America is in the fifth decade of war with Radical Islam. A video was just released showing a Jordanian pilot being burned alive by the Islamic State. This follows the beheadings of several other hostages.
We are losing the war.
The disintegration of the rule of the Shah of Iran was assured in the 1970’s when his allies in the West urged him to expand the human rights of the citizens of his kingdom.
The citizens of Iran enjoyed a good education and personal and religious freedom. Christians and Jews lived in peace with Muslims, but they were not allowed to vote for their political leadership. At some point along the way American leadership began to focus on elections rather than freedom.
Beginning with the Richard Nixon administration and through the Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter administrations we decided that the personal and social freedoms the Shah had provided to his citizens were insufficient. We urged him to yield to the demands of protestors to expand their political rights.
President Carter’s national security advisor, Zbigniew Brzezinski, urged him to support a crackdown by the Shah against the protestors. Carter sided with the doves in the State Department and the Shah was left stranded by his allies in the West. The denouement was ordained.
Ayatollah Khomeini arrived from 15 years in exile to become Supreme Leader of Iran. He too was in favor of elections. His candidates won, of course.
With the downfall of the Shah of Iran in February of 1979, Iranians not only failed to gain human rights and political power, they lost their religious and personal freedoms too.
Radical Islam arrived in the United States in September 2001. We responded fiercely against the base of terrorism in Afghanistan and within three years the Afghan people participated in free elections. America celebrated the election of Hamid Karzai as the best day for our involvement in that nation. The second best day was when he departed, along with a fortune, 10 years later.
An Afghan man fills his ballot before voting at a polling station in Jalalabad, east of Kabul, Afghanistan, Saturday, April 5, 2014. Afghan voters lined up for blocks at polling stations nationwide on Saturday, defying a threat of violence by the Taliban to cast ballots in what promises to be the nation's first democratic transfer of power. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)
In June of 2008 I was at a luncheon in Cairo with the military leadership of Egypt. My lunch companion was a general whom I had known for some time. He warned me that the United States would be sorry for deposing Saddam Hussein in Iraq. He said that for all of Saddam’s barbaric behavior, he kept the radicals at bay. He also assured me that Iran would ultimately hold all the cards in Iraq, which was not in either of our nation’s interest. He was correct.
Radical Islam moved into Egypt and North Africa in the spring of 2011. The Obama administration decided that it was in our national interest to support the popular uprisings. We welcomed the political involvement of the radicals in both Egypt and Libya.
Muammar Gadhafi was an autocratic leader who had been in power of Libya for decades. While no longer hostile to America he was ruthless in office, but he kept the radicals in line. He was removed from office with our support. Today the radicals are in power. An ambassador and three other Americans were murdered and Christians and Jews are being killed. There is no election imminent.
We demanded that Hosni Mubarak, who had ruled Egypt for decades, step down. He was an autocratic leader, but he was our ally and a friend to Israel. Elections followed and the Muslim Brotherhood took power. At the very time they were accepting our financial and military aid they were publicly aligning with Hamas and Hezbollah’s against Israel. They did not crack down on the radicals. They were the radicals. They immediately began a crackdown on the Coptic Christians.
In this Wednesday, Feb. 2, 2011 file photo, anti-government protesters gathered in Tahrir (Liberation) Square, watch a screen showing U.S. President Barack Obama live on a TV broadcast from Washington, speaking about the situation in Egypt. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)
A military coup removed this radical crowd of thugs and the new unelected leadership is doing its best to allay the fears of the Christians.
Elections in Lebanon have put Hezbollah leaders in the national assembly. Elections in the West Bank and Gaza put Hamas in power. Those who were freely elected are bombing Israel from both the north and the south.
In 2013 President Obama decided that Bashar al Assad was insufficiently inclusive in his governance of Syria. During his 12 years of rule, Syria had been hospitable for Christians and tolerant of their neighbor, Israel. Whichever group replaces him will not be as benign to its neighbors as has he has been. The “reformers” are slaughtering Christians.
Secretary of State John Kerry was recently in Nigeria appealing for fair elections coming up on February 14. Boco Haram is less interested in elections. They are busy cleansing their neighborhood by exterminating tens of thousands of Nigerians.
Not all elections produce goodness and light.
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