The American Spectator : Oh, Happy Day

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Oh, Happy Day

By Jed Babbin on 2.21.11 @ 6:07AM

There will be only one way to turn the Mideast turmoil to America's advantage.

Egypt's government has fallen, and no one can tell what will rise in its place. Those of Yemen, Libya, Bahrain, and even Iran are threatened by anti-government protest movements of various strengths. Iraq still teeters on the precipice it has homesteaded since Saddam's fall. Oh, happy day.

Yes, there are many American interests that may be affected severely by the protests. If the Bahraini government falls and its successor is as anti-American as is the fashion among Islamic states, the Fifth Fleet will have to find a new base from which to operate in the Middle East, a prospect that is grim to contemplate. Our ability to project military force in the region could be severely disrupted.

Some of the protest movements -- especially that in Bahrain -- which have so far survived murderous suppression, bear Iran's fingerprints. But the protests in Iran are at least a small counterweight.

Overall, the protests and the destabilization of these governments is a boon to American interests, if only we were to recognize just how that is so and take full advantage of the opportunity they create.

From Iran in the east to Venezuela in the west, it has been the fate of peoples who live on oil-rich ground to be governed by corrupt dictators, despots, rogues and terrorists. With the exception of Venezuela, all of these despotisms are based on the same failed Islamic ideology. (Chavez's Venezuela is so closely tied to Iran in word and deed that its neo-fascist ideology can be argued to be crypto-Islamic. Chavez's support of Hizballah's efforts to spread its network in this hemisphere is de facto support of the Islamic terrorist organization's ideology as well as its works.)

The protest movements are a rejection of governments founded on the Islamic ideology that denies freedom on the basis of religion. It is very much like pre-1789 France and pre-1917 Russia, which based their despotisms on the divine right of kings. Islamic ideology carries that idea one step farther, justifying despotism as a requirement of religion.

But though the Islamic ideology has failed, the protest movements against its governments have not taken on the burden of rejecting the religious tenets upon which they are based. For that reason alone, it is an arrogant assumption that if the protest movements succeed they will produce a form of government that is materially different from the ones they overthrow. Which presents an historic opportunity for us, of which we will certainly fail to take advantage.

We do not have the ability to control the outcome of the protests in Islamic states, but if we had the wisdom to confront the Islamic ideology we could, over time, bring about the self-examination of Islam that is essential to defeating its ideology.

It is impossible to engage Muslims in conversation about their religion without encountering their absolutism. There is only one Islam, we are told, and there cannot be different interpretations of its dictates. Even the most moderate of Muslims insist that the Koran requires an absolute belief that its words are the words of god, and not subject to debate or difference. By that demand, Islam prohibits a debate that is fundamental to freedom of thought and expression.

Why, then, are the protesters massing in Libya and Bahrain only to be murdered by the governments which proclaim themselves religiously pure? Why should any religion bar any discussion of the kind of government it dictates? If people are not free to decide the social contract that binds them as a nation, shouldn't they be able to debate why that is so?

It is those questions that we should be asking publicly to sow doubt among despot and protester alike. Those doubts will not bear fruit immediately. But if we continue to raise them, and to reach out to those who are unable or even unwilling now to discuss them openly, these doubts will result in the self-examination of the ideology that Islam compels and, inevitably, bring about its collapse.

Too many will say that to raise these questions, we would cause the protesters to turn their anger away from the despots that rule them and toward us. But it is a risk we must take if we are to ever rid ourselves of the threat of Islamic terrorism.

Since 9/11, we have followed the counsel of those who lack the courage to face the source of that threat. We have been unwilling to undertake the ideological war against its root cause. Ronald Reagan was willing -- indeed eager -- to condemn communism as evil. But George W. Bush lacked the courage to confront the Islamic ideology and Barack Obama has banned the terms "jihad" and "Islamic extremism" (the latter a euphemism for terrorism) from our statement of national security strategy. Obama will do nothing to engage in the ideological war the enemy wages against us.

