And the hesitation in the West is part of the problem:
Read any newspaper or turn on any news broadcast and you’re bound to encounter stories of Islamic radicals fighting, killing and threatening one another – and just about everyone else.Read it all.
In Somalia, jihadists, with the support of al-Qaida, have clashed with troops loyal to the country’s internationally recognized interim government and now threaten neighboring Ethiopia with all-out war.
Nearby in Darfur, Muslim militiamen called janjaweed are waging genocide against black Christian and animist villagers – apparently with the consent of the Sudanese government.
Shiite and Sunni militias, each claiming to represent true Islam, keep slaughtering each other in Iraq.
Hezbollah (“Party of God”) seeks to destroy democracy in Lebanon by provoking Israel, which it is sworn to eliminate.
(...)
There is still another reason for the rise of Islamists: They sense a new hesitation in the West. We appear to them paralyzed over oil prices and supplies and fears of terrorism. And so they have also waged a brilliant propaganda war, adopting the role of victims of Western colonialism, imperialism and racism. In turn, much of the world seems to tolerate their ruthlessness in stifling freedom, oppressing women and killing non-believers.
So how, aside from killing jihadist terrorists, can we defend ourselves against the insidious spread of radical Islam? Here are a few starting suggestions:
•Bluntly identify radical Islam as fascistic – without worrying whether some Muslims take offense when we will talk honestly about the extremists in their midst.
•At the same time, keep encouraging consensual governments in the Mideast and beyond that could offer people security and prosperity, while distancing ourselves from illegitimate dictators, especially in Syria and Iran, that promote terrorists.
•Establish that no more autocracies in the Mideast and Asia will be allowed to get the bomb.
