Mr. Scheuer, he of pseudo-“Anonymous” fame, who was supposedly “in charge” of the Bin Laden desk, was clearly not up to the task. Instead of low cunning, he offered a kind of Boy Scoutish, or rather Cub Scoutish, simplemindedness, and clearly understood nothing about the theory and practice of Islam. His every remark showed this. Yet apparently he was kept on for many years. The C.I.A. needs to have a cadre created, or expanded, of people who will be given the necessary leisure to read widely in the history of Islam -- and particularly to learn something about its teachings, and about Jihad-conquest, and about the very similar treatment, through time and space, of non-Muslims under Muslim rule. They then need to be trained in the fissures, or disgruntlements, within Islam itself. They need to learn as well about the points of obvious weakness that can be emphasized to non-Muslims all over the world, who are grossly underinformed about the nature of Islam.
One hopes that the C.I.A. is not pulling any punches about Islam. If it echoes the nonsense from the government about the “extremists” in Islam, and continues to offer a sanitized version of Islam instead of the Ibn Warraq or Ali Sina version, then there is not much to expect from those on whom we rely for our own security, and from whom we have a right to expect at least as hard-eyed a view as was taken by the secret services of America and England with the Nazis and then with the Communists. All pieties, all vagueness, all denial of reality, really have no place, whatever role they may have in public diplomacy (and it has been a grave error to define the current, and continuing, and endless but manageable conflict as a “war on terrorism” instead of as a “war against the Jihad”). And even the latter formulation, while much saner and more realistic, needs to be amplified: the Jihad has many instruments, and the three D’s -- Da’wa, demography, and dhimmitude -- are more potent, in the end, than intermittent terrorism.
And while we're at it, DhimmiWatch mentions a corollary which the MSM has managed to ignore, for the most part:
Archbishop Charles Chaput, of the diocese of Denver, broke free from politically correct restrictions to speak openly about growing Moslem persecution of Christians, in an address to the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, of which he is a member.
“Anti-Christian discrimination and violence seem to be growing throughout the Islamic world,” said Archbishop Chaput. “In the past several years, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Egypt, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia and even Moslem-controlled areas of the heavily Catholic Philippines have all seen extraordinary acts of bloodshed against Christians.”
The Archbishop expressed his concern over consistent lack of media attention given to acts of violence against Christians.
“Three things distinguish anti-Christian persecution and discrimination around the world. First, it’s ugly. Second, it’s growing. And third, the mass media generally ignore or downplay its gravity.”
More "cultural incompatibility" issues arise in Northern Europe:
Some Muslim immigrants admit their bias quite openly. An Islamic Mufti in Copenhagen sparked a political outcry after publicly declaring that women who refuse to wear headscarves are "asking for rape." Apparently, he's not the only one thinking this way. “It is not as wrong raping a Swedish girl as raping an Arab girl,” says Hamid. “The Swedish girl gets a lot of help afterwards, and she had probably f+*+*+* before, anyway. But the Arab girl will get problems with her family. For her, being raped is a source of shame. It is important that she retains her virginity until she marries.” It was no coincidence that it was a Swedish girl that was gang raped in Rissne – this becomes obvious from the discussion with Ali, Hamid, Abdallah and Richard. All four have disparaging views on Swedish girls, and think this attitude is common among young men with immigrant background. “It is far too easy to get a Swedish whore…… girl, I mean;” says Hamid, and laughs over his own choice of words. “Many immigrant boys have Swedish girlfriends when they are teenagers. But when they get married, they get a proper woman from their own culture who has never been with a boy. That’s what I am going to do. I don’t have too much respect for Swedish girls. I guess you can say they get f+*+*+* to pieces.”
So maybe young Muslims are not really "dating material" for my daughters...unless my daughters are carrying a nice S&W in .357...Boots and Sabers quotes a former WSJ foreign-affairs reporter who quit his job to join the USMarines:
When you live abroad long enough, you come to understand that governments that behave this way are not the exception, but the rule. They feel alien to us, but from the viewpoint of the world’s population, we are the aliens, not them. That makes you think about protecting your country no matter who you are or what you’re doing. What impresses you most, when you don’t have them day to day, are the institutions that distinguish the U.S.: the separation of powers, a free press, the right to vote, and a culture that values civic duty and service, to name but a few.
I’m not an uncritical, rah-rah American. Living abroad has sharpened my view of what’s wrong with my country, too. It’s obvious that we need to reinvent ourselves in various ways, but we should also be allowed to do it from within, not according to someone else’s dictates.
Which quote brings us back to the top of the post: what the Hell is the CIA actually doing out there in Langley besides criminal leaking? Maybe hiring a few folks who did NOT graduate from Smarmy University, but rather from a school with a degree program in Nasty, Brutish, and Short would be helpful. Think of it: Chuck Chvala (D-Dane County Jail) could rehabilitate his reputation--or at least put to GOOD use the skills he worked so hard to sharpen.
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