MAY 28, 2008
When it comes to Islam, good fences make good neighbors
Do Terrorists Hate Freedom?

BY JACK HUNTER



Whenever I write about U.S. foreign intervention as the root cause of the terrorist threat, I expect, and receive, a visceral reaction from those who instead believe the George W. Bush party line — that terrorists are only motivated by a hatred of America's "freedom."

On the Right, terrorism is considered a mass insurgency, unique to Islam, and the ultimate goal is to destroy democracy. On the Left, terrorism is seen as a reaction to American imperialism; they believe Islam is no different from any other religion.

Both are right and wrong.

Liberals who pretend that Islam is entirely harmless do so at their own peril. One need not cite barbaric quotes and commands from the Koran to recognize that while every Muslim is not a terrorist, a significant portion of them are, and that portion is a force to be reckoned with.

Decades of mass immigration into Europe have proven multicultural assumptions about Muslim assimilation dead wrong, and in places like the U.K., France, and elsewhere, majorities now believe that Islam is simply incompatible with Western society.

To say this is offensive to some, particularly when we all have Islamic friends or neighbors who are decent, law-abiding citizens. But the same could be said of relatives of mine, who as Southern Baptists are the salt of the earth. Yet, does anyone believe that if two million Southern Baptists (the estimated number of Muslims in the U.K.) planted roots in the heart of liberal San Francisco, that their presence would not create serious religious, political, and cultural tension?

Conservatives who assume that the Islamic problems in Europe and the Middle East will also unavoidably continue to be a problem for the United States are wrong in the worst way imaginable. The overwhelming reason for the terrorist threat against the U.S. is the U.S.'s continued military presence in the Islamic world. Radical Islam has declared jihad against America for the same reason they have done so against their European neighbors — because we are there.

Whereas European nations foolishly allowed Islam to enter their own backyards, the U.S. has not only been having a backyard barbecue in the Middle East for decades, but in 2003, President Bush decided to bring out the fireworks. The invasion of Iraq alone exploded the ranks of Al-Qaida by the millions and was the best possible gift the U.S. could have given radical Islam.

Imagine if the Iranian Revolutionary Guard invaded Folly Beach, established military bases along the coast, and caused the deaths of thousands of South Carolinians as a result of sanctions which blocked food and medical supplies from entering the state in an effort to punish Gov. Mark Sanford. Every redneck and homeboy from Goose Creek to Gaffney would be picking up shotguns, creating an "insurgency" that would trouble the occupiers to no end.

And no doubt, back home Iranian leaders would explain that the resistance in S.C. was the work of "terrorists" who simply "hated Islam."

The childlike view that terrorists hate our freedom is constantly reinforced by not only our president, most of his party, and a significant portion of Democrats, but a mainstream media more comfortable with repeating accepted falsehoods than doing their job of investigating the facts. The earth has never been flat, but someone had to investigate the matter and offer an alternate vision to challenge the conventional wisdom.

Still, the earth looks flat, right? Islam looks dangerous, right?

The rhetorical navel-gazing that passes for U.S. foreign policy has confused and corrupted not only debate on the subject, but the Right, where military action is now almost always considered an inherent good. It is troubling that so many self-described conservatives now seem to trust their government without question, so long as it involves bombs and bombast.

The Left's assumption that American imperialism causes Islamic terror is essentially correct. John McCain's statement that he doesn't mind keeping troops in Iraq for 100 years won't trouble generations of potential terrorists half as much as the fact that he might actually do it.

The Right's assumption that Islam poses a danger is also essentially correct. But this danger is only born of geography, not an inevitable clash of philosophies. Like a flame to gasoline, the Middle East and the West only become combustible when they meet.

It's time we stopped meeting.

Catch Southern Avenger commentaries every Tuesday and Friday at 7:50 a.m. on the "Morning Buzz with Richard Todd" on 1250 AM WTMA.

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Nomdeplume-"you are just upset because I fuck all you lefties up the ass without lube."

Shame on Mr. Hunter for quoting Robert Frost without due acknowledgement!

Good catch. Where was it, cause I missed it.

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Nomdeplume-"you are just upset because I fuck all you lefties up the ass without lube."

In the title.

Good fences make good neighbors is from Frost's poem "Mending Wall"

One need not cite barbaric quotes and commands from the Koran to recognize that while every Muslim is not a terrorist, a significant portion of them are, and that portion is a force to be reckoned with.



um, so... are the right wing bible thumpers trying to prompt the fucking return of jesus, along with it's OWN barbaric quotes from ITS bible any less significant to those who could rationalize whatever their thumping requires? Do we talk about THAT "significant portion" too?

tripe.

This article is too vague, and quite misleading.

There are plenty of people on the right side of the spectrum that don't believe in the fairy tale that terrorists hate the US merely because it's "free". I'm not sure how any deep thinking individual, regardless of where they lean politically, could just accept that notion at face value and look no further. What an arrogant way to view things. That we are only hated because we are us. Like we're so fucking special compared to all the rest of the world.

Like the terrorists don't frequently mention our imperialist interventionism as justification for their offenses. They're really just tricking all of us, because it embarrasses them publicly to allow the world to know they REALLY only hate us because they're not as cool as us.

'Fuck outta here.

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"If you analyze it I believe the very heart and soul of conservatism is libertarianism. The basis of conservatism is a desire for less government interference or less centralized authority or more individual freedom and this is a pretty general description also of what libertarianism is."

