Defending the West

Whether we like it or not, choose to accept it or not, we are engaged in a World War.
By Sean Osborne, Associate Director, Senior Analyst & Military Affairs

I have seen far too many media pundits refer to the recent communication from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad to President George W. Bush as an expose on how best to resolve various “problems” around the globe. So eager for dialog with the proponents of Islamic conquest of the world, many of these people absolutely fail to recognize the direct threat implicit within the text of the communication.

These individual pundits are blatant appeasers of Islamic totalitarianism, and their view places all of us in extreme peril. Categorically speaking, the “letter” from Ahmadi-Nejad is a de facto declaration of war upon America.The "problems" posed by the Hojjatieh regime of Iran are not really "problems" per se. Using the word "problem" is a soft-pedaling of the real issues.

Iran and all of its proxy terrorist organizations (Hezbollah, Al Qaeda and HAMAS) are in fact unified-of-purpose direct threats to the security of the United States of America. The letter from Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad to President Bush is one more in a series of "declarations of war" issued by the Iranian regime since 1979 against the US and, ultimately, all nations of the world which are democratically-principled societies.

This is where we are now. Whether we like it or not, choose to accept it or not, we are engaged in a World War.This letter from Tehran is no different than the Islamic overtures of the same kind from Osama bin Laden: "reject your Judeo-Christian heritage and embrace Islam or be put to the sword.” In other words, “we will wage war upon you with no distinction between soldiers, civilians, men, women or children.” This is Mohammedism straight from the Qur'an in its purest from.

The following are the three opening paragraphs excerpted from the CRA Terrorism Assessment Center Daily Brief issued Monday, 15 May 2006. This telling assessment is read by movers and shakers at all levels of the US government as well as those involved individuals to whom America as we know it is a paramount concern.

"From a historical perspective, Islam has considered itself at war with non-Muslims since its founding in 622 A.D., and in the 'modern' epoch has been conducting terrorist attacks against the West since the 1960's (Palestinians) and more overtly in the name of Islam since 1979 when the Ayatollah Khomeini launched the Third Global Jihad with the overthrow of the Shah and the declaration of war on America by capturing the U.S. Embassy in Tehran.

In spite of nearly 50 years of asymmetrical warfare against the West, few intelligence, security services or police agencies, and even fewer politicians have recognized either the state of war or its nature. Most Western countries, including the U.S. insist on treating Islam's asymmetrical warfare as isolated criminal acts and respond with the resources of their justice systems and police agencies. Since 1985, the FBI has been the designated 'lead agency' of the U.S. government to fight terrorism.

While terrorists do engage in criminal activity, treating them as mere criminals ignores their greater menace as trained soldiers of a hostile global ideology. Al-Qaeda has managed to link the 50+ “jihadi” groups in the world (numbering more than 200,000 trained combatants) together in common objectives, with a common combat doctrine in which they have been trained. Most law enforcement agencies lack the education and training to combat such an enemy."

The message is unambiguous and for the survival of the Western world, must be clearly understood: Islam has declared war against us; therefore we must officially recognize this fact and conduct ourselves accordingly to successfully engage the enemy and prevail.

This is a war with an existential threat to our Republic, our war of life and our future generations. Any less of a commitment to defending ourselves against this threat is tantamount to placing these things in extreme jeopardy. We simply cannot conduct “business as usual” until the totality of this threat is unconditionally removed from its own existence.