Muslim Congressman Regrets Bush/Hitler Comparison, Talks Counterinsurgency
Thursday, August 2, 2007 at 09:34AM Congressman Keith Ellison, the only Muslim in the House, returned from a weekend in Iraq and talked about his experience on CNN’s The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer. He was asked about this comment he made on July 8 in reference to President Bush:
“It’s almost like the Reichstag fire, kind of reminds me of that. After the Reichstag was burned, they blamed the communists for it, and it put the leader (Hitler) of that country in a position where he could basically have authority to do whatever he wanted.”
Ellison admitted his comments were erroneous and said he does not believe in a Bush-9/11 conspiracy, adding it was inappropriate to compare Bush with Hitler.
More importantly, Ellison talked about his meeting with religious leaders in Ramadi. He stressed that the sheiks and religious leaders he met with:
“…are very concerned about how al-Qaeda is really damaging the reputation of Islam around the world, and this was a very important concern for them.”
This is a message all Americans need to hear if we truly want to win the war on terror and build a safer future for our children. We can turn the tide by marginalizing apostates like al-Qaeda and bin Laden, as well as the insurgents, and respect moderate, peaceable Muslims. They will turn against their heretics with our help. The percentage of Muslims in the U.S. who believe there is never a justification for suicide bombings in is the upper 80 percentile and they are likewise equally concerned about the rise of extremism in the world. There is also a world wide anti-terrorism sentiment growing in the Muslim population. Interestingly, the majority of Muslims in America are Democrats.
RELATED POST:
Stop Calling Terrorism Jihad
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Reader Comments (7)
"Muslims in America are Democrats"
Muslims favor a socialist government, albeit their law demands a theocracy by technicality. Except for the western-leaning governments in Islamic states at the moment in our history, the other or proper Muslim states are basically socialistic in theory. If people ever got an idea to look at possibly where Karl Marx dreamt up his communistic ideology, take a look to see if he was studying translated versions of Muslim history or laws. Since these Democrats prefer ideologies of socialism, there preferences are toward ideologies which favor these types of systems. Most Democrats in the know on Capital Hill deplore the idea that this republican administration is trying to change a socialist Iraq to a capitalistic Iraq, i.e. President Bush’s plan. The media will not tell you this, because it is assumed one already knows, so there is no need to tell you.
Great to hear the Congressman praising the engagement of religious leaders - it works!
Check it out - GREAT counterinsurgency going on here!
http://chaplainkline.blogspot.com/2007/07/sheikh-abdullah-jalal-maklf.html
This is a message all Americans need to hear if we truly want to win the war on terror and build a safer future for our children. We can turn the tide by marginalizing apostates like al-Qaeda and bin Laden, as well as the insurgents, and respect moderate, peaceable Muslims. They will turn against their heretics with our help. The percentage of Muslims in the U.S. who believe there is never a justification for suicide bombings in is the upper 80 percentile and they are likewise equally concerned about the rise of extremism in the world. There is also a world wide anti-terrorism sentiment growing in the Muslim population.
Amy, I'm with you, on this. al-Qaeda is an enemy of us all. From Michael Yon:
Al Qaeda’s ultimate failure in much of Anbar and now in parts of Diyala relates back to one of the pillars of success—or failure—in this war: Values. People who understand how to tamp down this war realize the critical pillar that values can play into success or failure in counterinsurgency, or COIN.
~~~
Abu Ali said that on 1 April 2007, he and his people attacked al Qaeda in Buhriz for their crimes against Islam. He also said something that many Muslims have said to me: al Qaeda are not Muslims. (Both Sunni and Shia have said nearly the exact same words, at times on video.) Abu Ali said they fought hard against al Qaeda, and on 10 April, they asked the Americans to join the attack. It worked.
~~~
Before the tape was running, I asked Abu Ali why he and the 1920s turned against al Qaeda in Buhriz. Speaking through LT David Wallach, a native Arabic speaker, Abu Ali said that “al Qaeda is an abomination of Islam: cutting off heads, stealing people’s money, kidnapping . . . every type of torture they have done.”
The recent stories of baked children came to mind. I asked if Abu Ali had heard about children being baked. Ali said no, he had not heard such a story, but he would not be surprised if it were true because al Qaeda had done so many crimes, such as cutting off a man’s head, putting it up on a stick and parading it around town.
I've begun to fear that so many of my fellow conservatives are so anti-PC and anti-"Islam is a religion of peace", that there is this backlash of negativity that is approaching "racism" and religious bigotry. From OUR side. Islam has a lot to own up to; but in certain cases, I think we are becoming what we don't like, and are giving cause to some Muslims to feel alienated and giving reality to the perception that they are being persecuted and made unwelcomed. Like a self-fulfilling prophecy, creating problems and conflicts that didn't exist before, and aren't necessary.
