[djmcmath]

Let's set aside the insults and dodging for a moment and get back to the question: is terrorism a problem?

I think that Mule answered a different question, which was: Is fundamental Islam a problem? The answer is clearly "yes." I'm sure that even the most stubborn amongst us agree that the situation in France is bad, and that the situation here is likely to follow if we don't stand up. Islam is basically forming their own isolated pockets of The Land of Islam in other countries. They ignore the laws of the host country and are basically independent mini-countries. This is serious.

The really terrifying part to me is not that they're doing all of this, but that nobody seems to care. The few who raise the alarm are rejected as whiners and extremists, or racist, or whatever else. I'd say, "Wait and see, you'll see how wrong you are," except that by then it will be too late for all of us. You think that Bush is running a theocracy? Can you imagine a world where Sharia law is respected everywhere?

The tool behind this is not large scale terrorism. They don't need truck bombs and IEDs to build these little pockets of Islam. It's small scale terror -- like taking the kippas from their Jewish neighbors. Eventually, after enough small scale terror, a neighborhood becomes unpleasant for anyone but the perpetrators. France has given in to these, and we will too. There are already places in this country where the call to prayer can be heard several times a day, and where it's more common to see women in bourkas than in jeans.

The end state on this is not a collection of isolated mini-states, of course. I think all of you already know this -- they don't want little isolated pockets of Islam. They want the whole world to be subject to Islam. They teach complete allegiance to Islam, even over allegiance to your own country. When it comes down to it, these people will use whatever means are called for by their imams to achieve their goals. We will have already let them into our country wholesale and will have encouraged their religious isolationism by our tolerance and encouragement of diversity. I'm not sure how this will go -- they may be able to quietly take over our schools and slowly indoctrinate a new generation. Or perhaps they'll make rocket attacks and suicide bombers from their isolated pockets. What I know is that they will not be satisfied until all of us follow their religious laws.

Is terrorism a problem? Yes, it certainly is. Is fundamental Islam a problem? Oh, absolutely.

Supe's question about Iraq is another good point. I think we've done a great thing over there. I'm sure that Saddam Hussein supported AQ, and was quite pleased to be allied with AQ on 9/11. Did it actually help the situation with fundamental Islam? Well ... probably not. We've probably reduced the number of terrorist attacks on our own soil, but that's impossible to prove. We have certainly not made any friends, and we haven't reduced the incidence of fundamental Islam in this country.


Dan