November
9, 2005
Islamist Threat in France
By Tony Blankley
When, seven months ago, I finished writing my book,
"The West's Last Chance: Will We Win the Clash of Civilizations?"
(Regnery Publishing, Washington, D.C., Sept.11, 2005), London
had not been attacked by Islamist terrorists, the Tate Museum
in London had not removed an art exhibit because it offended radical
Muslim sensitivities, and France had not yet experienced the explosion
of violence from elements of its Muslim population in its "no-go
zone" communities.
The fact
that I predicted all those events in my book was not the result
of clairvoyance. It was merely the result of a normally intelligent
person looking at the facts, and their rather obvious implications,
without the blinding effect of a politically correct mentality.
After studying
what the radical Islamists were saying and doing in Europe, I
opened my book with a scenario of a London Islamist terrorist
attack and an Islamist demand for removing offensive European
artwork from museums. Then I wrote: "Muslim parts of Paris,
Rotterdam and other European cities are already labeled no-go
zones for ethnic Europeans, including armed policemen. As the
Muslim populations -- and their level of cultural and religious
assertiveness -- expand, European geography will be 'reclaimed'
for Islam. Europe will become pockmarked with increasing numbers
of little Fallujahs that will be effectively impenetrable by anything
much short of a U.S. Marine division."
"Thus,
as the … fundamentalism expands into European (and perhaps
to a lesser extent American) Muslim communities, not only will
Islamic cultural aggression against a seemingly passive and apologetic
indigenous population increase, but the zone of safety and support
for the actual terrorists will expand as well." ("The
West's Last Chance," pp 55-56).
Now, two
weeks into the appalling explosion of violence in Europe (and
the equally appalling French governmental passivity in the face
of such violence), most of the world's media treats this huge
event as the third or fourth story on the evening news. From the
BBC and CNN to the major newspapers of the world, the story is
underreported and mis-reported. On Monday, the Washington
Post was still not reporting the story on the front page.
The big
networks have consistently given only headline coverage to the
story. I was in Russia last week (lecturing and doing media on
my book) and actually timed the BBC coverage of the French Muslim
violence story at about a minute and a half, while in the same
broadcast the post-Pakistani earthquake relief story was given
over 15 minutes. CNN International proportioned their coverage
similarly.
Soon, the
violence of the last two weeks will be seen as the opening of
an event of world-historic significance.
Even when
the current violence subsides -- even when the French government
attempts to placate their radical Muslim population by offering
more welfare benefits and programs -- it will not be the end of
the story. A new benchmark of the possible will have been established.
The flaccid and timorous response of the French government will
only increase the radicalizing Muslim elements' contempt for Western
cultural weakness.
As Paul
Belien, writing from Brussels this weekend observed: "It
is not anger that is driving the insurgents to take it out on
the secularized welfare states of Old Europe. It is hatred. Hatred
caused not by injustice suffered, but stemming from a sense of
superiority. The "youths" do not blame the French, they
despise them."
As Mr. Belien
reports, look what a typical radical Muslim leader, Dyab Abou
Jahjah, the leader of the Brussels-based Arab European League
says: "We reject integration when it leads to assimilation.
I don't believe in a host country. We are at home here and whatever
we consider our culture to be also belongs to our chosen country.
I'm in my country, not the country of the Westerners."
Or consider
the statement of a German radical Islamist that I recounted in
my book (based on a National Public Radio news story broadcast):
"Germany is an Islamic country. Islam is in the home, in
schools. Germans will be outnumbered. We [Muslims] will say what
we want. We'll live how we want. It's outrageous that Germans
demand we speak their language. Our children will have our language,
our laws, our culture ("The West's Last Chance," page
75).
This is
not about Muslim poverty (the Islamist terrorists who hit London
all had good jobs. Mohammed Atta, who struck us in New York, was
well-born and came from a prosperous family). It is about radical
Islamist self-confidence and contempt for the West. And, it is
about Western weakness.
We should
not sneer at French weakness, but rather should encourage them
to re-find their strength. It is a strength we will need to find
in ourselves, as well. Vive la France!
Copyright
2005 Creators Syndicate