Every despotism is fragile because it exists at the sufferance of those it governs. The Islamic despotisms continue only because they have conflated that sufferance with religious duty and thereby gained a false consent of the governed. That consent can be broken by one elementary thought: if the god that Muslims worship, as their imams preach, is the most generous and beneficent god, how can Allah be believed to deny the natural right to free thought and expression that is enjoyed by those who believe in the god worshipped by Christians and Jews, Hindus and Buddhists? Or is it the imams and the despots they serve who deny those rights so that they can cling to power?

It was, at one time, the public policy of the American people that all men are created equal and that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, one of which is liberty. Liberty inherently includes the freedom to question anyone's interpretation of their religion, to debate it, and to disagree with it.

In Islam, that is as revolutionary a thought as were Martin Luther's ideas in his time. Luther inspired the Christian Reformation. We must inspire one in Islam by reaching out to the protest movements in the Middle East. Tell them that it is their right to reject oppression because oppression is an act of man, not of God. Many will say that statement is blasphemy. But many more will listen. And whether their protests succeed or fail, the Islamic ideology will begin to crumble.

About the Author

Jed Babbin served as a Deputy Undersecretary of Defense under George H.W. Bush. He is the author of several bestselling books including Inside the Asylum and In the Words of Our Enemies.

Letter to the Editor View all comments (41) | Leave a comment

Melvin| 2.21.11 @ 7:33AM

There is one way to get our of that oily Middle East quagmire. Start drilling in our own yard.

Memyself| 2.21.11 @ 1:40PM

Drilling in our own yard? Where? The only available oil is so hard to get that it is too expensive and also carries environmental threats which could destroy regional economies for decades. The real answer is to begin to develop alternative energy technologies. There is a market for such technologies, although many are not cost effective at present. But time and R&D will take care of the cost. China already is moving to control the alternative energy market. In 10-20 years, we will certainly notice the cost of our short sighted oil policies.

Quartermaster| 2.21.11 @ 7:34PM

And in 5 years you will regret your shortsightedness on Oil.

The Chinese are not moving to control "alternative" energy. They have already pretty much cornered the market on the equipment for wind and solar electricity. As we know, those are boondoggles that don't stand a chance of producing anything close to what we need. Only Oil, Coal, and Nuclear can do that.

Intelligent Design| 2.21.11 @ 8:04PM

We should be building 100 nuclear power plants instead of spending hundreds of billions to keep troops on the ground in Afghanistan and Iraq, instead of spending billions on the hoax called global warming, and instead of giving a dime to the UN (etc). We could have started construction right after 9/11/01, or we could have started it 30 years ago. How about tomorrow morning?

Alan Brooks| 2.21.11 @ 9:52PM

"Jed Babbin served as a Deputy Undersecretary of Defense under George H.W. Bush."

This is bad news as far as I'm concerned.

Ken (Old Texican)| 2.21.11 @ 7:53AM

Jed, I'm very sorry to inform you that Islam cannot "reform".

Think about this carefully for a moment now. (Islam has tapped into one of humanity's most powerful urges. Call it "irresponsibility", call it "the slave mentality", call it "I know it all and it is all settled." call it, "not my fault". call it "I have Allah's permission to kill you".)
These are just a few phrases that can perhaps get your writing juices going. They are informing my current novel.

JP| 2.21.11 @ 8:13AM

Islam offers something to the world that the West cannot match. Perhaps there is something deep in our pysche that desires to be dominated. But, this Master-Slave religion is much better at evangelizing than Christianity. From Niger to Thailand; from Canada to the Phillipines, Islam continues to outpace Christianity in growth.

Perhaps the trend began with the diluting of classical Christian theology. Both Protestant and Catholic theology and practice in recent decades has resembled therapy sessions and political pep rallies. Christianity no longer speaks to a person's soul. Islam for all of its problems cannot be accused of this dilution. In Christianity, preachers talk about "values"; in Islam, they talk about Good and Evil. In Europe today, the young are now more likely to convert to Islam than re-convert to Christianity. Something to ponder.

