'76 Blog

David Petteys of Act for America, Denver chapter, and Michael Del Rosso of the Claremont Institute recently compared notes on the strange reluctance of Republicans running for office to identify our jihadist enemy in plain language.  Here is their exchange: PETTEYS: Our friend Michael Del Rosso recommended that the following question be asked of every candidate: “In your opinion, what is the greatest threat to our country and what would you do about it?”   Recently I had the opportunity to actually ask this question of Jane Norton, the front running GOP Senatorial candidate here in Colorado.  I am happy to say her response was this: “Islamic Terrorism, and we need to get over this idea that the rights of terrorists have priority over the lives of American citizens.”   Although I would prefer the term “Islamic Jihad” as opposed to Terrorism, it is a step forward.    Certainly preferable to the answer you’d get from most Democrats who would talking needing to "save the planet from climate catastrophe by cracking down on the evil oil companies”. I’m also happy to report my Congressman Mike Coffman’s office notified me today that he was joining Sue Myrick of North Carolina’s “Counter Terrorism Caucus” as a result of my suggestion. DEL ROSSO: Dave, I would NOT accept Terrorism as an answer from this candidate. A couple of weeks ago I put the following query to three of the seven Republican candidates attempting to reclaim Virginia's 5th District US House of Representatives seat for the GOP: "America has been in a shooting war for over 8 years with over 5,000 KIA, tens of thousands wounded, and a trillion dollars spent, with no end in sight. Who is our Enemy, what is their Doctrine, and what is their Objective?"  Each time the exchange went generally this way: Candidate: “We’re fighting Terrorists.” Me: That makes as much sense as saying “Our Enemy is Tanks.” Terrorism is a tactic, not an enemy. Candidate: “We’re fighting Muslim Extremists.” Me: “How do you know their Extremists? How do you know they are not actual Mainstream Muslims?” Encountering a bewildered look and no response I further asked “Have you ever read the Quran? Any book on Islamic jurisprudence and doctrines? Have you read the 9-11 Report?” Every time, the candidate's answers to all three were “No.” So I informed each of them: “You just admitted that you have no basis in fact, you have no knowledge, in making any claim about who are enemies are. How can you presume to ask me to vote for you to be my Representative when you have not even taken the trouble to identify our enemy 8 years into a war?”

('76 Contributor) When the President solemnly vows to “get to the bottom of all this and bring these violent extremists to justice”, he is telegraphing the following: 1.      He is NOT connecting the violence to Islamic Jihad, which IS the main ideological threat to the United States.  Islamic Jihadists generate markers that fit the facts on the ground. With these markers, we can proceed to watch the Mosques where Jihadist groups are formed, we can read their literature and understand their doctrine, we can listen to the Imams and anticipate their actions.  But “violent extremists” generate nothing! How do you define one? You can’t!  The media continues their apologist approach, describing  the million and first “disturbed young man”, and of course Islam has nothing to do with it.  They also strive for “balance” and are sure to mention “right wing extremists” in the same breath, even though there has been a weekly Islamic Jihad incident since July of this year, and nothing from “right wing extremists” since Oklahoma City. 2.      The President, by avoiding the mention of Islam, is also letting us know he buys into the false narrative about Islam perpetrated by the Muslim Brotherhood and its front organizations such as CAIR, ISNA, MPAC, MAS, and all the rest.  This false narrative would have us believe that Islam is the “religion of peace”, that all Muslims are moderate, and only a “fringe” are violent, owing to our policies.  The reality is, Jihad is built into the faith.  Jihad is the solemn duty of ALL believers. Jihad can be waged four ways: with the mouth, the pen, the money and the sword.  Note that our misdirected “War on Terror” only deals with Jihad by the sword, leaving the other three modes unattended! 3.      Also, to “bring violent extremists to justice” reveals a view that the war with Islamic Jihad is a police problem.  A question: how to you deter suicide attacks with the threat of fines and imprisonment?  The legal straitjacket we have put ourselves in is this: everything is legal until a crime has been committed.   What happens when this “crime” is the detonation of nuclear weapons in a half dozen cities?  Also, we see Jamaa’t al-Fukra training thousands of soldiers for Jihad in the United States.  A steady stream of young men are going to the Middle East to the battlefields of jihad and are gaining combat experience. They are returning to the United States as seasoned combat veterans and trained killers.  They are becoming the training cadre and the backbone of a Muslim Jihad Army being built before our eyes right here in the United States! And we are turning a legalistic blind eye lest we “offend the Muslims”?  When   “Zero Hour” arrives, (and this is their term, not mine), and these thousands of combatants rise up in armed insurrection, what will the government do then? Threaten to file suit? Threaten to pull their 503c status?