Obvious Truths

Oil dependency is fueling Islamic terrorism: ex-CIA head
James Woolsey states some obvious truths.
By Janice Arnold in Canadian Jewish News

Every time an American fills up his gas tank, he is helping to send an eight-year-old boy to an Islamic religious school in the West Bank or Pakistan where he will learn to grow up to be a suicide bomber, said former Central Intelligence Agency director James Woolsey.

Woolsey’s message at a recent fundraiser for the Canadian Institute for Jewish Research, was that reducing dependency on oil imported from Arab dictatorships may, in the long run, be the only effective means of stemming Islamic totalitarianism and radicalism.

Woolsey warned against “lapsing into moral relativism” by accepting fundamentalist Islamic practices that are contrary to Western values, especially those that degrade women.

“Sharia (Islamic religious law) is the camel’s nose under the tent that we need to oppose with every fibre in our being,” he said.

Woolsey said the West has to do more than simply defend itself against the terrorists.

He urged development as soon as possible of oil alternatives, such as electricity and other liquid fuels, for vehicles.

Women’s and human rights organizations also have to put the “absolutely horrible treatment of women in much of the Arab and Muslim world front and centre of their agendas,” he said.

“The West has been uncomfortable about confronting Muslims on this, or has dismissed it as quaint customs...We need to make the abominable treatment of women central in our public discourse.”

The totalitarian streak of Islam begins in the home with younger brothers supervising their older sisters and may escalate into honour killings, he said.

The inverse relationship between oil wealth and moderation is clear, he argued. “Which Arab country’s oil is running out most quickly? Bahrain’s. Which Arab country treats women the best and is making the most progress toward democracy? Bahrain.”

As for dealing with radical Muslims living in the United States, Woolsey suggested they be treated in a similar way as Communists were during the Cold War.

Americans, he said, are reluctant to interfere with anything of a religious nature, and there is a lot of difficulty in sorting out who is a threat, he said.

Woolsey would classify any Muslim who seeks to establish religious dictatorship as the enemy, in much the same way good socialists and bad socialists were distinguished in the 1950s.

The U.S constitution prevented the outlawing of the American Communist party, but “we caused it enough trouble that it stopped being a force,” he said.

Good comments here at JW:
http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/017031.php