PJ| 2.21.11 @ 11:01AM

You post as if it is hopeless. Quite frankly it isn't.

The Catholic Church has started a new evangelization "department" specifically to re-convert Europe. The leaders of France, Great Britain, & Germany have stated that multiculturalism is wrong.

Our Evangelical brethren & also the Catholic & Orthodox churches are making inroads in Islamic countries. For example, a Catholic university & hospital are in the planning stages to be built in northern IRAQ!!? (see http://www.catholicherald.co.u.....y-in-iraq/), Unfortunately news like this will never be covered by the msm nor are there accurate statistics on the conversion rate from Islam to Christianity which I believe is huge.

JP| 2.21.11 @ 3:04PM

Hope you are right. I seriously doubt Christianity will spread in Iraq. The Chaldean Catholics lived in Iraq since the time of St Thomas (almost 2000 years); in 1940 Egypt's population was 40% Coptic. And in Lebanon, the Marionite Catholics lived there since the time of Pentacost. In all of these nations, Christians now make up barely 5% of the population, and thier numbers dwindle daily.

In Europe, the good news is that the Muslim population is taking up the contraceptive habits of thier hosts. Within a generation, the fertility rates of Muslim expatriates is not much better than the natives. And in Turkey, the birthrates have falled from about 4 children per female in 1980l to less than 2.5 today. In Iran, it isn't much better. The bad news is that new immigrants from North Africa and Pakistan average 4 to 6 children per female. Spain will cease being Spain in less than 40 years. Ditto for Italy, and ditto for Greece. The UK isn't far behind. And niether is France or Belgium.

The future belongs to those who show up.

Dai Alanye| 2.21.11 @ 8:34AM

Judaism was once as intolerant as Islam, slaughtering its enemies right and left. After all, David received the anointment of Samuel because Saul failed to kill the cattle---in addition to the people---of a conquered tribe.

In turn, Christianity once had its despotic stage until reforming from within. The idea that Islam is unable to reform flies in the face of history's examples. But it is difficult seeing it happen until we clearly recognize and name it as an enemy of civilization, just as was done with Communism and Nazism.

We seem to have been handed an opportunity stemming from the freeing of Iraq, without which it’s doubtful today’s rebellions would be happening. Will Obama be wise and bold enough to take advantage of the chance to be seen as the liberator of the Middle East as Reagan was the liberator of Eastern Europe---or will he mimic Reagan in words only, for domestic political gain?

Bob Miller| 2.21.11 @ 11:08AM

When God tells you how to take and defend your country, you listen. This is a whole other thing than maniacal human efforts at world domination via Nazism or jihad or whatever. Anyone who remembers WW2 also remembers what extreme actions were needed to win it for the Allies.

JP| 2.21.11 @ 2:56PM

Islam had its reformation - in 1979. The Muslims Martin Luther or Saint John of the Cross was the Ayatollah.

Paul Kotik| 2.21.11 @ 9:37AM

Mr. Babbin has almost, almost said it. I can say it, because I represent only myself.

The one and only way for the West (broadly defined) to survive this 14 centuries' siege by Islamic expansionism is to defeat it once and for all. And the only way to do that is to falsify Islam and, thereby, the ideology that ineluctably devolves from it.

Ken (Old Texican)| 2.21.11 @ 10:49AM

Paul,
I think the word you might be looking for is "de-bunk" rather than "falsify".

In either case, I agree with you.

Paul Kotik| 2.21.11 @ 10:56AM

Ken, what I mean by "falsify" is "to prove to be false". Not sure if that's the dictionary meaning, but that's what I mean. I could put what I mean in even stronger, clearer terms - but that sort of talk frightens young children and the pooches!

