In the opinion section of Al Jazeerah’s website today is a piece which, for those who have the gastric fortitude, provides a vivid window into the working mind of what America is truly fighting in this global war – a “war” not on “terror” which is a tactic, but a war against an ideology. Al Jazeerah’s writer from London, Yamin Zakaria, opines freely for the free world to read. He leaves the reader with a clear comprehension of the true ideologies that are at stake in this war. He believes that a Muslim theocracy is a panacea. He espouses an ideology that holds that lands of freedom and liberty like the United States and Britain are inherently corrupt and purposely target civilians. As a prior U.S. Navy officer and a Muslim, his comments from across the pond are beyond offensive. His blinders and fanatical dismissals refuse to acknowledge the driving ideology of Islamo-fascism and why those who target civilians in barbaric acts of terror are fascistic in their means, their philosophy and their faith. This person cannot see Muslims doing anything wrong. He interprets Islam vis-a-vis Muslims as always being the victim. This is in fact tacit approval for all terrorism performed by so-called Muslims. Zakaria of Al Jazeerah is unable to understand how Muslims could be fascist. He misses the simplest of understanding that, in fact, an individual without any self-awareness or self-consciousness is by definition – a fascist. In fact, this very discussion demonstrates the depth of the intellectual fabric of the Islamo-fascists and their consistent derangement in their own elaborate warped world view. This piece should be mandatory reading (with anti-emetics) for all those who doubt that there is in fact an ideology that is in direct conflict with the secular democracies of the West and most specifically with the secular freedoms guaranteed in the U.S. by our Constitution. Zakaria’s misunderstanding, distortion, and hate of America and our liberating forces in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere need to be addressed. It is not just this one opinion specifically which brings concern, but rather that this is an articulate form of blind fascism that is a potent minority in the leadership of the Muslim world that must be defeated in the war of ideas. This is a mindset revealing itself on the Arabic oped pages that can see no wrong in their own group and see all wrongs within others. It is, in fact, the antithesis to a free secular tolerant society that respects individuality, honors humility and introspection. It is the ideology with which we are at direct odds as Americans since 9/11. It is crucial for Americans to understand that this is part of an infrastructure of philosophy that is painfully thought out. It is crucial that we begin to publicly and vociferously deconstruct this in the international arena. This column first appeared at this link in the Arizona Republic

AIFD joins the Save Darfur Coalition of over 100 diverse faith-based humanitarian and human rights organizations. The coalition united in order to help raise public awareness of the genocide in Darfur and to help end the atrocities that have killed 50,000-100,000 and displaced over 1 million with over 2 million threatened.

The Filipino government appears today to be single-handedly walking the entire world across that grizzly nexus of terrorist negotiation and appeasement. It appears that Manila is in the process of bowing to the kidnappers, and has agreed to withdraw its humanitarian aid workers from Iraq by August 20. Certainly, the Philippine government is at liberty to choose its own approach toward freeing Angelo de La Cruz from his impending beheading at the hands of the Khaled Bin Al-Qalid Squadrons of the Islamic Army of Iraq. However, let no one mistake the impact of the sheepishly myopic carelessness of the Filipino government upon the safety of the troops and citizens of the nations of the Coalition of the Willing in Iraq and around the world. At whatever level whether local or international, it is crime prevention 101 that any negotiation or appeasement of kidnappers only facilitates crime and terror. It only emboldens terrorists to repeat and imitate – inoculating their fear of capture, death, or eventual loss. In actuality, such appeasement ultimately erodes the soul of our free world which depends upon moral nations standing for freedom and liberty against tyranny and the sword. When even one nation succumbs to threats of intimidations of our individuals, this will live long in the memory of the Islamo-fascists or any group which seeks to impact political change through the terrorizing of noncombatants. When the hooded demons terrorize they roll the dice betting on human weakness. When any nation genuflects in weakness to the demands of terrorists, it will be followed by many more rolls of the dice. If there is anything which is obvious in the history of acts of terrorism it is that. It is about time that the world’s body politic begin to address the ideology we are all fighting in this war on Islamo-fascism. As we articulate the philosophy we are fighting, the actions of individual nations when confronted with the enemy will thus follow more logically and the harm of appeasement will be more clear. It is beyond befuddling that the Philippine government which has for many years been fighting its own indigenous factions of Islamist radicalism within its own borders did not learn from its own experiences and learn about the nature of the Islamo-fascist ideology. It appears that the Philippine government has also been duped into believing that these thugs care about