Speaking With The Candidates
Dean Barnett, who is guest-blogging @ Hugh's site, has bewen among a handful of bloggers with far more time on their hands than we do, and they are vetting the candidates for the leadership positions of the Republicans in Congress. He has had two days filled with conference calls, and reflecting on the answers the candidates have given. He has not named anyone in either post (a wise move; his opinion will be noted prior to the House election), but he has asked a very important question of these candidates (he admits that he has only had the opportunity with three of them):
What books have you read about Islamic terrorism against America and the West?
Now to some this may seem like an irrelevant question, but to those of us who have been covering the war and our enemy, it is a serious question. Not nearly enough do the research involved with knowing our enemy, and what they want to do to the West. We cannot simply accept only one side of the argument. And for the dinosaur media, they rarely have someone that can speak intelligently about the goals of our enemy, how they work, how they think, etc., and it usually turns into a talking points interview. For those that disagree, take a look at how CAIR debates these experts.
People like Frank Gaffney, Mark Steyn, Robert Kaplan, Michael Yon, and Colonel Austin Bay call our enemy like they see them--in black and white with no PC terms involved. CAIR would have watchers, readers, and listeners believe that these men are "Islamophobic," and refer to their style of debate as a spewing of hate speech. That could not be further from the truth. But when organizations like CAIR control the flow of debate this way, the perception of our enemy is very one-sided.
CAIR has stated repeatedly that when terrorist attacks occur, the "moderate" Muslims are "shouting form the rooftops condemning the actions of the terrorists." Yet, as bloggers have noted--often and repeatedly--the silence from the majority of "moderate" Muslims is positively deafening. Mark Steyn, in his book America Alone, notes that there are cases where these moderates have been silenced through attacks from others within their own communities. It is no wonder why we do not hear more from them, but we agree with people like those listed above: Moderate Muslims are few and far between. That is not to say that there are not any, but their numbers are not as great as the Islamicists. And it shows by how quiet they stay.
To understand our enemy, one must go outside the mainstream. Robert Spencer has written two superbly written books on Islam and Mohammed. They are well researched, and gives novice scholars of Islam, i.e. the general public, an inside view of what the Islamicists believe, and are willing to do to win their global, centuries-old jihad.
Dean wants to know if these men and women (Marsha Blackburn from Tennessee's 7th is in the running for Republican Conference Chair position) have seen, read, or researched anything about our enemy that has not already been peddled by the dinosaur media. These people will obviously have more access to other intelligence resources, but there is only so much that they will see as unfiltered than an author quite familiar with our enemy.
To us here, this is important to know. If (and likely when) the Democrats execute a pull-out of Iraq, the war is not over. We are still, smack-dab, in the middle of it. And I would like to know what our leaders in Congress know about our enemy. More to the point, I would like to know they understand our enemy and their tactics. We see how Europe is handling the problem of Muslim immigration, and that is the last thing that we need to see occur over here. Through intimidation, veiled threats, and sometimes outright violence, Europe is being brow-beaten into submission by the Islamicists and their supporters over there. Bloggers have documented hundreds of accounts regarding the Muslims in Europe; the riots in France last year were covered extensively by the blogosphere.
The general public knows little of our enemy and their tactics. These are not "simple people." They are sublimely clever in the execution of their plots and plans. Through effective work behind the scenes, our intelligence assets and military asstes have helped stop terrorist attacks not only against us, but against Britain and Canada as well. They are sophisticated, as is evidenced by their financial manipulations and transfers. These people have utilized every facet of information resources, and have actively coordinated their efforts via the Internet.
I would like to know that these people wishing to be the leaders of our party in Congress know at least as much as we do. I would hope they know more. But the question is legitimate, and should be asked. I want to know what they are reading, if anything, about our enemy.
We all have our ideas on what these people should be like. Yes, fresh faces and articulate minds. A solid effort to recruit new candidates for our party representation in Congress. Fundraising for those candidates. Yes, yes, yes. But we are still at war, and as our elected representatives this should be the key item on their agenda daily. If we screw this up, innocent people are going to die here. It is that simple.
