Groveling To Islam

FROM THE EDITOR
http://mideastoutpost.com/archives/000558.html

Rael Jean Isaac

We are treated to increasing displays of self-abnegation in relation to Islam by our President, symbolized by his deep bow to Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah. Obama endlessly exudes his “respect” for Islam (reiterating that “respect” seven times in a single interview with Al-Arabiya). He courts the Iranian mullahs with obeisance to the “Islamic Republic of Iran” taking “its rightful place in the community of nations.” He invokes a mythical “partnership with the Muslim world” to roll back a “fringe ideology” (never mind this “fringe ideology” is currently swallowing up parts of nuclear-armed Pakistan, maybe all of it in short order). As Victor Davis Hanson points out, Obama will apologize for almost anything on behalf of the United States, but never refer to the pathologies of Islam that foster al Qaeda (the religious intolerance, the gender apartheid, to name just two). Before the Turkish Parliament Obama outdid himself: “We will convey our deep appreciation for the Islamic faith, which has done so much over the centuries to shape the world—including in my own country.”

Shaped this country? Thank goodness, not so. As Robert Spencer notes in Frontpage: “One would be hard-pressed to find any significant way in which the Islamic faith had shaped the United States in terms of its governing principles and the nature of American society. Meanwhile, there are numerous ways in which, if there had been a significant Muslim presence in the country at the time, some of the most cherished and important principles of American society and law may have met fierce resistance, and may never have seen the light of day.” As Spencer notes, the most significant impact upon the United States of an event connected to Islam was the attack on the World Trade Center and Pentagon on September 11, 2001. The Islamic faith has shaped the U.S. since 9/11 in highly unwelcome ways, forcing billions to be spent on anti-terror measures and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, to name only the most painful.

Demoting the Jews

While Obama’s sycophancy to Islam has at least been oft-noted (indeed, it’s been impossible to escape), his more subtle downgrading of Judaism has been overlooked. Edward Alexander (on Commentary’s website Contentions) points out that in his inaugural address Obama “jettisoned the long-established locution that embodies the generally accepted notion of ‘the Judeo-Christian tradition.’ That tradition, in America, mandates the phrase ‘Christians and Jews,’ with Christians in first place for the good reason that the roots of this country and most of those who founded it are Christian. Obama, however, said on January 20 that ‘We are a nation of Christians and Muslims,’ and then, after a slight pause, ‘Jews and Hindus,’ and another slight pause, ‘and unbelievers.’ Later, in his Al-Arabiya interview, he demoted the Jews still further, calling America a country of Muslims, Christians, Jews.’

Alexander observes that Obama’s actions (and inactions) with respect to Jewish concerns suggest that this demotion is real and not merely verbal.

Shrugging Off Allies

As Obama makes overtures to Iran, Venezuela, North Korea and Cuba, he turns his back on our allies, making clear that he is not interested in maintaining the U.S. role as protector of the free world. Caroline Glick writes: “Tokyo was distraught by the administration’s reaction to North Korea’s three-stage ballistic missile test…India, for its part, is concerned by Obama’s repeated assertions that its refusal to transfer control over the disputed Jammu and Kashmir provinces to Pakistan inspires Pakistani terror against India [and] the Obama administration’s refusal to make ending Pakistan’s support for jihadist terror groups attacking India a central component of its strategy for contending with Pakistan and Afghanistan…Then there is Iraq…The most supportive statement he could muster came during his conversation with Turkish students in Istanbul…There he said, ‘I have a responsibility to make sure that as we bring troops out, that we do so in a careful enough way that we don’t see a complete collapse into violence.’”

Nor, Glick notes, can Obama’s promise to aim for a nuclear free world, to drastically scale back the missile defense program and forge a new alliance with Russia have been music to the ears of the leaders of former Soviet satellites threatened by Russia. As for Israel, Obama’s declaration of support for the so-called Saudi “peace plan” (and warning to Israel that it not strike to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear power) is simply a demand to Israel that it commit national suicide.

As Glick sums up “America’s betrayal of its democratic allies makes each of them more vulnerable to aggression at the hands of their enemies—enemies the Obama administration is now actively attempting to appease.”

No to Energy Development

Two million more acres of energy-rich land are being put off-limits to development. As Investor’s Business Daily (which offers the best editorial pages in the country now that the Wall Street Journal muddies the water with the likes of columnist Thomas Frank and genuflecting to global warming) points out:

The bill (a Senate-passed omnibus bill that the House has now approved) takes 8.8 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 300 million barrels of oil out of production in California—while providing $1 billion for a water project to save 500 California salmon.

The energy resources walled off by this bill (more than half the acreage is in Wyoming) nearly match the annual production levels of our two natural gas producing states—Texas and Alaska.

IBD reports that earlier this year Interior Secretary Ken Salazar canceled 77 Utah oil and gas leases that had gone through seven years of studies, negotiations and land-use planning because temporary drilling operations might be visible from national parks more than a mile away. Some of those parcels are in or near the Green River Formation, called the “Persia of the West” which contains the largest known oil shale deposits in the world. According to a 2008 Utah Mining Association report, the West’s oil shale provides America with the “potential to be completely energy self-sufficient with no demands on external sources.”

The IBD editorial notes that technology for shale-oil extraction is certainly further along than getting energy from switch grass or producing cellulosic ethanol. If we’re going to stimulate anything, we should be stimulating shale oil production.

Don Quixote tilted at windmills—this was harmless, nay intelligent, compared to our President who actually believes he’ll fill our energy needs with them.

The Word Game

The Obama administration is on a bury-reality-with-words kick that leaves Orwell’s 1984 in the shade. Long War is out. Global War on Terror is out. War is out, period. In place of any of these, say the government guidelines, it’s “Overseas Contingency Operations.” Enemies are out. So of course are “enemy combatants.” In their place are “individuals currently detained at Guantanamo Bay” or “individuals captured or apprehended in connection with armed conflicts and counterterrorism operations.” There are no more individual acts of terror. In their place are “man-caused disasters.”

Alas, we don’t have Orwell to satirize these “man-caused absurdities,” but we do have Joe Queenan. In the Wall Street Journal he informs us that the Taliban will no longer refer to its favorite kind of murder as “beheadings” but as “cephalic attrition;” flaying is now “unsolicited epidermal reconfigurations;” and public floggings of teenage girls is “metajudicial interfacing.” Jihad is “booka-bonga-bippo” to give it a more zesty feel that will reassure teenagers that going on jihad will leave plenty of time for youthful hijinks.

In the meantime our military in Iraq and Afghanistan will surely be energized to learn they have no enemies and are not fighting a war (at worst may encounter “man-caused disasters” produced by followers of Islam whom we deeply respect).
Posted by Ruth at 10:15 PM | OUTPOST