Comments

You have commented 339 times on Rantburg.

Your Name

Your e-mail (optional)

Website (optional)

	My Original Nic Pic-a-Nic Sorry. Comments have been closed on this article.
Foto

Submit your comments on this article

Home Front: Culture Wars

Liberal Says: "Islamo Fascism" Confuses the Stupid

2006-08-31

Islamo-Fascist works for me. I don't see much difference between our World War 2 enemies, and the current savage opposition.
...it is philosophically apt to apply the word to specific Islamist political movements. But does it help the antiterrorist struggle for the president to label it a "war against Islamic fascists"? For several reasons, the answer is a resounding "no".

This blanket term confuses the American public about the nature of the struggle they are facing. This is not World War II, where an Adolf Hitler was bent on territorial conquest. This is not a war of standing armies seeking to capture land. The West is engaged in a long-term fight against disparate radical Islamist groups that are alienated by globalization and the backwardness of their countries. In the words of Steven Cook, Mideast expert for the Council on Foreign Relations: "There are different groups with different political interpretations of Islam and different goals. There is no real address for Islamo-fascism. "

But "General Delivery, Riyadh, S.A." and "To Whom It May Concern, Tehran, Iran" will do for a start.

Lumping all these groups under a single rubric creates the image of one worldwide and powerful jihadi movement, rather than disparate groups whose differences can be exploited. For example, Iranians hate al-Qaida, which considers them to be infidels.

But they will let them bunk in the guest house on their way to kill Americans...

And Arab Sunnis will never follow the lead of Shiite Iranians, no matter the current cockiness of Irans leaders...

But the Arab street cheers them on when they confront the Great Satan

Posted by:Snease Shaiting3550

#16 "But does it help the antiterrorist struggle for the president to label it a 'war against Islamic fascists'?"

I think the President should be more clear.

Murdering moslem bastards works for me.

Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2006-08-31 23:19

#15 the San Diego UT carries this bullshit column as well. She made the comment a few weeks ago that Iran neither has a nuke nor can obtain it in the near future, and all Bush Admin statements to the contrary are lies/propaganda. In an email I questioned her basis for that comment, but never heard a reply. I can only hope that Trudy Rubin, her ancestors still living, and her progeny suffer the consequences for that assumption and non-preparation.

Posted by: Frank G 2006-08-31 23:16

#14 Trudy's building is short a few floors. Her elevator doesn't go to the top floor either.

She is a elitist blithering idiot. Islamofacism seems clear to me.

Posted by: JohnQC 2006-08-31 21:56

#13 YAATIIOGCAD it is. Like swattin flys that fly over a carcuses body after it is long dead. I could never tell which part of the church of Satan they were whoring With the left playing their reverse psychology, beating us with a B.S. chain. Who are they sleeping with? Holy Crappers Batman! could it be Soros?

Posted by: newc 2006-08-31 15:35

#12 Everything confuses the stupid. Why else would they become stupid. The left knows about stupid because that's all they have left. Their followers are either full card carrying commies, or stupid.

Posted by: wxjames 2006-08-31 14:13

#11 the leader - Ahmedinajihad
racial superiority - persian muslims and kaffirs
glorious future - the caliphate
glorious past - Persian Empires
injustice - Mossadeq, Shah, US domination
martial spirit - the legacy of conquorers like Cyrus, Xerxes
enemies - the US, Israel, India.

Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2006-08-31 13:24

#10 Islamo-Fascism is exactly what it is - a fusion of european fascist philosophy and fundamentalist islam.

What are the ideological origins of islamic fascism?
The writing sof Ibn Taimiyya, Abd Al-Wahhab, Sayyid Maududi, Sayyid Qutb.

While Taimiyya advocated a fundamentalist reform, "cleansing" islam of all that had "corrupted" it and overhtrow of the Mongol conquorers (converted to islam), and he influenced Wahab, it was the fusion of european revolutionary and fascist thought, as expresssed by Maududi and Qutb that created islamic fascism.

Maududi writes of the need to possess "coercive power", that islam is a "complete code of life", that democracy was against god.
It was he who put forth the idea of jihad as perpetual revolution. Khomeni learnt this from him.

In one of the Osama videos he is seen with his kalashnikov propped against a bookcase. What does OBL read?
The books of Sayyid Maududi and Sayyid Qutb - islamo-fascist thought.