Even if the "moderates" are not the mainstream, and are the "radical" apostates of Islam, rather than the other way around, we need to align ourselves to turning them into "the mainstream"; and help encourage the reformation of Islam into 21st century life. This may mean accepting and promoting some PC notions such as "Islam is the religion of peace". Just so long as the phrase isn't built upon a house of cards, to be confused and used as a cover by the Islamists who aren't living "inner Jihad" of promoting peace and spiritual goodness.
The radicals are the ones who need to be marginalized as the aberration, and the peaceful Muslims encouraged to stand up against their violent brethren.
Of course, it would help if some apologists would not see it as a personal attack on them, when references are made to Islamic fundamentalists/Islamic radicals/Islamists/Islamo-fascists, etc., simply because it has the root "Islam" in it, to help define who the enemy is.
Wordsmith, you hit the nail on the head with your Michael Yon quote. Sadly, the COIN should have been in place years ago but now, perhaps because enough time has gone by to convince Iraqis that al-Qaeda is far worse than any preconceived image of Americans, and "winning hearts and minds" is not a cute phrase but a strategic tactic.
I also totally agree with your assessment of many Conservatives being anti-Islam. It will have a backlash and we're seen as ignorant and hateful to Muslims, the good ones. The fact is that al-Qaeda is not Islamic. They are apostates of the Muslim faith. Moderates, as Rep. Ellison reported, are concerned about the reputation of their religion by heretics like al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups.
And absolutely right... radicals need to be marginalized and we're slowly seeing that happen. Iraqis, whether Imams, sheiks or Muslims at the lay level, are beginning to turn against those who use Islam for ideological purposes, as Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki called it, "those hiding beneath a cloak of Islam".
I saw a ridiculous show called "Muslims Against Jihad" on Fox not long ago. The show itself was good, and they even talked about Hirabah, the true term for what we think of as "jihadists" but are actually apostates of the faith. But no true Muslim can be against jihad. That's an oxymoron and it was a foolish title.
Even Pres. Bush has dropped his "islamofascist" talk. There's a movement at the top, from White House and State Dept. on down, to understand Islam and it's heretics so we can divide the two and win with the help of real Muslims.
Amy,
Thanks for your comment on my post. Here's a reprint of part of my response:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~``
You're the one who got me started on this, from your original post. I also cross-posted this at Flopping Aces.
I also totally agree with your assessment of many Conservatives being anti-Islam. It will have a backlash and we're seen as ignorant and hateful to Muslims, the good ones. The fact is that al-Qaeda is not Islamic. They are apostates of the Muslim faith. Moderates, as Rep. Ellison reported, are concerned about the reputation of their religion by heretics like al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups.
I agree with this. Any anti-Islam conservatives out there who want to preach to me about the Prophet being a child molestor, school textbooks in Saudi Arabia, anti-Semitic cartoons promoting homicide bombing to children, sympathizers and apologists to the actions of the Islamic terrorists, protestors over Danish cartoons, etc, etc.....save your breath. I know all this. I visit all the same sites you guys do.
I only ask that those who are saying "f***k Islam", consider and understand where I am coming from. Read some of the hateful comments on this YouTube video. Tell me that doesn't turn you off. If you were a Muslim moderate opposed to the true apostates, how would those words make you feel? It only foments greater separation, and falls into the trap and spell of the Islamists who wish to create just such a gulf between Muslims and non-Muslims.
I saw a ridiculous show called "Muslims Against Jihad" on Fox not long ago.
Lol. I linked those YouTube vids in a post a few weeks ago. I was disappointed, that it wasn't the same thing as Islam vs. Islamists. That was very, very good.
And yes, it is kind of an oxymoronic title, Muslims vs. Jihad, considering what you and I are trying to do.
PS... in "Muslims Against Jihad", you'll notice that some of the terrorists actually named themselves a dirivitive of Hirabah... like al-Hirabi, was one name I heard.
I believe in this segment of Muslims vs. Jihad, it mentions a screen-name, "Irhab007".
The term "irhab" can be found here (compliments of an anonymous commenter):
irhab (eer-HAB) -- Arabic for terrorism, thus enabling us to call the al Qaeda-style killers irhabis, irhabists and irhabiyoun rather than the so-called "jihadis" and "jihadists" and "mujahideen" and "shahideen" they so badly want to be called. (Note: "Here we are, more than five years into a Global War on Terrorism, and most of us do not even know this basic Arabic word for terrorism.)
I'm still waiting for Simon's reply. Funny he hasn't chirped in on this yet with his usual attempt at a negative spin. Unless I already missed it.