CAIR doth protest too much (Part 2)

For the second time in roughly as many weeks, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has publicly denounced President Bush for his efforts to clarify the nature of the enemy we face in this War for the Free World. The latest blast came in the wake of Mr. Bush’s major address Tuesday to the Military Officers Association of America, in which the President once again denounced the ideology that animates our Islamofascist foes.

A Tour de Force

While the entire speech deserves a close read, the following are among the highlights of the President’s powerful remarks (emphasis added throughout):

-"The terrorists who attacked us on September the 11th, 2001, are men without conscience – but they’re not madmen. They kill in the name of a clear and focused ideology, a set of beliefs that are evil, but not insane.

-"These al Qaeda terrorists and those who share their ideology are violent Sunni extremists. They’re driven by a radical and perverted vision of Islam that rejects tolerance, crushes all dissent, and justifies the murder of innocent men, women and children in the pursuit of political power.

-"They hope to establish a violent political utopia across the Middle East, which they call a ‘caliphate,’ where all would be ruled according to their hateful ideology. Osama bin Laden has called the 9/11 attacks — in his words – ‘a great step towards the unity of Muslims and establishing the righteous caliphate.’

-"This caliphate would be a totalitarian Islamic empire encompassing all current and former Muslim lands, stretching from Europe to North Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. We know this because al Qaeda has told us. About two months ago, the terrorist Zawahiri — he’s al Qaeda’s second in command — declared that al Qaeda intends to impose its rule in ‘every land that was a home for Islam, from Spain to Iraq.’ He went on to say, ‘The whole world is an open field for us.’

-"We know what this radical empire would look like in practice, because we saw how the radicals imposed their ideology on the people of Afghanistan. Under the rule of the Taliban and al Qaeda, Afghanistan was a totalitarian nightmare….And Afghanistan was turned into a launching pad for horrific attacks against America and other parts of the civilized world — including many Muslim nations.

-"The goal of these Sunni extremists is to remake the entire Muslim world in their radical image. In pursuit of their imperial aims, these extremists say there can be no compromise or dialogue with those they call ‘infidels’ — a category that includes America, the world’s free nations, Jews, and all Muslims who reject their extreme vision of Islam. They reject the possibility of peaceful coexistence with the Free World.

-"These radicals have declared their uncompromising hostility to freedom. It is foolish to think that you can negotiate with them.

-"….Captured documents show al Qaeda’s strategy for infiltrating Muslim nations, establishing terrorist enclaves, overthrowing governments, and building their totalitarian empire….Through this strategy, al Qaeda and its allies intend to create numerous, decentralized operating bases across the world, from which they can plan new attacks, and advance their vision of a unified, totalitarian Islamic state that can confront and eventually destroy the free world.

-"These violent extremists know that to realize this vision, they must first drive out the main obstacle that stands in their way — the United States of America. According to al Qaeda, their strategy to defeat America has two parts: First, they’re waging a campaign of terror across the world. They’re targeting our forces abroad, hoping that the American people will grow tired of casualties and give up the fight. And they’re targeting America’s financial centers and economic infrastructure at home, hoping to terrorize us and cause our economy to collapse. Bin Laden calls this his ‘bleed-until-bankruptcy plan.’

-"Secondly, along with this campaign of terror, the enemy has a propaganda strategy. Bin Laden says that al Qaeda intends to ‘launch,’ in his words, ‘a media campaign to create a wedge between the American people and their government.’

-"These terrorists hope to drive America and our coalition out of Afghanistan, so they can restore the safe haven they lost when coalition forces drove them out five years ago. But they’ve made clear that the most important front in their struggle against America is Iraq — the nation bin Laden has declared the ‘capital of the caliphate’….For al Qaeda, Iraq is not a distraction from their war on America — it is the central battlefield where the outcome of this struggle will be decided.

-"As we continue to fight al Qaeda and these Sunni extremists inspired by their radical ideology, we also face the threat posed by Shia extremists, who are learning from al Qaeda, increasing their assertiveness, and stepping up their threats. Like the vast majority of Sunnis, the vast majority of Shia across the world reject the vision of extremists….The Shia extremists want to deny them this right.

