History has a nasty way of repeating itself. And it’s happened again. Those of us who remember 1938 recall Britain’s then-Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain triumphantly waving a paper while disembarking from his flight home after meeting with Adolf Hitler. His declaration turned out to be a colossal show of naiveté.“Peace in our time” were his words. He had made a deal with Hitler, trusting the Nazi fuhrer was a man who would keep his word to the Free World. The very next day, Germany took the Sudetenland; and history shredded Chamberlain’s paper, along with the delusion that wishes come true if one wishes hard enough.In April, a senior US State Department official stunned us by announcing, “The war on terror is over.” Sound familiar?Furthermore, he was quoted in the National Journal as saying, “Now that we have killed most of al Qaida, now that people have come to see legitimate means of expression, people who once might have gone into al Qaida see an opportunity for a legitimate Islamism.”Although the word “terrorist” has been expunged from America’s official description of bad guys, this declaration seemed more than a little ridiculous. The irony is that it is no laughing matter. Nor can the comment be dignified as an expression of some new vision of American foreign policy that reads, “If you want to end war, just declare peace.”Things don’t work that way. “Legitimate Islamism” does not exist, and merely coining the phrase does not alter reality for the millions of oppressed people living under the brutal dictates of Sharia law.Try to sell the idea that terror has subsided to Christians in Sudan, under attack for weeks by Muslim extremists. A frenzied crowd of terrorists armed with clubs, iron rods, a bulldozer, and fire stormed a Christian compound in Khartoum in April, determined to destroy a Bible school, clinic, home for the elderly, classrooms, and living quarters.In Jos, Nigeria, Christians were watching a soccer match in a television-viewing center when Islamic extremists threw an explosive into the crowd, killing one person and seriously injuring others. It was the second time in two weeks the Christian area had been bombed by terrorists.These incidents are the tip of the iceberg. Islamic terror afflicts Africa, the Middle East, and numerous other spots around the globe. Ignoring or minimizing it, or making bizarre statements like State Department representative’s, not only aids and abets the enemy but is morally reprehensible and dangerous. In fact, such actions pacify people, making them complaisant and unwilling to do anything to stop the ongoing war against those who want little more than to live peacefully and practice their faith in a safe environment.Of course, bomb-throwing, radical Muslims are more than happy to be labeled “legitimate Islam.” The terminology translates into cash and prestige within the international community. However, terminology changes nothing. They are fundamentalist Islamists.And while the sycophantic West panders to their so-called desire for democracy, these Islamists continue to make war on everything un-Islamic in an attempt to establish a global caliphate with the as yet unrevealed 12th imam, or Mahdi, on the throne. After all, they believe their holy book teaches the Mahdi ultimately will lead the armies of Islam to victory over all non-Muslims.A fatal failure of secular analysis of the war on terror is its dismissal of religion as a central factor in the conflict. The fact is, if religion is removed from the picture, the true image is lost. Ask yourself a few simple questions:(1) Why the relentless war on Christians across the Middle East and Africa?(2) Why the obsession to destroy Israel?(3) Why the demographic strategy to flood Europe with Muslim immigrants and create an Islamic continent?(4) Why the rush to build ballistic missiles to reach Europe and America?(5) Why the attempts to force Sharia law into countries and communities that are non-Muslim?The issue is not land or a pluralistic world peace. It is world conquest by force and intimidation, and that reality will not change because the non-Muslims unilaterally declare peace.The prophet Isaiah spoke of a future day when people “shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not life up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore” (Isa. 2:4).No premature, impulsive declaration will bring about that day. God alone will do it. And unfortunately, it is not today.The writer is executive editor for The Friends of Israel.
French police special forces escort a radical Islamist 370(photo credit: Stephane Mahe/ Reuters)