Marcie
Dean Barnett, who is guest-blogging @ Hugh's site, has bewen among a handful of bloggers with far more time on their hands than we do, and they are vetting the candidates for the leadership positions of the Republicans in Congress. He has had two days filled with conference calls, and reflecting on the answers the candidates have given. He has not named anyone in either post (a wise move; his opinion will be noted prior to the House election), but he has asked a very important question of these candidates (he admits that he has only had the opportunity with three of them):
What books have you read about Islamic terrorism against America and the West?
Now to some this may seem like an irrelevant question, but to those of us who have been covering the war and our enemy, it is a serious question. Not nearly enough do the research involved with knowing our enemy, and what they want to do to the West. We cannot simply accept only one side of the argument. And for the dinosaur media, they rarely have someone that can speak intelligently about the goals of our enemy, how they work, how they think, etc., and it usually turns into a talking points interview. For those that disagree, take a look at how CAIR debates these experts.
People like Frank Gaffney, Mark Steyn, Robert Kaplan, Michael Yon, and Colonel Austin Bay call our enemy like they see them--in black and white with no PC terms involved. CAIR would have watchers, readers, and listeners believe that these men are "Islamophobic," and refer to their style of debate as a spewing of hate speech. That could not be further from the truth. But when organizations like CAIR control the flow of debate this way, the perception of our enemy is very one-sided.
CAIR has stated repeatedly that when terrorist attacks occur, the "moderate" Muslims are "shouting form the rooftops condemning the actions of the terrorists." Yet, as bloggers have noted--often and repeatedly--the silence from the majority of "moderate" Muslims is positively deafening. Mark Steyn, in his book America Alone, notes that there are cases where these moderates have been silenced through attacks from others within their own communities. It is no wonder why we do not hear more from them, but we agree with people like those listed above: Moderate Muslims are few and far between. That is not to say that there are not any, but their numbers are not as great as the Islamicists. And it shows by how quiet they stay.
To understand our enemy, one must go outside the mainstream. Robert Spencer has written two superbly written books on Islam and Mohammed. They are well researched, and gives novice scholars of Islam, i.e. the general public, an inside view of what the Islamicists believe, and are willing to do to win their global, centuries-old jihad.
Dean wants to know if these men and women (Marsha Blackburn from Tennessee's 7th is in the running for Republican Conference Chair position) have seen, read, or researched anything about our enemy that has not already been peddled by the dinosaur media. These people will obviously have more access to other intelligence resources, but there is only so much that they will see as unfiltered than an author quite familiar with our enemy.
To us here, this is important to know. If (and likely when) the Democrats execute a pull-out of Iraq, the war is not over. We are still, smack-dab, in the middle of it. And I would like to know what our leaders in Congress know about our enemy. More to the point, I would like to know they understand our enemy and their tactics. We see how Europe is handling the problem of Muslim immigration, and that is the last thing that we need to see occur over here. Through intimidation, veiled threats, and sometimes outright violence, Europe is being brow-beaten into submission by the Islamicists and their supporters over there. Bloggers have documented hundreds of accounts regarding the Muslims in Europe; the riots in France last year were covered extensively by the blogosphere.
The general public knows little of our enemy and their tactics. These are not "simple people." They are sublimely clever in the execution of their plots and plans. Through effective work behind the scenes, our intelligence assets and military asstes have helped stop terrorist attacks not only against us, but against Britain and Canada as well. They are sophisticated, as is evidenced by their financial manipulations and transfers. These people have utilized every facet of information resources, and have actively coordinated their efforts via the Internet.
I would like to know that these people wishing to be the leaders of our party in Congress know at least as much as we do. I would hope they know more. But the question is legitimate, and should be asked. I want to know what they are reading, if anything, about our enemy.
We all have our ideas on what these people should be like. Yes, fresh faces and articulate minds. A solid effort to recruit new candidates for our party representation in Congress. Fundraising for those candidates. Yes, yes, yes. But we are still at war, and as our elected representatives this should be the key item on their agenda daily. If we screw this up, innocent people are going to die here. It is that simple.
Marcie
posted by Syd And Vaughn | 6:03 PM
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