Another day in the aftermath of an attack that left behind many dead, many wounded and countless people confused. Minutes after the allegiance of the culprit became known, the media downplayed the likelihood that the attack had anything to do with Islam. He was probably mentally ill or maybe poor, but surely his motivation was … Read more
What exactly has been defeated in the recent battles against ISIS? The relative success of ISIS in recent years has been made possible largely by the failure of its opponents to understand what it is. Its military successes in the Near East and in the worldwide turmoil caused by frequent suicide bombings, shootings, and truck … Read more
The choice of retired Marine General James Mattis as defense secretary in the incoming Trump Administration deepens the debate of how we should define and understand our enemies in the war on terror. It also moves us forward in the right direction. Mattis, a “warrior monk” who reads deeply and collects books, has been a … Read more
Retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, chosen by president-elect Trump to be national security adviser, again finds himself in the crosshairs of liberal ire. This time for calling Islam a political ideology masked behind religion. A registered Democrat, Flynn served in the Obama administration until, in his words, “the stand I took on radical Islam,” led … Read more
A young boy, 10 years old or so, faces the camera. Like many young boys he is happy to be interviewed. This is war-torn Iraq, however, so he tells of the day ISIS came to his village. What took place, horror after horror, he starts to recount. It is hard to accept that one so … Read more
On Tuesday July 26, the day after the feast day of St. James and less than two weeks after a rampaging Islamic terrorist killed 84 civilians with a truck in the south of France, Fr. Jacques Hamel was celebrating Mass in a quiet Normandy church in Sainte-Etienne-du-Rouvray. Two militants backed by ISIS burst through the … Read more
Much has been made of the Islamic State’s claim to the caliphate. But the Islamic State is fast losing ground in Syria and Iraq, and without a territorial claim, its claim to the caliphate is a shaky one. According to some sources, ISIS has already been preparing its followers for the fall of the caliphate. … Read more
Many commentators tried to implicate Christians in the aftermath of the mass shooting in Orlando. But might it not be true that Western secularists have more in common with Isis than Christians? The two realities of Islamic extremism and Western consumerism are like shadowy doppelgangers showing up each other’s bankruptcy. Consider: I. ISIS and secularists … Read more
The bombing of a Russian passenger jet over the Sinai was most probably the end result of a stealth jihad operation. That might seem like a strange way of putting it, because we usually think of stealth jihad as something that radical Muslims do to subvert non-Muslim societies. Yet, unless there were already a stealth … Read more
I was born in Baghdad, but all my ancestors before me, including my parents, where born in Mosul and neighboring cities in Northern Iraq. Even now when I speak Arabic it is still with a Moslouy dialect. For many years, no matter where I was living or what I was doing, the answer to “Where … Read more
If ISIS is defeated in Iraq and Syria, it’s likely that the Western world will breathe a collective sigh of relief. Many will assume that with the defeat of the supposedly un-Islamic Islamic State, things will return to normal—or, at least, to what passes for normal in the Middle East. As long as the beheadings, … Read more
In a recent column, I suggested that one of the best ways to fight terrorism is by undermining the terrorist’s ideology. For example, by undercutting the belief that seventy-two virgins await the young martyr in paradise, you simultaneously undermine the will to fight. That’s not to say that the standard method of fighting terrorists—with guns—can … Read more
“As for the righteous, they shall surely triumph. Theirs shall be gardens and vineyards and high-bosomed maidens for companions.” ∼ Koran 78: 31-33 According to the principle known as Occam’s razor, the best explanation of an event is usually the one that is simplest. Yet Western analysts persist in using the most convoluted hypotheses to … Read more
Islam has no central or definitive body or figure authorized to define what exactly it is. Opinions about its essence and scope vary widely according to the political or philosophic background of its own interpreters. The current effort to establish an Islamic State, with a designated Caliph, again to take up the mission assigned to … Read more