Michael L. Hauschild| 2.21.11 @ 11:16AM

You are no more likely to “educate” a Muslim than you are convincing a social conservative that abortion is subject to choice. Attrition is the mechanism, individual liberation is the incremental impetus, and the enlightenment democracy provides through the burgeoning electronic media will provide the leverage. Our founding fathers understood the tenants of Religion and incorporated it into the basis of constitutional morality, that being the simple premise of the “golden rule.” They also understood the dangers of a state based on denominational religion. The “westernization” everyone touts as the wedge to create the democracy in the Mideast will occur; the dark ages of printing presses cranking out the only distributable literacy as the Koran has ended. Reformations are inevitable, as evidenced by our own emergence from the dark ages and the protestant alternatives. What they are not is an instantaneous as the despot’s demise. We are living in historic times.

Leo W| 2.21.11 @ 1:09PM

I'm a social conservative, and choice is OK with me if it means not epanding the size and power of government by having armed goons interfere with reproduction choices. If that's all it takes, be very encouraged by what you see in the middle east.

Paul Kotik| 2.21.11 @ 11:17AM

A question never asked in public, but which events beg and beg, is whether Islam meets the criteria for treatment as a qualified religion under United States law. If, for example, it is the case that a a seditious political ideology is consistent with and demanded by Islam, then the protections afforded a qualified religion under the US Constitution are in effect a suicide pact. Does the US Constitution protect a social order which is relentlessly bent on nullifying the US Constitution? I think not.

Ken (Old Texican)| 2.21.11 @ 11:44AM

Paul,
I have personally asked...and answered the question in public. See the web-site
and read chapter one and the foreword.
www.texassaidno.com

jillosophy| 2.21.11 @ 12:03PM

This is a fight to the death, and it was not the idea of rational people. It is a fundemental belief in Islam that there is no legitimate religion BUT Islam. Two houses on earth - one of Islam, one of everyone else, and to be listed in the latter category means (according to Islam) you either are killed, converted, or relegated to a lower status - and live enslaved in one way or another. I believe that well over 75% of muslims believe this and always will. In order to reform Islam, there will have to be a very bloody civil war within Islam, which will be carried out in every country where Muslims find eachother. And who do you think will win - those who profess to love death and hate life? Bingo. Moderate muslims will never win. No one will ever win. You can only win against fundemental Islam by utterly destroying it and everyone who believes in it. This is a fight to the death, and it was not the idea of rational people. YOU CANNOT REASON A MAN OUT OF WHAT HE WAS NO REASONED INTO.

John M| 2.21.11 @ 12:11PM

Please stop the practice of equating Allah with Yahweh. When the word God is used please specify whose. Also, Muslims will not change from their beliefs anymore than I will ever disavow the primacy of Jesus. The world will only have peace when Jesus returns and your time and treasures are better spent spreading the Word.

Memyself| 2.21.11 @ 1:49PM

You do realize that the word "Yahweh" is a mistransliteration of the Hebrew, don't you?

Quartermaster| 2.21.11 @ 7:41PM

Actually it isn't. It comes from the tetragrammaton YHWH. Hebrew had no vowels in it's written language (vowel points have been added since about AD 1000). The "a" and "e" were added later from teh vowel points, iirc. Now, the German pronunciation yielded what use in English as "Jehovah." But, that is not a transliteration.

Ken (Old Texican)| 2.21.11 @ 12:28PM

John M.
Well spoken....but pass the ammunition.

bobmontgomery| 2.21.11 @ 12:55PM

Jed,
Instructive was your bringing in Martin Luther.

Kingofthenet| 2.21.11 @ 1:14PM

The problem with Islam isn't that sooner or later it will moderate,(It Will) but that it will be 'later' than the West can wait. My plan is somewhat Nefarious but I feel it would work, we need to 'remove' Imam's who preach violence, and replace them with our 'puppet's' who although 'Seem' to be just as Anti -West as the replaced ones, but quickly change their tune to Peace. This would require a Grand Conspiracy, so I am not sure it's possible. Any way you do it, you have to 'break' the chain of learning than acting on violence towards the West.

gary siebel| 2.21.11 @ 1:28PM

What's clear is that you have no clue, as does most of the RW, apparently, or the liberals, of how to deal with Islam. You represent that point rather well when you write:

Change that to the Bible and Baptist/Evenagelicals (the core of the Repub Party) and you have exactly the same situation, precisely, exactly the same to the nth degree.

