The New Crusade

The word we're not supposed to say. Crusade! What, we're afraid of offending the murdering jihadist scum who just killed over three hundred people in Beslan, all in the name of Islam?

Let me get this out of the way right up front. Islam is not a religion of peace. Since Mohammed returned from Medina to take Mecca under the sword, Islam has always been spread by force, and rejected on pain of death.

Just as they wrought death on those hapless parents and hundreds of children. You think I'm exaggerating? Let's see what a prominent Imam in London has to say about it:

Omar Bakri Mohammed, the spiritual leader of the extremist sect al-Muhajiroun, said that holding women and children hostage would be a reasonable course of action for a Muslim who has suffered under British rule.

In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph, Mr Mohammed said: "If an Iraqi Muslim carried out an attack like that in Britain, it would be justified because Britain has carried out acts of terrorism in Iraq.

"As long as the Iraqi did not deliberately kill women and children, and they were killed in the crossfire, that would be okay."

This really is the heart of Islam you're hearing from that Imam. And he's not as extreme as the article makes him out to be. Ultimately, his words are the true voice of Islam.

Mark Steyn points out the obvious truth, but one which the media refuses to acknowledge:

So the particular character of this "insurgency" does not derive from the requirements of "asymmetrical warfare" but from . . . well, let's see, what was the word missing from those three analyses of the Beslan massacre? Here's a clue: half the dead "Chechen separatists" were not Chechens at all, but Arabs. And yet, tastefully tiptoeing round the subject, The New York Times couldn't bring itself to use the words Muslim or Islamist, for fear presumably of offending multicultural sensibilities.

I don't know how many object lessons some folks are going to require to get the point. We paid one hell of a price for basically ignoring decades of escalating attacks, until one beautiful September day just less than a week shy of four years ago.

We paid for that lesson with the loss of three thousand lives, a half-dozen major buildings, four airliners and
all pretense of safety on these shores.

But the beauty of lessons learned is in the application of the wisdom gained. And, that there's no time limit on applying those lessons. No limit in duration, nor in rapidity.

I believe that that time belongs to us. To this generation, and to the living rememberence of so many thousands lost to the Jihadist sword.

And I don't think that I'm alone in my opinion.

It is a difficult and bitter task for me to speak. A horrible tragedy happened in our land. During these last few days, each one of us suffered immensely, having all that happened in the Russian city of Beslan run through our hearts. We were confronted not just by murderers, but those who used their weapons against defenseless children.

The preceeding paragraph, and the two which follow were spoken yesterday by Vladimir Putin, the President of the Russian Federation.

We cannot but see the evident: we are dealing not with separate acts of intimidation, not with individual forays of terrorists. We are dealing with the direct intervention of international terror against Russia, with total and full-scale war, which again and again is taking away the lives of our compatriots.

All the world's experience shows that such wars do not end quickly. In these conditions, we simply cannot, we should not, live as carelessly as before.

Now, I know what you're thinking. Crusades? Weren't those the misbegotten campaings of raving Popes and the like?

Think again.

Misconceptions about the Crusades are all too common. The Crusades are generally portrayed as a series of holy wars against Islam led by power-mad popes and fought by religious fanatics. They are supposed to have been the epitome of self-righteousness and intolerance, a black stain on the history of the Catholic Church in particular and Western civilization in general. A breed of proto-imperialists, the Crusaders introduced Western aggression to the peaceful Middle East and then deformed the enlightened Muslim culture, leaving it in ruins. For variations on this theme, one need not look far. See, for example, Steven Runciman’s famous three-volume epic, History of the Crusades, or the BBC/A&E documentary, The Crusades, hosted by Terry Jones. Both are terrible history yet wonderfully entertaining.

So what is the truth about the Crusades? Scholars are still working some of that out. But much can already be said with certainty. For starters, the Crusades to the East were in every way defensive wars. They were a direct response to Muslim aggression—an attempt to turn back or defend against Muslim conquests of Christian lands.

The best defense is most often a good offense.

I don't claim to have insight as to the best strategey, tactics or methods. But I do claim to have a deep and unshakable conviction on this.

It's either us or them.

Comments

[Guy S.]

I agree (gee what a surprise *grin*). We have tried over the past 20 some odd years to effect a change by appealing to the international court of nations (the UN) as well as dealing with terrorism as if these were Chicago street gangs. 9-11 brought that fiction (hopefully) to an end. Any folks who happen to read Jims post and this comment would be well advised to read the Koran....and the real history of Islamic expansion. Ask any knowledgeable Indian Hindu about the Islamic *Religon of Peace*. It is as you say....though there would be some who coat the lies with honey....they are after all still lies.

[GE]

Not always by the sword. For the past several years they've been hanging out in prisons and evangelizing there.

[StinKerr]

As I understand it we have all been had by the PR machine (again). Islam is not the "religion of peace" it translates more accurately as the "religion of submission".

[Velociman]

I believe quite a few Spaniards would term the Crusades a defensive action to drive out the Moors. Ditto Greece and the Balkans.

[Greg Botello]

Beheadings

Have you seen a “beheading” video? There are a few to choose from on the internet. There’s one were a very long sword is used to chop off the head of a man tied to chair. It’s not like the movies the head does not come off cleanly. No, the head is struck six or seven times before the spine is severed. His murders say that he was CIA. What about the truck driver who’s head was cut off and held before the camera by the terrorist leader Al Zarqawi. I write this while confirmation is awaited on the murder of two Italian women (aid workers). Where they raped before or after they were beheaded.

Al Zarqawi released a statement that called beheadings the “orders of their lord” That the killing of criminal infidels is by God’s hand.

How does one go about cutting the head off of another human being? What drugs are they taking, that allows them to cut someone else’s head off. The scary thing is what if they are not on drugs. What if only rage and hatred drives them?

Al Zarqawi’s story is not a grand, noble, nor epic – His wife and unborn child were not killed by an Israeli bombing raid and now he must have his revenge. Nor, were his mother and father killed while his childhood home burned to the ground. Al Zarqawi is just a petty criminal from Jordan (7 years in prison). He’s a serial killer with an excuse to spill the blood of others, not only Americans, but Iraqis, Egyptians, Christians and Muslims. If there is bloo