to them, out of mutual envy. And whoso denies the Signs of Allah, then surely, Allah is quick at reckoning.

-------------------------------
Love for all, Hatred for none

Posted by: A Khokar at December 27, 2006 6:40 AM

Daniel Pipes has oddly enough managed to maintain a status as an Islam critic while actually being an ardent Islam apologist.

Pipes is an apologist because he has repeatedly stated that "radical Islam" is the problem, and "moderate Islam" the solution. This is nonsensical because moderate Islam not only does not currently exist, but cannot exist at all. Also, there does not exist a "radical Islam" as distinct from Islam. In addition, Pipes has contributed to blurring the lines between Islam and Muslims, presenting the common apologist view that Islam can be whatever Muslims want it to be.

Now, why would anyone take seriously an "Islam critic" who presents such falsehoods?

Posted by: anonymous at December 31, 2006 10:43 AM