A Jihad Watch reader has alerted me to a post at Lawrence Auster’s View from the Right, “Robert Spencer’s apparent contradictions on Islam.”
The apparent contradiction revolves around the fact that I have on many occasions appraised the prospects for Islamic reform realistically, and then today at FrontPage I wrote that the President should announce “that any state that oppresses non-Muslims or denies them equality of rights will receive no American aid.”
Says Auster: “But does Spencer really think that by threatening the withdrawal of aid from Muslim countries we can push them into giving up their central beliefs and become ‘moderate’?”
There is in fact no contradiction here, for I actually didn’t say anything about pushing them to give up their central beliefs and become moderate. There is nothing in the whole article about moderation or reform. Nor did I say anything about merely “threatening” to withdraw aid.
What I meant to say, just in case I was unclear, is this: we should stop financing the jihad against us. We should stop giving Muslims the rope they wish to use to hang us. We should define the enemy the way he defines himself — as a mujahid waging jihad in order to institute Sharia — and withdraw American aid to countries that allow such ideas to be spread. It’s a simple matter of self-defense.