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Cal Thomas: Believe Islamists when they say they hate U.S.

  • Tribune Media Services
  • Published Tuesday, Sep. 18, 2012, at 5 p.m.
  • Updated Wednesday, Sep. 19, 2012, at 6:52 a.m.



What doesn’t Clinton get? The actions and statements of Islamic extremists have been visible for some time.

In his latest obsequious gesture to the Islamic world, President Obama wants to offer $1 billion in “debt relief” to the Muslim Brotherhood leadership in Egypt. The president apparently hopes Egypt’s leadership can be bought off and will then start behaving like us. The president appears to ignore Egypt’s crackdown on political opposition, its sending tanks into Sinai in violation of its 33-year peace treaty with Israel, and the persecution of Coptic Christians who are fleeing the country in droves. This is what America got in Iran, Egypt and now Libya when we helped topple dictators who were then replaced by radicals.



What is the flip side of “peace through strength”? It is war through weakness.

Iran’s nuclear bomb preparations? This administration’s response is more sanctions and more diplomacy, though these have failed. Kill our people? Send them more money.

This is what we get when the administration denies statements from the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamic leaders about their hatred for America, Jews, Christians and women’s equality. Do we not think they mean what they say? If not, on what basis do our leaders disbelieve them?

Tyrants enjoy telling the world about their intentions. It is how they recruit followers. The real danger is when the West fails to recognize evil and develop an effective response to it.

Asking Israel to continue to “wait” while Iran builds a nuclear bomb is madness, especially when Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has described Israel as a “disgraceful blot,” has said it should be “wiped off the face of the earth.” Islamic extremists say what they mean and mean what they say. So why don’t we believe them?

Whether the Islamists are a small minority within “peaceful” Islam is irrelevant. If the bad guys are pursuing nuclear weapons and their minions are killing our ambassadors and citizens, what is there to discuss?


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