-Ronald Reagan

What New Testament quotes would that be? I don't recall any call to arms or and convert them or kill them type statements. I seem to recall more things like turn the other cheek and do unto other type statements.
By the way, I have read the Qur'an and there are many quotes that are quite barbaric.

That could be because Mohammad was a WARRIOR. What exactly is a warrior going to stand for and believe? Islam is a threat until such time as it joins the 21st century or hell even the end of the 19th Century.

Islam believes that once a Muslim you must always remain a Muslim, if you stop believeing you can be KILLED for it. If you do not believe, again, you can be KILLED for it. They believe Religion runs the Government and they forbid open religious practices books or worship that is not their brand of Islam. Anyone not a Muslim can not, BY command of the Quran, ever be considered a friend of a true believer. Non believers can be used, but all are third class citizens at best. Treated as trash, forced to pay to remain alive and subject to death at the whim of the True believers.

Islam actively believes convert or die. When is the last time a Christian religion practiced that? Come on Shogun provide us with the millions of Christian Terrorists blowing up babies , women and children.

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The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever that it is not utterly absurd. Indeed in view of the silliness of the majority of mankind, a widespread belief is more likely to be foolish than sensible.

-Bertrand Russell

Facts are stubborn things, but statistics are more pliable

-Laurence J. Peters

I never said that you had no right to have an opinion. I just said that it was, in fact, worth nothing.

-Maineman ( on 12 June 2007)

Hey, Islam is just behind the times. There was a period of time when Christians killed everyone who wasn't one. Maybe that still has an effect on Islamic thinking now-a-days?

I agree with the author. If we just leave everyone the fuck alone and stop trying to take control of their land, then they will stop trying to fuck with us.

__________________
Nomdeplume-"you are just upset because I fuck all you lefties up the ass without lube."

But there's just one problem with that idea...their land happens to be on top of our oil.

the key word being NEW testement.

Wanna flip through the preface to your biblical NT and get back to me?



Wanna talk to Elisha about babaric passages? Maybe a few selection from Moses and his tryst through canaan? What does the NT say about observing the OT, by the way?


try again.

uh, WHAT THE FUCK GAVE DAVID his initial notoriety? Well, besides having a man crush on Jonathan?


How many christians were out killing civilians at the battle of Faluja, asshole?


US marines in hot water over Christian coins in Iraq

The US military said on Friday it was probing complaints that marines handed out coins inscribed with a verse from the Bible to a group of Sunni Muslims in Iraq, sparking outrage among local residents.

It said a service member involved in the incident in the former flashpoint city of Fallujah west of Baghdad was removed from his duties on Thursday.

"US forces initiated an investigation into reports that a coin with a Bible verse written in Arabic was distributed to Iraqi citizens as they passed through a Fallujah entry control point," the military said in a statement.

"A coalition force service member was removed from his duties Thursday amid concerns from Fallujah's citizens regarding reports of inappropriate conduct."

Residents of Fallujah, scene of one of the bloodiest post-invasion battles between insurgents and US forces in Iraq in 2004, said that marines had been doling out the token-like coins to residents to promote Christianity.

The incident occurred less than than two weeks after a US soldier was removed from Iraq for using a Koran for target practice at a firing range near Baghdad and writing graffiti in the Muslim holy book.

The incident sparked outrage from the Iraqi government of President Nuri al-Maliki and prompted an apology from US President George W. Bush. But it triggered protests that left several people dead in Afghanistan.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php...show_article=1



The ONLY difference is that your dogma gets wrapped up in whatever CRUSADE DU JOUR you can rationalize. Hell, if this were the Dark Ages you'd be calling me a terrorist for not sending my kids on the Children's Crusade to reclaim the holy land.




And, when EITHER of you pussy bitches want to stark skinning verses and comparing the barbarism in EITHER holy book feel free to let me know. Mauling CHILDREN because they make fun of baldness and RAPING virgins in the wake of the Burning Bush land grab might seem show wearing civilized to you but you are probably not the first jesus junky to rationalize your own presence in the world.

Christianity is based on the New Testament. The Old Testament was a precursor but Jesus brought about a whole new way of thinking about our relationship with God and between each other, that trumps any of the old testament thinking. It's like looking at person today and looking back on their childhood. They are two very different beings although share a history.

That being said, I'm the first to admit that many have taken bits and pieces and morphed them into some convenient justifications for their own hatred or violent actions. People have a special genius that way, as there is no end to the amount of evil people can produce. But to damn Christianity for the actions of those people would be wrong.

A knife is one of the oldest and most useful tools man has ever created. It feeds us, helps us work with tough materials to build things, etc. but look at the violence it can do in the hands of someone bent on doing violence. So do you damn the knife?

Many forms of Islam are peaceful but not because of what the Qur'an says, but due to long standing social norms of that specific group. The Qur'an uses very strong language in regard to non-believers and exactly how they should be treated. Some ignore that side of it, others don't.

polishing your dogma turd won't make it stink less, dude. CHRISTIANITY is based on the bible; BOTH covenents old and new. Again, what did jebus say about the OT?


and maybe you can spare me the bullshit knife rhetoric right before going on to demonize the koran since, clearly, facing your own shitty music isn't your strong point.

There was only one covenant, spelled out in the OT. Jesus said he was there to fullfill the prophesies of the OT about the Messiah. Of course, he wasn't what most expected.
I don't have to demonize the Qur'an. Read it for yourself. As for your last statement, it makes no sense.