Surrendered?

From the desk of Ed Koch: The Free Press Has Surrendered to Islamic Fanatics

Bennett's most important comment was, "I promise you, they have won. They have silenced -- these -- these mobs have silenced the mainstream media, who are afraid of the mob." Later on in the discussion, Bennett stated, "One of the difficulties with the cartoons is, they hit pretty close to the bone...Is there no suggestion that, in the name of Islam, in the name of the Koran, in the name of Allah, people are having their heads cut off? These things hit their target."

To me, that is the crux of the matter. There is a war of civilizations being waged in the world with the Islamic fanatics subliminally seeking to storm once again the gates of Vienna, where, in 1683, they were defeated. If by threats of terror against them, the great media institutions can be brought to their knees, we are in big trouble. Before this occurred, I had no doubt that, no matter how difficult, no matter how long the war we are now engaged in continues, the democracies of the world would win, as they did when first facing Hitler and later Stalin. Today, I am no longer so certain.

I think the bottom line is this; too many of us just don't believe Islamists will/can carry out what they so clearly want. Ignoring the problem won't make it go away. We must deal with this head on - no quarter given. Every time we retreat (even when we think we're just being gracious or sensitive), they advance. It strengthens them, it emboldens them. They view it as weakness, and like a predator they attack the weak.

They need us to defeat them, it is in their best interest. It is in the best interest of the world. During WWII the Germans and the Japanese were of the same spirit. They needed that strong hand to put them down, too, and knock that spirit out of them. It took a while, but we finally recognized that and did what it took. Yeah, it hurt, but you do what you have to do, and the world was better place because of it. It doesn't last forever though and that spirit has raised up another problem to deal with. Now is the time to put it down. The stakes are too high now to wait.

Today there are new ostriches in our land. They refuse to take terrorists at their word. The Times reported on February 4th the comments of a cleric at the Al-Omari mosque in Gaza, "We will not accept less than severing the heads of those responsible." Regrettably, many Westerners don't take Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Osama bin Laden's principal deputy, at his word when he said, "Killing the infidels is our religion, slaughtering them is our religion, until they convert to Islam or pay us tribute."