Can US negotiate with 'religion of war'?
Posted: Friday, June 12, 2015 11:00 pm
Can President Obama
and his State Department negotiate with the Islamic State? In the
1930s, successive British Prime Ministers (Baldwin and Chamberlain)
knowing the carnage of World War I, operated on two premises:
1. No sane man would lead his nation into a second world war; and
2. Every man -- even Adolf Hitler -- had his price.
Following is a passage from William Manchester’s “The Last Lion,” the second volume of his biography of Winston Churchill. Thereafter, I set out excerpts from an audio message from the leader of the Islamic State (ISIS), Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi.
As you read, ask yourself if negotiation with Al-Baghdadi is possible.
“The first allied response to the Nazi regime had been prompted by the universal loathing among decent men of modern war’s senseless slaughter. But revulsion is a frail foundation for a foreign policy. As Hitler’s belligerence became clearer, [Prime Minister] Baldwin, Chamberlain and their fellow appeasers in England ... assured one another that he would fight the Russians and leave them alone. But wishing didn’t make it so, and they should have known that; Baldwin himself had described Hitler as a ‘lunatic’ with whom ‘you never can be sure of anything,’ adding that ‘none of us knows what goes on in that strange man’s mind.”’ Therefore, in the autumn of 1936, he called his fiddlers three -- Samuel Hoare (now the First Lord of the Admiralty), Lord Halifax (Lord Privy Seal), and Neville Chamberlain (Exchequer) -- and moved toward what they thought was firmer ground.
“It was quicksand. Their new mantra was diplomacy -- negotiation as an alternative to war. Britain’s honor, they told the public, would be preserved; the negotiating table, not the battlefield, was where differences between England and Germany would be resolved. They were convinced that Hitler had his price. ... Devoted to peace, they could not understand that the ruler of Nazi Germany disdained negotiations, enjoyed bloodshed -- including German blood -- and therefore preferred military conquest.”
On May 14, 2015, ISIS’ Al-Baghdadi, (or someone pretending to be him — if he is dead as some believe) broadcast the audio message, “March Forth Whether Light or Heavy.” Transcribed and translated it runs some 16 single-spaced pages. Here are excerpts, to help you understand what American is dealing with.
“Allah ... said fighting has been enjoined upon you while it is hateful to you.
“ ... so let those fight in the cause of Allah who sell the life of this world for the Hereafter. And he who fights in the cause of Allah and is killed or achieves victory — We will bestow upon him a great reward ...
“ ... those who are killed in the cause of Allah — never will He waste their deeds. He will ... admit them to Paradise ...
“So where are you, O Muslim, in relation to the command of your Lord, who commanded you to fast in one verse, and commanded you with jihad and fighting in dozens of verses?
“ ... your Lord has made jihad for the cause of Allah obligatory upon you and has commanded you to fight His enemies so that He may forgive your sins, ... take from among you martyrs, purify the believers, and destroy the disbelievers....
“Whoever thinks that it is within his capacity to conciliate with Jews, Christians, and other disbelievers, and for them to conciliate with him, such that he coexists with them and they coexist with him ... has belied the explicit statement of his Lord... , who says, {And never will the Jews or the Christians approve of you until you follow their religion}.
“O Muslims! Do not think the war that we are waging is the Islamic State’s war alone. ... It is the war of every Muslim in every place, and the Islamic State is merely the spearhead in this war. It is but the war of the people of faith against the people of disbelief, so march forth to your war O Muslims. March forth everywhere ....
.
“O Muslims, Islam was never for a day the religion of peace. Islam is the religion of war. Your Prophet ... ordered ... war until Allah is worshiped alone. He ... said to the polytheists ‘I came to you with slaughter.’ He fought both the Arabs and non-Arabs. ... He himself ... took part in dozens of battles. He never for a day grew tired of war....
“His ... followers carried on similarly. They did not ... abandon war, until they ... conquered the East and the West. The nations submitted to them, and the lands yielded to them, by the edge of the sword....
“America and its allies from amongst the Jews, Crusaders, Rafidah (Shiites), secularists, atheists, and apostates claim that their coalition and war is to aid the weak and oppressed. ... Indeed, they lie...
“O Muslims, the apostate tyrannical rulers who rule your ... Two Holy Sanctuaries (Mecca and Medina), Yemen, Sham (the Levant), Iraq, Egypt, North Africa, Khorasan, the Caucasus, the Indian Subcontinent, Africa, and elsewhere, are the allies of the Jews and Crusaders. Rather, they are their slaves, servants, and guard dogs, and nothing else.”
So, can we negotiate with this guy? Does he mean it when he says, “Islam was never for a day the religion of peace. Islam is the religion of war?”
Can we strike a bargain with him, without converting to Islam, submitting to live under Sharia law, and watching him “slaughter” anyone who chooses to remain a Christian or a Jew?
Our President tells us that Islam is a religion of peace.
Al-Baghdadi tells us Islam is a religion of war; and that for a Muslim, conciliation and coexistence with Christians and Jews is impossible. And he reminds the faithful “Muhammad spent his entire life making war.” So which view of Islam is true?