(Also, trychecking out Don Quixote, the little speech about Mambrino's Helmet, and about converting Muslims/)

It seems doubtful whether you have even read the Q'uran, Hadith, or any of the other mountain of philosophy Islam has put out, just like Christianity, in defense of it's beliefs, which means you have broken Patton's Rule : know your enemy.

I can drive Muslims, Christians, Jews, Hindu's, and Buddhists to distraction just by using a basic Socratic method of questioning them, but ONLY BECAUSE I HAVE TAKEN THE TIME TO READ THE SOURCE MATERIAL, and I get tired of nitwits who haven't but are eager to provide advise.

Here's a simple question that can be used to rattle any Muslim, and the answer can be used to drive a wedge into Islam, but only if you know how; and this is but one example: How does a Muslim determine prayer times in Alaska in winter?

Now, the answer is that you cannot (because the sun does not rise above the horizon) yet the imams fudge the position to declare prayer times should be in accordance with the nearest city that sees the sun, which is obviously doctrine fabricated out of thin air. But what it demonstrates is that Islam is a latitude based religion, an idea that rankles Muslims who wish to conquer the world. It is but one of many flaws in their doctrine, same as flaws in Christian doctrine, that adherents gloss over or ignore, unless you rub their noses in it.

I could go on and on attacking the flaws in religions -- they are so many and they make such easy targets -- but a key difference between Islam and Judeo-Christianity, and even Hinduism and Buddhism, is that Islam remains the only large religion that has yet to be brought under the heel of civil government, which makes it the only religion that is my enemy.

The modern Islamic Crusade against US and Europe has a long ways to go yet because it's cannon fodder is provided by the madrassa's. Until that cycle is broken the Islamic Crusade will continue (it should be called that, the Islamic Crusade, but media lacks the nerve, the same as it lacked the nerve to publish the Muhammad cartoon).

So far I have yet to hear anyone in politics or media able to truly aggravate Muslims just by asking them simple questions. Another example: was Muhammad a man or not? Try that one with a zealous Muslim and watch the change in their body language as they consider the ramifications to the fact he was just a man. If they insist on adding, "may the blessings of peace and prosperity be upon him" immediately after they say his name, ask if they are able to say his name, that of a man, without that add-on? Try to pin them down on why they do that and they will slither and slide the same as any Christian who tries to explain that Jesus is God. In fact, to really piss them off, point out that the add-on is no different than the Christians adding "Christ" after the name of Jesus. But, of course, a Christian wouldn't think of that point to use against a Muslim.

And what about that blasted 9/11 mosque?

Quartermaster| 2.21.11 @ 7:52PM

Your ravings are so full of holes it would require a longer essay than should be posted here to refute it.

I will respond to one bit of stupidity, the adding of Christ after the name Jesus.

There is nothing untoward about "adding" Christ to Jesus. The two words "Jesus Christ" (ιησου χριστου in Greek) appears in that form 550 times in the new Testament. So a Christian wouldn't think of such a criticism based on your thinking such things are true because it isn't true. It's been such since the beginning of Christianity and its scriptures.

It would be better for skeptics as yourself to keep their mouths shut and not display your utter ignorance on subjects like religion. You may have "read the source documents," but on just one point your ignorance has been shown. So, what else have you raved about that is a fact that just isn't so?

Frankly, I have no desire to embarrass your further, so suffice it to say, there is far more ignorance in your post. Your lack of knowledge on Islam alone is also breathtaking.

gary siebel| 2.22.11 @ 3:30PM

By all means refute if you can. Your brief bit of fluff refuted nothing. Your claim actually proves my point -- there is no evidence any of the so-called New Testament was written while Jesus was alive, ergo, "Christ" was added after his death. Spare me your dogma; stick to historical facts.