Iraq and the presence of the Philippines there. What they do care about is the radical Islamist ideology and the forces which stand in the way of imposing it upon populations. Some nations have criticized the Bush administration’s policy of aggressive dismantling of terror networks and the now even more obvious link with Saddam’s Iraq which this incident further accentuates. Yet, there remains silence on the fact that there is nothing which facilitates global terrorism more than providing gratification to terrorists for their demands. As a global body politic if we are seeking a world of peace and tranquility, those who seek to impose theocracy and state mandated terror need to understand once and for all that free nations will not accept their ideology and will not accept their negotiations. I hope the next few days brings forward a genuine global discussion of the negative impact upon all nations of those nations which choose appeasement. I hope to see an explanation of how the Philippine government established channels of communication with these barbarians and did not find a way to use the resources of the Coalition to find their hostage and capture his kidnappers. Spain and now the Philippines have genuflected. South Korea, Great Britain, and the U.S. and others in the Coalition are still fighting to maintain a world order where those who seek to instill fear in noncombatants will lose out to the forces of freedom and liberty. If members of Al Qaeda find that no matter which way their dice rolls in this demonic game of terror, they will be ignored and destroyed, they will slowly disappear. If, however, the dice occasionally rolls in their favor, even Pavlov’s animals kept going back for more. This column first appeared at this link at the Arizona Republic

In a brilliant move, the coalition forces turned over control of Iraq two days early. This clearly pre-empted any plans for terrorist attacks on the day of the turnover or before. As of June 28, 2004, Iraq is now a sovereign nation- a historical moment for Iraq and for the Middle East. Any terrorist acts committed against coalition forces will be against protecting forces of the sovereign nation of Iraq and thus more obviously against the very people of Iraq. The road to freedom is now an Iraqi road and will begin with a new national ownership. There is no better way to disarm the militant Islamists. There is no greater inoculation against terrorism and against the scourge of oppressive theocratic Islamism than stepping up the timetable and perhaps seeing the following this week: 1. Bringing Saddam Hussein back to an Iraqi judge of a sovereign Iraq to be indicted for crimes against the Iraqi nation, the Iraqi people, and crimes against humanity as Saddam heads in due process toward the death penalty. His public trial in Arabic will speak volumes toward changing the climate of dictatorship in the Middle East. 2. President Bush may now speak this week to NATO about the new era in the Middle East of a free and sovereign Iraqi people at the NATO meeting held in Turkey, the only Islamic nation member of NATO. What a grand political move to have what is now a sovereign Iraqi nation ask NATO directly for troop assistance and other cooperation in the near future? 3. Paul Bremer will leave and Prime Minister Iyad Allawi will begin the process of interacting and bonding with the anti-American Middle eastern media and its viewers and no longer do so through easily marginalized American forces. Al Jazeera and Co. will have to deal with Allawi and the Iraqi government as one of them. 4. America sets soon to celebrate its Independence day and we, as Americans will remember our history of the sacrifices our forefathers made in establishing a free nation based on liberty and with equality for all. It is the collective memory of this spirit and the rough road thereafter that will put the rocky road of Iraqi sovereignty and independence in perspective. 5. Prime Minister Allawi and his cabinet will now have to begin to set forth and articulate their own vision for a free Iraq, a united Iraq, and an Iraq that honors the equality of all citizens while avoiding theocracy. 6. A sovereign Iraqi government of majority Arabs and Muslims can now credibly articulate a believable plan for ridding their nation of terror networks like al-Qaida and their ilk. Freedom-minded Iraqi leaders can now open a steady daily discourse from Muslims directed toward Muslims on the need to marginalize militant Islamists and the terrorists. As they seek to stabilize their own nation with free markets, free media, and free assembly, they will have to effectively and swiftly eliminate those who target innocents and exploit the Islamic religion. This will also require the beginning of a new articulation of a supporting moderate Islamic theology. 7. Syria and Iran will have to scurry to develop a discourse with an Iraq that is sure to be painful for those who have survived on the mutual thuggery of Middle Eastern governments. How will they interact with a nation that carries standards of freedom and justice that only highlight their own oppression of the Syrian and Iranian people? How will the Baathist Syrian government publicly deal with the impending public trial in Arabic of a fellow Baathist thug, Saddam Hussein? 8. Which heads of state of Arabic or Muslim nations will give Prime Minister Allawi a congratulatory phone call this week? A major moment in history in the Middle East has arrived early and we pray will be a major step toward peace, freedom, and liberty in the region. This column originally appeared in the Arizona Republic at this link.

