Kerry is probably referring to the tissue of distortions, detours, half-truths and outright lies that I examined in depth here. But neither Kerry nor anyone around him will be troubled by the dishonesty and deception I exposed in that document, which was signed by 126 Muslim scholars. In fact, he will neither see nor hear about any objections to the Muslim scholars’ piece. The scholars’ friends and allies, and in some cases people who signed the document such as Nihad Awad of Hamas-linked CAIR, have worked for years to defame and demonize anyone and everyone who opposes jihad terror and Islamic supremacism. Those who have been thus smeared have no opinions or perceptions that the intellectual and political elites are bound to respect or even acknowledge. The question of whether or not those opinions are true and perceptions accurate is never even considered.
“Under US leadership, world will defeat ISIS,” by John F. Kerry, Boston Globe, September 26, 2014 (thanks to David:
THE UNITED STATES has long faced threats from a lethal brand of terrorism that perverts one of world’s great religions. We have been relentless in targeting Al Qaeda and its affiliates, but the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, now poses a profound and unique threat to the entire world.
What we are confronting is nothing less than a violent extremist enterprise. It has employed violence, intimidation, and genocidal brutality to impose its will across large swaths of Syria and Iraq. The Islamic State controls more territory than Al Qaeda ever has, which means it has access to money on an unprecedented scale to finance its mayhem.
With American leadership, the world is responding with a unity that shows these criminals that we will not allow them to divide us or force their nihilistic vision on helpless people, regardless of ethnicity, religion, or nationality. On Wednesday, the United Nations Security Council unanimously passed a resolution condemning the gross abuses carried out by the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.
There is a vigorous international debate under way about what it means to destroy the Islamic State, about how effective and resilient the growing coalition will be, and about how the strategy will unfold in the coming months.
Here at home, I understand why Americans are weary about US involvement in the volatile Middle East. People are right to ask tough questions, and we have a responsibility to answer them.
I am proud to work for a president who asks questions before using military force because, after all, I remember the words of the conservative Edmund Burke: “a conscientious man would be careful how he deals in blood.”
So let’s be clear about we’re doing — and what we’re not doing.
Let’s start by explaining what this fight is not. It is not a clash of civilizations. Muslim scholars are outraged about the Islamic State’s brutality and perversion of Islam, calling its savagery deviant and heretical. Sunni and Shiite alike have joined forces against this outrage. The coalition represents a unified response, as evidenced by the remarkable and unprecedented participation of five Arab countries in the air strikes in Syria. And that’s just the beginning. There is a role for every nation, from helping to dry up outside funding and stopping the flow of foreign fighters to taking direct military action and providing humanitarian assistance….