MUST SEE VIDEO!!
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ROBERT SPENCER IN NYC!!
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As the nation gears up for the 2008 presidential election, the candidates’ positions on terrorism and Islamism are coming into focus, with major implications for national security of the United States and around the world. Especially of note is the vast difference in collective outlook between the Republican and Democratic candidates. The Middle East Forum had Robert Spencer, the prolific author, brilliant Islamic scholar and theologian discuss this issue.
So of course I ran across town to catch Robert. He was, as always, most informing and alarming in his substantive warning. I cannot, for the life of me, understand why he's not a regular visitor to the White House advising Bush and his minions.
I wound up commiserating with Robert after his remarks. We hit the streets of the citay - lunched, laughed our asses off and strolled the electrified streets of the greatest city in the world on a particularly spectacular day. Fabulous, all of it. Thanks Bob. It was swell.
Some pull quotes:
"The Democrats has limited to statements more notoriously such as John Edwards, "the war on terror is just a bumper sticker."
"On the Republican side there has been a little more realism about the issue most notably when Gov Romney spoke in a TV commercial about the threat of global jihad and said this was something that directly threatened the survival of the United States. He was roundly ridiculed for this. Saturday Night Live actually took the commercial and just put it to a laugh track as if it was self evidently ridiculous."
Spencer was not endorsing Romney but it is noteworthy that he is the only candidate to mention jihad. The WSJ actually ran a article about what a terrible thing it was that Romney used that word.
"The war on "terror" is a complete misnomer. Terrorism is a tactic. Terrorism is as old as war itself. Terrorism has been used throughout history. Words matter. Our refusal to name the enemy is the fundamental weakness which has so far has marked the prosecution of the war."The Bush administration obviously has not wanted to focus more clearly on who are fighting because of various sensitive political considerations in terms of our Muslim allies and yet it has to be done. Someone is going to grasp this."
On Israel:
"Much more urgently right now in these dark days .... with Annapolis. No one is making the connection between the jihadist intransigents of Hamas and Hezballah and what we are facing in the war on terror in the United States. No one undeerstand that The enemies of Israel will not be bought off with this concession or that concession or this piece of land or that piece of land. It won't happen. Because the Hamas and Fatah charters are both very clear, that they intend to destroy Zionism, they intend to destroy Israel utterly because, and this comes back to Islamic theology, it is the offensive for any part of what is considered to be ruled by no Muslims. Once an Islamic land is an Islamic land it is an Islamic land forever. So you also see in the al qaeda literature call for the Islamisation, the re-islamisation of Spain under exactly the same terms as they're calling for the destruction of Israel.
But these things are not being put together.
Because in the US, in the public discourse, everyone, liberals, conservatives, whatever -- is afraid with --very few exceptions -- to talk about the actual ideology and the actual motives and the actual goals, that the terrorists themselves have articulated."
So of course I ran across town to catch Robert. He was, as always, most informing and alarming in his substantive warning. I cannot, for the life of me, understand why he's not a regular visitor to the White House advising Bush and his minions.
I wound up commiserating with Robert after his remarks. We hit the streets of the citay - lunched, laughed our asses off and strolled the electrified streets of the greatest city in the world on a particularly spectacular day. Fabulous, all of it. Thanks Bob. It was swell.
Some pull quotes:
"The Democrats has limited to statements more notoriously such as John Edwards, "the war on terror is just a bumper sticker."
"On the Republican side there has been a little more realism about the issue most notably when Gov Romney spoke in a TV commercial about the threat of global jihad and said this was something that directly threatened the survival of the United States. He was roundly ridiculed for this. Saturday Night Live actually took the commercial and just put it to a laugh track as if it was self evidently ridiculous."
Spencer was not endorsing Romney but it is noteworthy that he is the only candidate to mention jihad. The WSJ actually ran a article about what a terrible thing it was that Romney used that word.
"The war on "terror" is a complete misnomer. Terrorism is a tactic. Terrorism is as old as war itself. Terrorism has been used throughout history. Words matter. Our refusal to name the enemy is the fundamental weakness which has so far has marked the prosecution of the war."The Bush administration obviously has not wanted to focus more clearly on who are fighting because of various sensitive political considerations in terms of our Muslim allies and yet it has to be done. Someone is going to grasp this."
On Israel:
"Much more urgently right now in these dark days .... with Annapolis. No one is making the connection between the jihadist intransigents of Hamas and Hezballah and what we are facing in the war on terror in the United States. No one undeerstand that The enemies of Israel will not be bought off with this concession or that concession or this piece of land or that piece of land. It won't happen. Because the Hamas and Fatah charters are both very clear, that they intend to destroy Zionism, they intend to destroy Israel utterly because, and this comes back to Islamic theology, it is the offensive for any part of what is considered to be ruled by no Muslims. Once an Islamic land is an Islamic land it is an Islamic land forever. So you also see in the al qaeda literature call for the Islamisation, the re-islamisation of Spain under exactly the same terms as they're calling for the destruction of Israel.
But these things are not being put together.
Because in the US, in the public discourse, everyone, liberals, conservatives, whatever -- is afraid with --very few exceptions -- to talk about the actual ideology and the actual motives and the actual goals, that the terrorists themselves have articulated."
**
There's much more.
There's much more.
Please listen and watch the video.
The MP3 audio has more of the Q&A.Download spencer.mp3
posted by jillosophy at 11/15/2007 04:16:00 PM
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