In that the jihadis were successful.
One would have expected the British authorities to not just hunt down the terrorists, but also to fight the cancer of Islamism that lies at the ideological roots of jihadi terrorism. Instead, successive governments in London have tried to pussyfoot around the challenge, hoping the jihadi terrorists and their ideology would melt away with time as Downing Street funded so-called "moderate" Muslim groups and "former" extremists to do the government's bidding.
As the brutal hacking death of a British soldier by two fearless jihadis chanting "Allah O Akbar" has shown, this strategy has failed. Muslims who see the West as the enemy and seek its destruction have become even more emboldened by the lack of resolve, which they see as cowardice. In addition, jihadis in the U.K. are no longer restricted to the second generation Pakistani Britons; they now come from places as far apart as Chechnya and Nigeria.
While the run-of-the-mill jihadi terror attack relies on suicide bombers and remote-controlled improvised explosive devices, Wednesday's attack came straight from medieval times, with the two jihadis using knives and cleavers to hack away at the victim and then beheading him. If this was not enough, they played to the gallery, demanding they be filmed as they chatted with passers-by, proudly defending their actions and promising more attacks on non-Muslims to come.
If the latest act of jihadi terror was different in nature, the reaction by mainstream Islamic groups and prominent Muslims in Britain was not. It was exactly the same as it has been after every tragic incident. Old press releases were brushed off and sent afresh to the media.
While ordinary Britons and non-Muslims around the world are bewildered by these never-ending acts of terrorism, the response of the leaders of the Islamic community is the tired old cliche -- Islam is a religion of peace, and jihad is simply an "inner struggle."
The fact these terrorists are motivated by one powerful belief -- the doctrine of armed jihad against the "kuffar" (non-Muslims) -- is disingenuously denied by Islamic clerics and leaders.
The full article can be read here.
Tarek Fatah is quite wrong. You cannot fight an idea with the weapons that the modern nation state has at its disposal. It is quite impossible. The fruits of the enlightenment, of Voltaire and Rousseau, of radical secularism are crumbling in our hands even as we speak. How then shall we use them as weapons of war? We are confronted with a pervasive, destructive, evil lie and it will do us no good to oppose it with another lie. Only an equally radical commitment to the truth can save us. When we can match the jihadi's fervor with our own fervor for the gospel then perhaps we might have a chance.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Fatah as to the rejection of Jihad; I agree with you that "liberal democracy" is proven to be impotent against the forces of Islam.
ReplyDeleteIt is only the return to Christianity that Islam will be defeated; nay, converted. The light of Truth must be shone on the falsehoods of Islam.