Resolve to Repel Radical Islam

The recent letter to President Bush by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad seems to have been largely ignored in the West as being irrelevant bloviation and just all-too typical denunciation of the ways of the west.

However, there are some who view it as being a rather formal religious pronouncement or even a pseudo-diplomatic declaration of war on the United States. Whatever its purpose, it does paint an expansive picture of the intent of the Iranian regime, as it positions itself to inspire and drive the global jihad beyond the level of Bin Laden-esque hit-and-run operations.

The article linked below is a thoughtful look at what may be transpiring in the foreign Islamic world. I include here only the concluding passage, but I'd encourage you to read the entire article to be sure you remain adequately aware and prepared for the growing risk of large-scale warfare waged across lines of religious ideology. (Note that the author's reference to "liberal democrats" encompasses the entire traditional political spectrum of the west.)

Reading Ahmadinejad in Washington
The Iranian president's letter needs to be taken seriously.
by Hillel Fradkin 05/29/2006, Volume 011, Issue 35
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/012/246utlpf.asp?pg=1

... what is known, or what should be known and deeply grasped, is that everything Ahmadinejad--and for that matter the radical movement as a whole--does is guided by an ideological vision and commitment. It needs to be addressed as such. For the moment and not only for the moment, this requires that liberal democrats declare that they have no intention of abandoning their way of life and see no need to do so, since they are fully prepared to defend it and because that way of life provides the resources--political, economic, and military--to defend itself.

It is necessary to inform Ahmadinejad and his radical allies that they are in for a real fight. This may not suffice to lead them to question their fundamental assumption and inspiration that we are on the run. But it may give pause to the many Muslims and non-Muslims standing on the sidelines, who see radical success and do not see American or Western resolve.

Of course the best person to make the first such declaration is President Bush--not as a Christian but as the world's leading liberal democrat. And not to Ahmadinejad, for whom a direct reply would be a victory, but to the Iranian people, the Muslim world, and the non-Muslim world.

Hillel Fradkin is a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and coeditor of Current Trends in Islamist Ideology.

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