Islamic Terrorism Defined

It is now official, the Mosul, Iraq attack against the US military base messhall where hundreds of American troops were gathered for a noon meal was caused by a suicide bomber. Over twenty people were killed and sixty-nine others wounded according to the most recent figures for casualties in this attack. Naturally, as a consequence, security will be tightened and people more thoroughly checked on US bases in Iraq with this gruesome reminder that Islamic terrorism is our true enemy.

Why does this all sound familiar? It's familiar because Israel has been going through this for years while the world has made excuses for the Palestinians/Arabs and attacked Israel for it's behavior in trying to stop suicide bombers. The Netanya suicide bombing by an Islamic terrorist killed twenty-nine people sitting down for a Passover meal in Israel in 2002. When I was in Israel in 2003, I visited a bar near the Tel Aviv beachfront called Mike's Place. A week after I left Israel a pair of suicide bombers attacked the same bar and killed several patrons while wounding many more. It was only through the heroic efforts of a security guard at the entrance that prevented many more innocent deaths.

The world thought that Israel alone was going to be target for Islamic terrorism and they could ignore it, or even worse, excuse it by blaming the Israeli government. The US had this same approach until 9-11. Some of the wiser pundits compared Israel to the proverbial canary in the mine shaft. Unfortunately, they were absolutely right. Our enemy is not Iraqi insurgents, the Taliban, Palestinian radicals, Chechnyan rebels, Indonesian extremists, or any other name the media uses. Our enemy is Islamic terrorism which is not defined by one nation, one people or one race. It is defined by it's religion and it's political goal which is fascism.

Just as with other fascists, Islamic fascism must be defeated, not negotiated with. Islamic fascists do not want to negotiate with you but they will give you a choice - convert or die. We must defeat this fascism as we defeated the Nazis in WWII in order to bring true peace to the world. Those who support our troops in Iraq and their mission represent the honest "peace party" because they know this is the only way to achieve peace in the long run. The short run will be difficult and painful, just as it was in WWII, but the goal is an honorable and worthy one.