• Why Jihad Watch?
  • About Robert Spencer and Staff Writers
  • FAQ
  • Books
  • Muhammad
  • Islam 101
  • Privacy

Jihad Watch

Exposing the role that Islamic jihad theology and ideology play in the modern global conflicts

Robert Spencer in FrontPage Mag: The U.S., the U.K. and Canada in Jihad Denial

Jun 27, 2014 12:18 pm By Robert Spencer

UKjihadisIn FrontPage today I discuss the latest in willful ignorance.

The denial of the reality of jihad is thicker than ever, even as jihadis advance around the world. And it endangers us all.

Former CIA officer John Maguire revealed this week that the CIA was blindsided by the rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), which now controls so much of Syria and Iraq and has designs on a great deal more territory. Maguire attributed the CIA’s underestimating of ISIL’s threat to The Company’s reduced presence in Iraq: “This is a glaring example of the erosion of our street craft and our tradecraft and our capability to operate in a hard place. The U.S. taxpayer is not getting their money’s worth.”

But that isn’t the whole story. Another reason why the CIA was completely surprised by ISIL’s advance was because the Obama Administration has so thoroughly deemphasized the jihad threat, and loudly and repeatedly proclaimed that al Qaeda was the only jihad group – and was, for its part, “on the ropes.” ISIL, an offshoot of al Qaeda in a country where Obama was in a hurry to declare victory and get out was unlikely to be the focus of sustained or serious analysis.

The willful ignorance is all-pervasive. It is a fundamental dogma of our age that the overwhelming majority of Muslims in Western countries are enthusiastic democratic pluralists who reject and abhor not only jihad terrorism, but the elements of Sharia that are at variance with otherwise universally held principles of human rights. This dogma keeps running up against the buzz-saw of reality, but that never seems to make a difference to authorities.

And so it was this week that the UK’s Daily Mail noted that the Metropolitan Police’s Assistant Commissioner, Cressida Dick, said of Britain’s Muslim communities that “there were many cases where ‘warning signs’ about extremists were not brought to the attention of authorities. She also indicated some Muslims were too accepting of radical views, saying it was the police’s ‘greatest challenge’ to make them ‘wholly hostile to violent extremism.’”

How could this be? After all, a core assumption of British intelligence and law enforcement officials is that Muslim communities on the Sceptered Isle unambiguously oppose “violent extremism,” except, of course, for that pesky and ever-present tiny minority of extremists. So why were Muslims sometimes not bringing potential jihadis to the attention of authorities? Of course the obvious reason for this, and for why some Muslims in Britain are “too accepting of radical views,” is because they agree with those “radical views” and consider them to be authentic Islam. But that prospect is so horrifying in its implications that British officials do not dare face it.

Indeed, it is virtually universally accepted that Islam is inherently peaceful, and that only the extremists who misunderstand it (and vicious Islamophobes) think otherwise. So it was that at the University of Calgary, university officials ignored a professor’s warnings about potential jihadists on campus – after all, such a suggestion is “Islamophobic,” is it not?

A Muslim from Calgary, Farah Mohamed Shirdon, is in Iraq waging jihad with ISIL, and a former University of Calgary professor, Aaron Hughes, is saying that he tried to warn university officials that something like this was in the offing.

Hughes said: “I was very much bothered by the conservative nature of the Muslim student body. I was definitely aware of the potential for radicalization on campus. That is another venue in which potential radicalization could occur, so not just at mosques, but also on campus.” However, “I had been mentioning the conservative nature of these students and the university; they just weren’t interested in it.”

These “conservative” students annoyed Hughes by refusing to accept his understanding of Islam: “They made teaching Islam from an objective perspective very difficult because they knew what the ‘real’ Islam was. Of course they didn’t.” Or maybe they did, but Hughes, assured of the fact that Islam was a Religion of Peace, was certain that they were actually ignorant of their own religion, no matter how dedicated to it they were.

University officials, in any case, disregarded Hughes’s warnings. Jihadis on campus? Inconceivable! Islam is a Religion of Peace!

