Is ‘Islam’ at war with us?

By Frank Gaffney Jr

Last week, John Brennan, the assistant to the President for homeland security and counterterrorism approvingly recalled a key point in the speech Mr. Obama delivered in Cairo in June: “America is not and never will be at war with Islam.” Unfortunately, that statement ignores the fact that the decision as to whether the United States is at war with anybody is not entirely up to our leadership or people. The real question is: Is ‘Islam’ at war with us?

It is certainly true that hundreds of millions of Muslims the world over are not seeking to wage war against the United States, or other non-Muslim states. America has, as Mr. Brennan noted in his remarks before the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) on Thursday, a powerful interest in not making all those who practice Islam into our enemies.

Yet, it would be a grave mistake to construe the problem we face as John Brennan proceeded to do in his speech at CSIS: “We are at war with al Qaeda which attacked us on 9/11 and killed 3,000 people. We are at war with its violent extremist allies who seek to carry on al-Qaida’s murderous agenda.” He described that agenda as seeking “to replace sovereign nations with a global caliphate.”

Unfortunately, that is the stated goal of all those who adhere to what authoritative Islam calls Shariah - a number that includes many millions of people the world over. Mr. Brennan’s speech made no reference to this wellspring of jihadism.

Of course, not all those who embrace Shariah are prepared to use terror against us. Shariah requires though that if its adherents do not actually engage in violent jihad, they must support it through financial or other means.

After all, according to Shariah, the purpose of jihad is to bring about the triumph of Islam over the entire world. Shariah commands that the faithful must use violence where possible to advance that objective, and non-violent means where not.

By failing to recognize this justification and catalyst for the threat we face, Mr. Obama and his administration effectively foreclose the possibility of countering it effectively. Worse yet, in their understandable desire not to give gratuitous offense to Muslims, the U.S. government has repeatedly deferred to those who are most easily and most vocally offended.

Specifically, the latter - notably, the putatively non-violent, but virulently Islamist Muslim Brotherhood and its myriad front organizations - have come to dictate what our officials can and cannot say about the danger posed not just by al Qaeda and its “violent extremist allies,” but by all those who embrace the teachings, traditions, institutions and dictates of what authoritative Islam defines as “mainstream”: Shariah.

This practice effectively disenfranchises American Muslims who reject this Shariah program - precisely the sorts of people we should most want to empower.

Last week, I discussed this problem on our talk radio program with someone who is trying to do something about it: Rep. Sue Myrick of North Carolina. Read more here ...

Source: CFP