Mr. Obama’s, or ISIS’ al-Baghdadi’s or both? And how does a man who doesn’t want war, negotiate with a hate-animated bigot who does?
1. No sane man would lead his nation into a second world war; and
| |
Following is a passage from William Manchester’s “The Last Lion,” the second volume of his biography of Winston Churchill. Thereafter, I set out excerpts from an audio message from the leader of the Islamic State (ISIS), Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi.
As you read, ask yourself if negotiation with Al-Baghdadi is possible.
“The first allied response to the Nazi regime had been prompted by the universal loathing among decent men of modern war’s senseless slaughter. But revulsion is a frail foundation for a foreign policy. As Hitler’s belligerence became clearer, [Prime Minister] Baldwin, Chamberlain and their fellow appeasers in England ... assured one another that he would fight the Russians and leave them alone. But wishing didn’t make it so, and they should have known that; Baldwin himself had described Hitler as a ‘lunatic’ with whom ‘you never can be sure of anything,’ adding that ‘none of us knows what goes on in that strange man’s mind.”’ Therefore, in the autumn of 1936, he called his fiddlers three -- Samuel Hoare (now the First Lord of the Admiralty), Lord Halifax (Lord Privy Seal), and Neville Chamberlain (Exchequer) -- and moved toward what they thought was firmer ground.
“It was quicksand. Their new mantra was diplomacy -- negotiation as an alternative to war. Britain’s honor, they told the public, would be preserved; the negotiating table, not the battlefield, was where differences between England and Germany would be resolved. They were convinced that Hitler had his price. ... Devoted to peace, they could not understand that the ruler of Nazi Germany disdained negotiations, enjoyed bloodshed -- including German blood -- and therefore preferred military conquest.”
On May 14, 2015, ISIS’ Al-Baghdadi, (or someone pretending to be him — if he is dead as some believe) broadcast the audio message, “March Forth Whether Light or Heavy.” Transcribed and translated it runs some 16 single-spaced pages. Here are excerpts, to help you understand what American is dealing with.
“Allah ... said fighting has been enjoined upon you while it is hateful to you.
“ ... so let those fight in the cause of Allah who sell the life of this world for the Hereafter. And he who fights in the cause of Allah and is killed or achieves victory — We will bestow upon him a great reward ...
“ ... those who are killed in the cause of Allah — never will He waste their deeds. He will ... admit them to Paradise ...
“So where are you, O Muslim, in relation to the command of your Lord, who commanded you to fast in one verse, and commanded you with jihad and fighting in dozens of verses?
“ ... your Lord has made jihad for the cause of Allah obligatory upon you and has commanded you to fight His enemies so that He may forgive your sins, ... take from among you martyrs, purify the believers, and destroy the disbelievers....
“Whoever thinks that it is within his capacity to conciliate with Jews, Christians, and other disbelievers, and for them to conciliate with him, such that he coexists with them and they coexist with him ... has belied the explicit statement of his Lord... , who says, {And never will the Jews or the Christians approve of you until you follow their religion}.
“O Muslims! Do not think the war that we are waging is the Islamic State’s war alone. ... It is the war of every Muslim in every place, and the Islamic State is merely the spearhead in this war. It is but the war of the people of faith against the people of disbelief, so march forth to your war O Muslims. March forth everywhere ....
.
“O Muslims, Islam was never for a day the religion of peace. Islam is the religion of war. Your Prophet ... ordered ... war until Allah is worshiped alone. He ... said to the polytheists ‘I came to you with slaughter.’ He fought both the Arabs and non-Arabs. ... He himself ... took part in dozens of battles. He never for a day grew tired of war....
“His ... followers carried on similarly. They did not ... abandon war, until they ... conquered the East and the West. The nations submitted to them, and the lands yielded to them, by the edge of the sword....
“America and its allies from amongst the Jews, Crusaders, Rafidah (Shiites), secularists, atheists, and apostates claim that their coalition and war is to aid the weak and oppressed. ... Indeed, they lie...
“O Muslims, the apostate tyrannical rulers who rule your ... Two Holy Sanctuaries (Mecca and Medina), Yemen, Sham (the Levant), Iraq, Egypt, North Africa, Khorasan, the Caucasus, the Indian Subcontinent, Africa, and elsewhere, are the allies of the Jews and Crusaders. Rather, they are their slaves, servants, and guard dogs, and nothing else.”
So, can we negotiate with this guy? Does he mean it when he says, “Islam was never for a day the religion of peace. Islam is the religion of war?”
Can we strike a bargain with him, without converting to Islam, submitting to live under Sharia law, and watching him “slaughter” anyone who chooses to remain a Christian or a Jew?
Our President tells us that Islam is a religion of peace.
Al-Baghdadi tells us Islam is a religion of war; and that for a Muslim, conciliation and coexistence with Christians and Jews is impossible. And he reminds the faithful “Muhammad spent his entire life making war.” So which view of Islam is true?
Mr. Obama’s, or ISIS’ al-Baghdadi’s or both? And how does a man who doesn’t want war, negotiate with a hate-animated bigot who does?
John Donald O'Shea, of Moline, is a former circuit court judge.
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