-"This Shia strain of Islamic radicalism is just as dangerous, and just as hostile to America, and just as determined to establish its brand of hegemony across the broader Middle East. And the Shia extremists have achieved something that al Qaeda has so far failed to do: In 1979, they took control of a major power, the nation of Iran, subjugating its proud people to a regime of tyranny, and using that nation’s resources to fund the spread of terror and pursue their radical agenda.

-"Like al Qaeda and the Sunni extremists, the Iranian regime has clear aims: They want to drive America out of the region, to destroy Israel, and to dominate the broader Middle East. To achieve these aims, they are funding and arming terrorist groups like Hezbollah, which allow them to attack Israel and America by proxy. Hezbollah, the source of the current instability in Lebanon, has killed more Americans than any terrorist organization except al Qaeda.

-"Iran’s leaders, who back Hezbollah, have also declared their absolute hostility to America. Last October, Iran’s President declared in a speech that some people ask – in his words – ‘whether a world without the United States and Zionism can be achieved. I say that this goal is achievable.’

-"The Iranian regime and its terrorist proxies have demonstrated their willingness to kill Americans — and now the Iranian regime is pursuing nuclear weapons….The world’s free nations will not allow Iran to develop a nuclear weapon.

-"The Shia and Sunni extremists represent different faces of the same threat. They draw inspiration from different sources, but both seek to impose a dark vision of violent Islamic radicalism across the Middle East. They oppose the advance of freedom, and they want to gain control of weapons of mass destruction. If they succeed in undermining fragile democracies, like Iraq, and drive the forces of freedom out of the region, they will have an open field to pursue their dangerous goals. Each strain of violent Islamic radicalism would be emboldened in their efforts to topple moderate governments and establish terrorist safe havens."

-"We know what the terrorists believe, we know what they have done, and we know what they intend to do. And now the world’s free nations must summon the will to meet this great challenge. The road ahead is going to be difficult, and it will require more sacrifice. Yet we can have confidence in the outcome, because we’ve seen freedom conquer tyranny and terror before. In the 20th century, free nations confronted and defeated Nazi Germany. During the Cold War, we confronted Soviet communism, and today Europe is whole, free and at peace. And now, freedom is once again contending with the forces of darkness and tyranny."

Can You Hear Me Now?

The essence of President Bush’s extraordinary statement today might be found in the following paragraphs:

I know some [in] our country hear the terrorists’ words, and hope that they will not, or cannot, do what they say. History teaches that underestimating the words of evil and ambitious men is a terrible mistake….Bin Laden and his terrorist allies have made their intentions as clear as Lenin and Hitler before them. The question is: Will we listen? Will we pay attention to what these evil men say?

America and our coalition partners have made our choice. We’re taking the words of the enemy seriously. We’re on the offensive, and we will not rest, we will not retreat, and we will not withdraw from the fight, until this threat to civilization has been removed.

Breaking the Code on CAIR

It is instructive that CAIR transparently does not want the American people to listen to the truth about the enemy we face. In its statement issued after the President’s address, the Council opined: "By focusing almost exclusively on the views of groups like Al-Qaeda and failing to address the concerns of the vast majority of Muslims worldwide who reject terrorism, President Bush grants undeserved legitimacy to extremists and marginalizes true moderates."

This contention is as wrong as was CAIR’s earlier statement in response to Mr. Bush’s absolutely accurate statement that we are "at war with Islamic fascists," in which it claimed Mr. Bush was equating – and defaming – Islam by pairing the two words. In both cases, the Council seeks to obscure the facts, sow confusion in the minds of Americans and, perhaps most insidious, promote an unwarranted sense of victimhood on the part of Muslims, here and abroad.

No one should be surprised that the Council on American-Islamic Relations persists in playing such a role. Its founding by Hamas operatives and sympathizers was monitored by the FBI. Three of its officers have been convicted of involvement in terrorist plots. And its affinity for the Islamists and service to their cause have prompted even Democrats like Senators Chuck Schumer and Dick Durbin to express concern about the organization’s ties to terror.

The Bottom Line

With due respect to President Bush, the question is not so much will the American people listen, as they should, to the words of the Islamofascists? Rather, it is whether they will stop having to listen to the words of the Islamists’ fellow travelers like CAIR, because the organization is no longer treated by the federal government as an interlocutor with or representative of tolerant, peaceable Muslims or allowed to use American airwaves to propagandize our countrymen?