The dreadful attacks coordinated against the people of Paris have yielded anger, fear, and frustration around the world. Social media is now erupting with views that are growing more and more extreme on both sides of the geopolitical fence as it pertains to the triad of issues now attached to the attacks: Middle East refugees, border security in multiple nations, and the response to Islamic terrorism.
It’s with this last one that there shouldn’t be much wavering. The response that should happen going forward is the same response that should have happened already. Recognition that Muslim extremists represent the greatest threat to security in all nations should not have required a string of events in Lebanon, Egypt, and France to bring it to the top of mind, but that is exactly what has happened. Even now, there are those who seem bent on addressing the issue as general terrorism rather than giving it the appropriate label of Muslim extremism.
One of those people is the President of the United States.
Unlike many right-wingers, I do not believe that President Obama is a practicing Muslim. However, he does defend Islam to a fault, never wavering throughout his Presidency to turn the attention towards individuals rather than allowing the possibility that the extremists within the religion are acting more in accord with the decrees of the Koran than those who cherry pick the pieces that point to peace. Muslims in general are not the problem. The core of Islam, however, is the problem.
If only one-tenth of one percent of Muslims in the world were radicalized, that would be over a million people actively supporting terrorism with the aim of destroying or subjugating every human on the planet. It didn’t take an army of trained fighters to kill or critically injure hundreds of people in Paris. It took 8. While we don’t know how many people it took to plant the bomb that likely destroyed the Russian passenger jet in Egypt, we know it didn’t have to be many. As for suicide bombers, they don’t need a large infrastructure or pristine planning. They need certain transferable skills, a minuscule set or resources, and a willingness to die for the sake of “paradise.”
Muslims are not the problem. Radical Islam is the problem. That is clear, but the President is still unwilling to acknowledge this.
Some will say that at this point we don’t have enough information to jump to conclusions, but let’s be real. The Islamic State claimed responsibility. Reports of Muslim jihadist cries were numerous. At least two of the terrorists were Syrian “refugees” who landed in Greece last month. Add that to the fact that the vast majority of major terrorist actions over the last two decades were perpetrated by radical Muslims and there’s no reason to dance around the issue.
What makes the situation worse isn’t that the President isn’t just failing to acknowledge the core problem. He seems completely unaware of the degree to which the Islamic State is expanding its influence, going so far as to say they are contained.
What President Obama said JUST HOURS before Paris attacks is UNCONSCIONABLE https://t.co/Zxni7tAJ02 http://pic.twitter.com/kPQUUOArSy
— Allen West (@AllenWest) November 14, 2015
The Republican candidates for President are not being as vague as President Obama. In a release by Senator Ted Cruz, he stated the reality very clearly:
We must now face the facts. Between the downing of the Russian jet over Egypt and this massive coordinated attack on Paris, we are seeing an unmistakable escalation of ISIS’ ambitions and the scale of their terrorist attacks outside Syria and Iraq.
The President must do everything in his tremendous power to bring an end to the Islamic State. They cannot simply be contained. They must be destroyed. Cruz concluded with the type of statement we need to hear from President Obama.
We must make it crystal clear that affiliation with ISIS and related terrorist groups brings with it the undying enmity of America—that it is, in effect, signing your own death warrant.
Unfortunately, the country and the world cannot wait until January, 2017, before we take definitive action against the Islamic State. They are not going to wait. They are going to escalate. President Obama must be the one to act and he has to do it immediately.
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