I'd rather fight than switch
By Jay Tea on War On Terror
Wizbang
Recently, I was mocked by a commenter who wanted to know if I feared the United States was in danger of being forcibly converted to Islam. I started answering that in the comments, but it started running a bit long, so I figured it'd be better suited to its own posting.
Do I think that the United States is in danger of being forcibly converted to Islam?
No.
But do I think that is the clearly and repeatedly stated goal of countless Islamists around the world?
Yes.
Here's an analogy: the seven-year-old boy who lives next door to you constantly screams that he hates you, hates your whole family, and wants to kill you. His parents just dismiss this behavior, saying "he's just a child, he'll outgrow this."
Do you worry much? No. But suppose you see that boy heading towards your house with a baseball bat or a knife. Now, he's still not very likely to be able to kill you, but he's a determined threat and at that point you ignore him at your own peril. Because you might be able to take away his weapons and send him home unarmed, but sooner or later he's going to come back with a gun or a can of gasoline.
That's much like how I see the war on militant Islam, with nuclear or biological weapons being the equivalent of the gun or gasoline. The kid has already gotten in one good shot with the baseball bat, back on 9/11, and that woke us up to the fact that this little psychopath isn't in need of "understanding" or "compassion," but some serious attention before he gets someone killed -- us or him.
It is the clearly-stated and oft-repeated goal of the militant Muslims to bring the whole world to their vision of Islam, and while I don't believe they will succeed, I do believe that the effort to stop them will cost more and more, the longer we wait.
Great strides have been made so far. We've deprived them of two significant bases and sources of support in Afghanistan and Iraq, and other nations are finding it a good idea to curtail their support as well (Libya for one, the increasingly-nervous Syria and Iran for two more).
Many "bad guys" tend to telegraph their intentions. Hitler outlined his plans and beliefs in Mein Kampf, over a decade before World War II. Imperial Japan spelled out its vision with the "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere." And the Soviet Union never made any secret of their vision of worldwide Communism.
We've ignored these warnings to our own great detriment in the past. I'm relieved to see that we're not doing so this time.
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