A Wake-Up Call, Issues & Insights, IBD
7/26/2006, ricksantorum.com
World War IV: Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., enraged hard-line Muslims last week with a warning that was reminiscent of Winston Churchill's finest hour. "Islamic fascism is the great test of this generation," he said.
In the 1930s, Churchill was a lonely voice against appeasement. Last week in a National Press Club speech, Rick Santorum issued a similar call to arms. The former head of an Allentown, Pa., mosque was so angry he wrote a column saying, "Don't ask Santorum to 'apologize,' folks. Vote Democratic."
Here's what Santorum said: "We had no problem understanding that Nazism and fascism were evil racist empires — they were. We must now bring the same clarity to the war against Islamic fascism." He noted the widespread calls from major extremist Islamic leaders — both Sunni and Shiite — for "a new, global caliphate where Islamic fascism will rule mankind."
If we understood the threat, he went on, "we would not be screaming and hollering about how our government is tracking terrorists' money, and monitoring their telephone conversations." He pointed to "a war against the war," with government officials and the media undermining the global war on terror.
Iran's U.N. diplomats in New York have routinely been "found photographing subway stations and railroad bridges," Santorum noted. And Iran's ties with Venezuela and North Korea show "the ease with which Islamic fascists work with radical leftists . . . bound together by hatred for us."
Nor does Santorum think Iran's nuclear program can be negotiated away: "You can't reason people out of something that they didn't arrive at reasonably in the first place." We wish everyone thought so clearly about Iran.
Santorum recalls Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's recruitment of "thousands of Iranian children to march to their death by detonating mines in advance of Iranian troops during the Iran-Iraq War."
Like us, Santorum thinks overthrowing Iran's odious regime might be the only solution, since "even a nuclear-free Iran would still be the driving force behind Islamic fascism." Santorum calls Iran "the keystone of the Islamic fascist structure."
We're happy to hear Santorum call Iran exactly what it is. Sadly, too many Washington politicians — and not just Democrats — are hiding from the rather stark reality: This is a world war we're in.
Santorum gets it. And if we ignore his reminder that Islamofascism is just as great a threat to our freedom and our civilization as the Nazis or the Soviets, we — and our children — will pay dearly.
***********************************************
P.S. ALL Republicans need to help re-elect Sen Santorum.
ricksantorum.com |