Even terrorism may be peaceful nowadays. Mohamed Hassan Hersi, a Muslim in Toronto who has been convicted of trying to join the jihad terror group al Shabaab, was only engaged, according to his lawyer, in “non-violent terrorism.”

“Non-violent terrorism”? The phrase is as stupid and devoid of content as another popular term these days, “moderate Islamist.”

The world is in flames because of Islamic jihad. Will those flames finally burn away the all-blanketing fog of disinformation, misinformation, and willful ignorance concerning the nature and magnitude of the jihad threat? Perhaps. But there is no telling how much else will be burned away along with it.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • More
  • Click to share on Skype (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)

Follow me on Facebook

Filed Under: Canada, United Kingdom, United States, Useful idiots, willful ignorance Tagged With: featured


Learn more about RevenueStripe...

Comments

  1. CogitoErgoSum says

    Jun 27, 2014 at 12:59 pm

    I know it’s another weakness of mine but I am getting to the point that I can no longer stand even the mentioned of Islam as being the “religion of peace”….in any context. Islam is a religion of SUBMISSION. Islams means SUBMISSION…. and it is the duty of the submitters to make everyone else submit….one way or another….by peaceful means or not. Yes, you will find peace…if you submit by converting to Islam or by accepting the peace of the grave…..but otherewise you will NEVER know peace as long as Islam exists. This is one of the things I do get about Islam…..and it is enough to make me despise it and want to resist it with all my will. May we all find the strength to send this delusion of a religion called SUBMISSION back to the darkest pit in Hell from whence it came.

  2. ploome says

    Jun 27, 2014 at 3:23 pm

    most blog comment sites, will delete the comment, if jihad is included in the comment

FacebookYoutubeTwitterLog in

Subscribe to the Jihad Watch Daily Digest

You will receive a daily mailing containing links to the stories posted at Jihad Watch in the last 24 hours.
Enter your email address to subscribe.

Please wait...

Thank you for signing up!
If you are forwarding to a friend, please remove the unsubscribe buttons first, as they my accidentally click it.

Subscribe to all Jihad Watch posts

You will receive immediate notification.
Enter your email address to subscribe.
Note: This may be up to 15 emails a day.

Donate to JihadWatch
FrontPage Mag

Search Site

Translate

The Team

Robert Spencer in FrontPageMag
Robert Spencer in PJ Media

Articles at Jihad Watch by
Robert Spencer
Hugh Fitzgerald
Christine Douglass-Williams
Andrew Harrod
Jamie Glazov
Daniel Greenfield

Contact Us

Terror Attacks Since 9/11

Archives

  • 2020
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2019
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2018
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2017
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2016
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2015
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2014
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2013
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2012
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2011
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2010
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2009
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2008
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2007
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2006
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2005
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2004
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2003
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • March

All Categories

You Might Like

Learn more about RevenueStripe...

Recent Comments

  • William Garrison on The Fantasy Islam of Rice University’s Craig Considine (Part 3)
  • Vladimir on Islamic Republic of Iran: Turkey’s Erdogan champions Islam only as a tool to further his own interests
  • John on Muslim cleric: ‘We welcomed the takeover of ISIS because they wanted to implement the Sharia’
  • Vladimir on Muslim cleric: ‘We welcomed the takeover of ISIS because they wanted to implement the Sharia’
  • Linda McGuire on UK: Muslim stabs two women in Marks & Spencer, one in the neck, cops search for motive

Popular Categories

dhimmitude Sharia Jihad in the U.S ISIS / Islamic State / ISIL Iran Free Speech

Robert Spencer FaceBook Page

Robert Spencer Twitter

Robert Spencer twitter

Robert Spencer YouTube Channel

Books by Robert Spencer

Jihad Watch® is a registered trademark of Robert Spencer in the United States and/or other countries - Site Developed and Managed by Free Speech Defense

Content copyright Jihad Watch, Jihad Watch claims no credit for any images posted on this site unless otherwise noted. Images on this blog are copyright to their respective owners. If there is an image appearing on this blog that belongs to you and you do not wish for it appear on this site, please E-mail with a link to said image and it will be promptly removed.

Our mailing address is: David Horowitz Freedom Center, P.O. Box 55089, Sherman Oaks, CA 91499-1964

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.