The Arizona Republic and the East Valley Tribune both ran a poignant op-ed by Jeff Jacoby of the Boston Globe Tuesday on “Mutilations and Muslim Law.” Jacoby expressed his outrage at the barbaric proclamations of some medieval Muslim clerics. He cited the statements of Saudi sheik Shehabi and that of Sheikh Mawlawi of the European Council for Fatwa and Research from Islamonline. These are only two examples of many abroad. It is certainly obvious from their explanations of mutilation and bizarre defense of vengeance that the expression of faith of these self-appointed clerics bears no resemblance to the faith of Islam I know and yet we use the same text – the Holy Koran. The amount of damage done by such backward proclamations by self-appointed Islamic pseudo-scholars is profound. They misrepresent their faith, they embolden anti-Muslim sentiment, and they fuel militant Islamist hate. Their fatwas will continue – this week on mutilation and next week on whatever strikes their fancy. These malignant fatwas are cloaked in false theology and only clarify the theological sewage in which the enemies of freedom in Iraq and Saudi Arabia travel. To displace the sewage with learned ecumenism is the challenge for Muslims around the world. The never-ending series of militant Islamists who target innocents and behave like animals – in not only killing human beings but in mutilating corpses – continues to be too much to handle as an American and as a Muslim. What can be said, is that this global war against militant Islamo-fascism is clearly against a two-headed snake of one mind – militant Islamists and their clerical mentors, with their one ideology, the false religious justification of terrorism. To defeat them we must defeat the militants in the war on the ground and intellectually defeat the clerics who facilitate them in the ideological war within Islam. As the stream of poison from both heads of the snake continues, it is clear that war must be waged symmetrically. To wage it only on the ground will not be enough. These clerics are in fact illegitimate in a religion which has no clergy. Interestingly, they have only contrived the concept of fatwa in order to exert control much like heresy is often used in any institutionalized religion. Unfortunately or fortunately depending upon perspective, the concept of an institutionalized church with clergy is antithetical to Islam and no where to be found in the Koran. These radical clerics are simply tribal warlords basking in their nauseating light of the instant international media of the 21st century. They render self-serving violent edicts for war in the name of religion and falsely justify barbarism. We should not be deluded into thinking that medieval clerics can be reformed. But these false theologians can certainly be displaced to the ‘ intellectual dustbin of religious history’ by moderate, tolerant, compassionate teachers of a tolerant pious secular Islam. Let me be clear. In a religion which includes over a billion people world-wide most of whom currently live in autocracy, one can certainly line up hundreds if not thousands of so-called clerics bred in bastions of hate who will endlessly render horrific statements in the name of a faith . These deviant clerics have arisen out of the ashes of many of their freedom loving coreligionists who have died fighting against them for their very own religious freedom. Shades of this continues to this very day. For this reason, the liberation of Iraq will go a long way toward defeating militant Islam. For as long as the dictatorships remain, radical Islam will find a home. In Egypt, President Hosni Mubarak and his regime, “granted the state-operated Al Azhar seminary the authority to supervise and seize material deemed in violation of Islamic law {ellipsis} the regime has approved the formation of an Al Azhar force to inspect book stores and kiosks for material that counters the Sunni Islamic mainstream.” Just a small example of the pervasive pathological parasitism between Arab dictatorships and religious theocracy. No matter how well intentioned Al-Azhar University and Mubarak may be in eliminating the radical element and their systemic educational indoctrination, the use of state-sponsored entrenched theologians to enforce this remains antithetical to freedom and inculcates the very practices which they are trying to thwart from the radicals. Islamo-fascist terrorists can no longer be given a free ride without active displacement and world-wide response by moderate Muslims. They can no longer be allowed to remain unanswered in their use and misuse of Koranic verses to justify actions of revenge and vengeance that are clearly prohibited in the Koran as being against the laws of God. It is time to wake-up those who will displace the radical clerical enablers of militant Islam in the international war of ideas within Islam. Organizations like AIFD (the American Islamic Forum for Democracy) www.aifdemocracy.org here in Phoenix are trying to do just that. For there are certainly moderate imams (‘teachers of religion’) in Islam and their voices are not often heard in global media. A body of tolerant religious commentary will have to further evolve from freedom-minded Islamic scholars. In the end, the solution will come from the disciplined relegation of Islamic scholars or clerics to a strict academic advisory role visa vie the rise of grass roots Muslim voices which are able to separate affairs of religion from that of the state. Only when Muslims can as a majority openly free themselves of the reigns of any pseudo-clergy will they be able to displace this harmful global coexistence of clerics and radicals. Organizations like AIFD here in Phoenix are in fact actively waging this type of frontline intellectual struggle for the soul of Islam in order to ultimately defeat the clerical head of the militant Islamist snake This column originally appeared online at the Arizona Republic at this link.