February 27, 2006
Oncoming
By David
Warren
This will
be my 11th consecutive column, directly or indirectly on the “Danish
cartoons” issue. The cartoons themselves were a red herring
from the start -- a fake issue, trumped up by fanatical Muslims
seeking grievances to abet a confrontation, and thereby extract
concessions from the West. It is a fire, still being stoked around
the world by radical “Islamists”, using shameless
lies and misrepresentations. (See my previous
columns.)
The reason
I have written so copiously on this subject -- not the cartoons
themselves, but what I have called the “organized apoplexy”
in response to them -- is because it is important. In my judgement,
it is the most important thing that has happened since the Al
Qaeda attack on the United States, in 2001. It is important in
combination with other fast-developing events, including the victory
of the openly terrorist Hamas in a Palestinian election; Iran’s
public promise to “wipe Israel off the map”; collapsing
public order in Pakistan, Nigeria, and elsewhere; the recent Muslim
riots, and continuing low-level Intifada in France; and now the
destruction of the Golden Mosque in Samarra, triggering vicious
sectarian strife in Iraq. And quite literally, hundreds of lesser
events of the same nature -- each revealing an Islamic world in
combustion, and a West retreating into contrived apologies and
other confused gestures of cowardice and panic.
One cannot
keep up with all these events -- the wheels of history are turning
too quickly. The world in which we will find ourselves, a few
years hence, will not resemble the world we inhabited a few years
ago. Yet this is among the few predictions that can be safely
made. The events will fall out as unpredictably as those Danish
cartoons. The names, dates, and places are not yet recorded; but
the shape and scale of events is already blotting the sun on our
horizon.
Even after
the experience of the Great War, and the Depression, people on
the eve of the Hitler war could not appreciate what was coming.
It is only in retrospect that we understand what happened as the
1930s progressed -- when a spineless political class, eager at
any price to preserve a peace that was no longer available, performed
endless demeaning acts of appeasement to the Nazis; while the
Nazis created additional grievances to extract more.
This is precisely
what is happening now, as we are confronted by the Islamist fanatics,
whose views and demands are already being parroted by fearful
“mainstream” Muslim politicians. We will do anything
to preserve a peace that ceased to exist on 9/11. Not one of our
prominent politicians dares even to name the enemy.
And from
a mixture of fear of, and sympathy for, large, recent, Muslim
immigrant communities in the West, we confuse domestic and foreign
issues. I do not doubt the great majority of Muslims, in Canada
and around the world, are decent, “moderate” people,
who want no part in a “clash of civilizations”. But
it has become obvious they can do nothing to stop the triumph
of “Islamism” internationally, or oppose the fanatics
proselytizing in their own communities.
Germany was
full of moderate Germans, as Hitler rose; Stalin drove his oars
through a sea of moderate Russians. While we must not forget that
the Muslims are the first victims of “Islamism”, and
may suffer most from its triumph, we are beyond the point where
we can do more for them than destroy the tyranny by which they
are enthralled.
Indeed, many
Muslims, by birth or faith, remain our best allies, warning us
as many fine Germans did of what is coming our way. For example,
Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the Somali-born politician in the Netherlands
-- a magnificent young woman -- speaking recently in Berlin:
“Publication
of the cartoons confirmed that there is widespread fear among
authors, filmmakers, cartoonists, and journalists who wish to
describe, analyze or criticize intolerant aspects of Islam all
over Europe. It has also revealed the presence of a considerable
minority in Europe who do not understand or will not accept
the workings of liberal democracy. These people -- many of whom
hold European citizenship -- have campaigned for censorship,
for boycotts, for violence, and for new laws to ban 'Islamophobia'.
… The issue is not about race, colour, or heritage. It
is a conflict of ideas, which transcend borders and races.”
This was
so, she added, when we were finally obliged to stand against the
Nazis. It is true today, as we foolishly let the Islamist menace
grow and grow.
Copyright
2006 Ottawa Citizen