Since you claim such a refutation would be too long for here, then just email it to me -- gary_siebel@yahoo.com -- unless, of course, you are afraid to shed your anonymity. I would be truly interested.

Bet you cant.

Kingofthenet| 2.21.11 @ 1:31PM

How old is Christianity? Judaism? say around 2,000yrs for Christianity and 4,000 for Judaism, and how old is Islam? 1,400 or so? What happened 1,400yrs into Christianity? Pretty much towards the end of the 'Dark Ages' and it took some serious destruction for the relatively small Jewish population to get out of the War Business. Islam is still young with room to grow and mature.

Memyself| 2.21.11 @ 1:45PM

Beware of some of these democratic freedom movements in the Muslim Mid-East. Do we really know who is leading them? In Iran, it is Mir Hussein Mousavi, who as Prime Minister in the 1980's had ties to Hezbollah and a role in several terrorist attacts directed against the US - including the 1983 attack in Lebanon which killed 241 American Marines. Yet I see many conservatives blindly jumping on the bandwagon and calling for support of the Green Movement.

Wake up, people. This is the Middle East. The enemy of your enemy is not necessarily your friend. Have we not learned this by now?

Kingofthenet| 2.21.11 @ 1:52PM

Someone needs to 'Step Up' and be the Islamic 'Henry the VIII' and bend Islam to him and the state, rather than the other way around.Unfortunately that person may have been Saddam Hussein.

Death Be Proud| 2.21.11 @ 2:58PM

I SLAM will never change.

The people who are true believers in 2011 resemble the people in Christianity who ran the Inquisition and conquered the New World.

It will take many decades for enough brainwashed religious people to wake up.

Intelligent Design| 2.21.11 @ 6:24PM

I keep reading about "radical Islam" as if it were different from just plain "Islam". This is a false dichotomy. Islam is about the merger of "church" and state to form a totalitarian regime under which there is no religious freedom, and under which non-Muslims are second-class citizens, if they are lucky. Nothing could be more hostile to our Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and freedom everywhere. Muslims have been attacking and killing Jews and other "Infidels" for 1,400 years, since Islam was invented in the 7th century. Muslims claim that Israel has no right to exist, yet Jews lived in Jerusalem 1,000 years before Islam was founded. True religions oppose evil, but Islam embodies evil. 99% of all terrorist attacks over the past several decades have been committed by Muslims. The long bloody record is available here: www.thereligionofpeace.com , including daily updates. Congress should identify Islam as a political ideology and organization which is subversive to our Constitution, in the same manner as Nazism or Soviet Communism.

Edward Schrems| 2.21.11 @ 11:57PM

The secret to changing the middle east is to crank up what has for more than 50 years been our most dependable export: dugs, sex, rock & roll. No culture has been able to withstand them.

Skippy| 2.22.11 @ 5:03PM

Including our own, sadly.

roadmaster| 2.22.11 @ 12:35PM

Islam will never reform - it is totally inflexible as an ideology and it's cult members are far to ignorant. Not only that, they believe their salvation comes by their own hand, through murderous Jihad, not by the grace of God. There is no moderation in Islam - you are either devout and a warrior for Allah, or an apostate, subject to death.
Islam is the Beast of Revelation - the armies of Satan, opposing the Lord of Heaven's armies and seeking control of this world. Motivated by a seething hatred for God and His people, the only person who can change them is Jesus Christ.
Increasingly, many Moozlims are converting to Christianisty, at a rate that is unprecedented in History. This is the greatest threat to the ironclad control of the Imams and Mullahs, and why they are so hostile towards us.
This isn't just a serious disagreement between political philosophies - this is a struggle to the death between God and Satan.
I know how the story ends because I read the end of the Book, but it's going to be ugly.

Terry Mitchell| 3.1.11 @ 12:18AM

I also wish there was peace in the middle east.Yet again religion
is the main cause there is so many different versions.In my opinion while we have religion there will never be peace.
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