Watching (well, using as background noise) Hannity & Colmes tonight, I noticed they had Michael Ledeen on the program, so I perked my ears, as he’s my boy Dan Darling’s mentor of sorts in the anti-terrorism realms. And then I heard one of my pet peeves asked (in my own words)…”why do the Muslim extremist terrorist types hate America and Israel so much?” I have to admit, this got my wheels turning. Of course, the answer provided by Ledeen was because we’re good and the terrorists were evil, while Colmes asked if it were because of our abysmal foreign policies relating to the Middle East over the years.
Now, I believe both Sean Hannity and Alan Colmes to be men of intellect, and I also believe that Michael Ledeen is a well-established and quality thinker, despite how people typically view those of the neoconservative plank. Yet I was amazed that everyone completely missed the root cause. My amazement turned to musing whether it was due to ignorance or refusal to believe what it truly was.
I’ve begun to believe that it’s an intential omission, as I’ve heard the reason given on that show in the past…by Israeli ambassadors to the UN, former Israeli prime ministers, and others of the Jewish persuasion. It’s because Islam dictates that all Jews must by rule die for the end-time to take place. And, not only that, a curse was applied to both Jews AND Christians.
No, that’s all Jewish rhetoric! It’s Israeli propaganda! All I can say to that is…
“O you who believe! do not take the Jews and the Christians for friends; they are friends of each other; and whoever amongst you takes them for a friend, then surely he is one of them; surely Allah does not guide the unjust people.” ~ Surah 5:51
“And the Jews say: Uzair is the son of Allah; and the Christians say: The Messiah is the son of Allah; these are the words of their mouths; they imitate the saying of those who disbelieved before; may Allah destroy them; how they are turned away!” ~ Surah 9:30
“The last day will not come until the Muslims confront the Jews and the Muslims destroy them. In that day Allah will give a voice to the rocks and the trees and they will cry out, ‘O Muslim, O Abdullah, there is a Jew hiding behind me. Come and kill him!’” ~ Sahih Al-Bukhari hadith.
Being the only truly predominantly Christian nation left in the world, the U.S. is seen by the fundamentalist Islamic terrorists as the cat’s paw of Satan in working against the followers of Allah. THIS is why they hate us, and THIS is the reason the larger Arabic world (even those typically thought of as moderate) gets up in arms over whatever we do. The fact that the U.S. supports Israel only inflames it.
I just don’t know why I understand this and these sharp guys who get paid to enlighten people via television don’t.
You raise an interesting point, but if I had to venture a guess, the reason that nobody acknowledged what you presented there is due to fear. As public personas, each of them whether they care to admit it or not, live and die by popularity.
Saying that Islam is outright evil is a bold statement, and like you’ve shown, has quite a bit of weight behind it. But, none of them there want to be labelled racist or condemning one of the world’s leading religions. I’d wager that if you were able to speak with Hannity behind closed doors, he’d likely agree with you in full. Colmes is Colmes and I can’t speak for the other guy, but I get the impression that Sean knows the score, whether he’s saying it or not.
This is true. Nobody wants another Salmon Rushdie situation. In fact, there’ve actually been killings in the U.S. in recent years that have been attributed to indigenous radical Islamists, so it’s a very real fear. I personally think long and hard before I post on the subject for this reason. It helps me, I think, to do my best to accurately reflect the most commonsense interpretation of the Koran as well as to refrain from dishing any undue criticisms.
However, until people are brave enough to speak up and be counted, people will continue under the illusions of “they hate us because we’re good” or “it’s this particular issue that everything stems from.” It’s my considered opinion that the cause lies in the very fabric of the faith itself.
I’ve said before that there is no moderate Islam, merely moderate Muslims. In my experience and readings, this is generally explained by stating that certain hadiths and surahs are superseded by later revelations. And it’s their religion, and how they interpret their scriptures is their perogative. But the fact of the matter is that the portions that were generous to the Jews and Christians (but forget about the pagan peoples) were the earliest parts of the Islamic faith. And the complementary fact is that increasing numbers of adherents place more credence in the commands to kill them as part of their practice.
People need to understand what it is that they’re truly dealing with in order to realistically determine what to do about it. This makes the issue a lot less cut and dry, which probably plays as much of a role in why it’s popularly ignored by pundits as the potential personal threat.