CONFUSING: Are There Any Muslims in the Middle East?
Every time a self-proclaimed Islamic terrorist group engages in terrorism or violence Western leaders insist they aren’t Islamic, yet if that is true there must be few (if any) Muslims in the permanently violent Middle East and thus the U.S. can change its strategy on how to deal with these terrorists.
President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry are two of the prominent Western leaders who have recently proclaimed that the Islamic Caliphate (aka: IS, ISIL, or ISIS) is not Islamic even as the Caliphate claims it is. Some people find this hard to believe:
Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday defended President Barack Obama’s statement that the Islamic State is not Islamic, saying that they can call themselves whatever they want, but “they’re not a state, and they do not represent Islam.” In fact, he said, they are “the order of Satan.”
“The Islamic State, they can call themselves what they want to call themselves. We shouldn’t compound the sin by allowing them to get away with it and calling them what they’re not. They’re not a state, and they do not represent Islam,” said Kerry at the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s hearing on the U.S. strategy against ISIS.
Kerry was responding to Rep. Steve Chabot (R-Ohio), who expressed shock when President Barack Obama emphasized that Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIL) was not Islamic.
The continued insistence that Islamic terrorists aren’t Islamic forces a logical question: Are there any Muslims in the Middle East? Because there are a lot of terrorists in the Middle East with a lot of support, and they are all claiming to be Muslim. But if they aren’t truly Islamic then one has to wonder if there are any Muslims at all in the Middle East. More on that in a bit. But I first want to digress.
Kerry’s impassioned and stubborn defense of Islam becomes particularly curious when considering how American leaders eagerly and viciously condemn Tea Partiers and other law-abiding citizens as “security threats,” pointing to their peaceful and reasonable actions as “proof” of their sinister motives.
For instance, the same John Kerry who insists that Islam is a religion of peace previously insisted that the, “Media Has ‘Responsibility’ To ‘Not Give Equal Time’ To Tea Party” (RealClearPolitics, August 05, 2011). Kerry thinks the Tea Party will destroy the nation with its advocacy for fiscal responsibility.
And Politico reported on August 01, 2011 that, “Source: Biden likened tea partiers to ‘terrorists.’”
The Daily Caller reported on May 14, 2013 that, “Former NAACP head: Tea party ‘admittedly racist,’ ‘Taliban wing of American politics’.”
Talking Points Memo noted ran this headline on January 23 of this year, “Schumer: Tea Party Opposes Immigration Reform Because America Is Becoming Less White.”
Meanwhile, UPI reported the following in March of this year: “U.S. Rep Charlie Rangel: Tea Party is ‘mean,’ ‘racist’”.
In other words, we have now reached a point where our leaders look at the constant violence and terrorism by self-identified Muslims and decide that it “proves” Islam is peaceful. At the same time, they look at the constant peace and lawfulness of non-Islamic American citizens and decide that it “proves” they are violent and a national security threat. That’s an interesting mindset.
But with that aside, let’s return to the question of if there are any Muslims in the Middle East.
The fact that our leaders insist the self-proclaimed Islamic Caliphate and other Islamic terrorists really aren’t Islamic must mean the Middle East is devoid of (or largely devoid of) Muslims. After all, the place is filled with groups engaging in act after act of terrorism and violence. And they always claim to be Islamic, with media reports indicating consistently large support from others in the Middle East who also claim to be Islamic. But if these groups and their supporters aren’t Muslim, then it must mean the Middle East isn’t as Islamic as we thought.
And if the Middle East isn’t as Islamic as we thought, that must mean the U.S. and the West no longer have to worry about Islamic sensibilities or crafting restrictive rules of engagement in deference to Islam. And they no longer have to worry about “insulting” Islam or creating a “backlash” with policies and actions that might offend Muslims.
So if all this terrorism done in the name of Islam really isn’t Islamic, then Islam must not be that prevalent in the Middle East after all. And with that understood, let our leaders develop a new strategy of dealing with this threat; one that doesn’t require the U.S. and West to bow to Islam.
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