Consider the characteristics of a fascist state like Nazi Germany
- belief in a strong father leader (Hitler)
- racial superiority (aryan race)
- a glorious destiny (the 1000 year reich)
- a glorious lost past (nordic origin myths)
- a sense of injustice ('betrayal not defeat' in WW1 and punitive reparations)
- inculcation of a suppressed warrior spirit (prussia etc)
- powerful ememies that must be destroyed (bolshviks and jews)

What are the characteristics of Islamic fascism ?

the leader - Osama
racial superiority - arab muslims and kaffirs
glorious future - the caliphate
glorious past - historic rule from Andalusia to India,
injustice - "oppression" of muslims - Palestine, Kashmir, Chencheya, Bosnia ad nauseam,
martial spirit - the legacy of conquorers like Umar, Bin Qassim, Ghauri,
enemies - the US, Israel, India.

Posted by: john 2006-08-31 13:06

#9 Without oil, they're Subsaharan Africa with turbans and no pygmies.

That gets my vote for Snark-o'-The-Day!

It may well be that the term Islamo-Fascism is short, brusque and cuts too close to the bone for some, but it is certainly a nice shorthand for Yet Another Annoying Totalitarian Ideology Intent On Global Conquest And Domination (YAATIIOGCAD).

I was kinda sorta hoping that after the fall of Communisim, we could spend our time holding hands singing Kumbaya, exploring Mars and going to WalMart. Unfortunately, we have some more cleanup to do first. While we are at it, we might as well call a spade a spade. Or aren't we allowed to say that anymore?

Posted by: SteveS 2006-08-31 12:10

#8 "Liberal Says: "Islamo Fascism" Confuses the Stupid"

Well, he oughta know.

Posted by: mcsegeek1 2006-08-31 11:25

#7 There is no real address for Islamo-fascism.

So you cannot fight a war because there is no return address? Which is exactly the reason we need to make state support for this 'no fixed address' ideology so expensive and painful that "Cave#6, Hindu-Kush" is the only shingle they have.

This twit only answer to Islamofacism is to say "I'm so confused, I recommend we all lie down and hope it goes away".

These are the same morons who blame George Bush for sleeping through Katrina. Yet their plan for the War on Terror is exactly the same! This only reveals the severe mental illness that has infected the Liberal mind.

Posted by: john 2006-08-31 10:47

#6 Personally I would call them all Jihadists (or Jihadi).

Posted by: mhw 2006-08-31 10:45

#5 Heh. It's not poverty that's got them fighting us, but the newfound riches of oil. Without oil, they're Subsaharan Africa with turbans and no pygmies.

Posted by: Fred 2006-08-31 09:51

#4 Icky Muslims? Baddy Muslims? Not Nice Muslims?
Get a boyfriend, Trudy...

Posted by: tu3031 2006-08-31 09:44

#3 I think he's missing one important thing: the concept of the Dar al-Islam and the Dar al-Harb. For the Muslims who butcher the innocent and hide in caves, it is, among other things, a war for territory: the territory of Islam. The religion may be, because of its many sects and the violent applications of its teachings, inherently unstable, but until an area is "controlled" by Islam, I suspect that a lot of the sects are very happy to help each other (after it's taken from the infidels, then you can start the backstabbing to ensure that the "right" Islam is practiced).

The West is engaged in a long-term fight against disparate radical Islamist groups that are alienated by globalization and the backwardness of their countries.
I was about to say "Not this old argument again," but it does occur to me that at least in part it may be accurate; globalization does have the tendency to put people in geographic regions not their own, which would amount to infidels setting foot in Muslim lands. However, I think we can safely say that it ain't poverty that's keeping these people fighting us. It's their own sick, twisted minds, and their inability to comprehend anything that is not out of a dusty old book made up some time during the seventh century.

Posted by: The Doctor 2006-08-31 09:19

#2 So Trudy prefers another choice of words: Radical Islamism is hostile to the West (not just to Western policies) and to non-Muslims

And besides, Bush just uses the wrong words, and stuff.....

Posted by: Bobby 2006-08-31 08:37

#1 Not to mention that the leftists feel a bit less comfortable getting in bed with a group labeled "fascist". Easier on their (withered) consciences if it's not there.

(And with the CFR hosting antisemites, I don't think it's a good idea to cite them on anything. But, hey, the author's trying his best to keep from identifying our enemies, so he has to go to where the fellow-travellers are.)

Posted by: Rob Crawford 2006-08-31 08:25

00:00