The Hayride

As Chuck and Chris have already done an outstanding job today of outlining the flaws and incompetence of our government’s preparation and response to the attempted Christmas Day jihadi bombing of a Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Detroit, I’ll just make a few points…

1. We’re in the midst of a new wave of airborne jihad incidents. Hayride readers will note that earlier this month we referenced an incident which looked a lot like a terrorist dry run on an Airtran flight between Atlanta and Houston; that incident was covered up and dismissed, and easily so thanks to a braggadocious and spurious e-mail from a would-be passenger who missed his flight and yet managed to document the events in a relatively accurate fashion. And of course, the Pantsbomber (I’m not going to dignify him by wasting keystrokes on his name) is now bragging that more like him are coming to blow airline passengers to smithereens, or at least give it a shot.

2. It’s clear – painfully clear – that Muslims constitute a threat to air travel. That’s an unfortunate fact, but it’s the truth. Muslims are the folks who try to hijack or blow up planes. Christians don’t do it, Jews don’t do it and neither do Hindus, Buddhists, Taoists, Zoroastrians, animists, wiccans or sikhs.

Does this mean all Muslims are prospective shoe/pants/hat/belt-bombers or budding kamikaze pilots? Of course not. The vast majority of Muslimshave no desire to commit indiscriminate murder against their fellow man on an airplane or anywhere else. The problem is, the terrorists are Muslims, and not a subset of any other population.

In this way, Muslims are victims of the jihadi movement. Because it simply doesn’t constitute competent security to continue refusing to “profile” Muslims who engage in air travel. We’re going to have to subject them – and in particular young male Muslims – to added security measures at airports until the current threat is past.

In other words, we need a lot more incidents like this, and a lot less tolerance of CAIR when they leap into the fray and cry “discrimination” every time prudent measures are taken. In current circumstances, it ought to be incumbent on Muslims who profess not to be on the side of the jihadists to cooperate in every way possible to the common safety.

3. It also won’t suffice to continue pretending as though no terrorist infrastructure supports incidents like the Pantsbomber. It looks apparent that an accomplice was helping to get him aboard Flight 253, and Dutch authorities are investigating.

This instinctive “whatever it is, it’s not terrorism” attitude we see again and again in the media and out of the mouths of the government’s press flacks won’t cut it anymore. The worst examples of this were after the Ft. Hood incident, when all kinds of ridiculous excuses were concocted for Nidal Hasan’s jihadist murder spree. It’s time to start calling a spade a spade.

4. Speaking of the Dutch, it’s a rather sad state of affairs when the American government depends on Dutchmen for our national security. Kudos to Jasper Schuringa, certainly, as he’s a hero. And given the ongoing jihadist war against international air travel and the moldering state of our security – namely, the staggering incompetence of a system which would allow one-way air travel to the United States for a young Muslim on a terrorist watch list whose father had made a trip to an American embassy to warn that his son was about to do something horrible – we’re going to need a lot more like him.

The days where airline passengers sit idly by as would-be jihadist hijackers and/or bombers commence threatening behavior are probably over, and it’s probably for the best. When the next Pantsbomber/suppositorybomber/shoebomber is beaten within an inch of his life by an angry mob of airline passengers before he can commit mass-murder, it’s likely to do far more to stop terrorism on a plane than the contempuously-stupid idea to force passengers to remain in their seats an hour before a flight lands or to insist that flight attendants be able to see your hands at all times. None of those asinine practices will help to stop mass murder aboard jetliners; physical combat in the passenger cabin very well might.

5. Perhaps most importantly, our current president has done virtually everything he can to “mend fences” with the Muslim world. Is it putting an end to terrorism?

The fact is, the current spate of attacks represents the ongoing nature of a 1400-year civilizational struggle between the Islamic world and the rest of mankind. There is a very strong element of Islam which seeks to impose it worldwide, and those who adhere to that ideal – the jihadist ideal – cannot be compromised with. They’re going to have to be beaten, and severely. Jihadist Muslims have intimidated the rest into silence, they control most of the mosques around the world and particularly in the West (which is why you see so many British- and American-born jihadists nowadays) and they are as impervious to negotiation as Oama is finding Iran to be.

Until we put into place a comprehensive strategy to de-fund, discredit and decimate the ranks of jihadist Muslims, we are not going to be free of this problem. And when you’re in a long-term fight against an implacable enemy, you’re going to have to be a lot nastier than the other guy. It’s time to start recognizing this.

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Filed under: Culture, Islam, Military/Security