CDN

By Bob Taylor

CHARLOTTE,N.C., May 26, 2015 — Islamic analyst Raymond Ibrahim has some interesting and poignant perspectives on how the West—in particular the United States under President Obama—is dealing with ISIS and global terrorism. Ibrahim contends that Obama is the Western leader most responsible for empowering the terror organization.

Other observers have expressed concerns about America’s approach to terrorism over the past decade, but under the current administration, Western vulnerability is growing by the day.

According to Ibrahim, “knowledge of the end game has been available for anyone viewing the Obama administration with the eyes of a hedgehog, not a fox.”

Ibrahim’s point of view is that Western leaders’ knowledge, or rather, ignorance of Islam is immeasurably detrimental to solving the problem. Sadly, the president is keenly aware of this, yet he and his subordinates are frozen in their ignorance.

Ibrahim reminds us that shortly after Obama took office, he said, “Words matter … because one of the ways we’re going to win this struggle (‘war on terror’) is through the battle of (Muslims’) hearts and minds.” That should have been an enormous red flag to journalists who spend their days parsing the words and gestures of political celebrities.

But the media didn’t notice.

Soon after, the administration announced, “training materials that portray Islam as a religion of violence or with a tendency towards violence are wrong, they are offensive, and they are contrary to everything that this president, this attorney general and Department of Justice stands for. They will not be tolerated.”

Perhaps that’s old news, but it has certainly been forgotten. Rather than educate ourselves about dealing with the enemy, we stuck our collective heads in the sand and denied its existence. It is a policy that continues today.

In a rare moment—or more precisely, six words—of agreement, Ibrahim sides with Obama on the importance of words and meaning: “Knowledge is inextricably linked to language.” But then he elaborates. “The more generic the language, the less precise the knowledge; conversely, the more precise the language, the more precise the knowledge. In the current conflict, to acquire accurate knowledge, which is essential to victory, we need to begin with accurate language. In short, it means America’s leadership needs to take that ancient dictum—‘Know thy enemy’—seriously.”

The Obama philosophy of dealing with Islam is counterproductive by design. An excellent example is the hollow euphoria that followed the killing of Osama bin Laden. Taking bin Laden out was a good thing, but it was not the significant victory it was portrayed to be. It was emotionally and politically satisfying, but the effort did nothing to stop or curtail terrorism anywhere; bin Laden was no longer an important piece on the board, but only a symbolic one.

Obama’s glitzy rhetoric, as in this case, leaves huge gaps in his efforts to deal with virtually any crisis that lands on his desk.

Page 182 of The Al Qaeda Reader explains it all. “Jihad in the path of Allah is greater than any individual or organization. It is a struggle between Truth and Falsehood, until Allah Almighty inherits the earth and those who live in it. Mullah Muhammad Omar and Sheikh Osama bin Laden—may Allah protect them from all evil—are merely two soldiers of Islam in the journey of jihad, while the struggle between Truth (Islam) and Falsehood (non-Islam) transcends.”

Osama bin Laden was merely a conduit. His death simply raised the prominence of the new leadership that followed in his path. If the Prophet Muhammad returned today only to be assassinated in the process, it would not change the ultimate goals of Islam. The movement is far greater than any individual, and yet the West and its media cannot seem to grasp that concept.

Thanks to an American president who willingly empowers Islamic forces such as ISIS through his personal advocacy of Islam, the world has become a far more dangerous place. Argue if you must about George Bush’s war in Iraq, but, given Obama’s reluctance to lead against the global menace of terrorism, the world situation would be little different today than it would have been had Bush never sent troops to the Middle East.

And that will be the Obama legacy.

Bob Taylor has been traveling the world for more than 30 years as a writer and award-winning television producer focusing on international events, people and cultures around the globe. Taylor is founder of the Magellan Travel Club (www.MagellanTravelClub.com)

The picture below is one of many appearing on Arabic social media concerning the Islamic State's barbarism and sadism, where those deemed "infidels" are treated as pieces of meat to be carved up for "fun."

The Arabic writing behind the masked savage reads, "One umma, one state."

Similarly, in a new report based on eyewitness testimonies from Assyrian Christians fleeing Islamic State (IS) held territories in Syria, children were forced to watch beheadings and other atrocities carried out by the Islamic militants.

According to Jack Zayya, an Assyrian Christian refugee, “Our children saw many beheadings. We were obligated to watch public executions. What kind of world is that for kids to grow up in? They were always scared.”

Discussing how IS extorted and plundered money from Christians, he added “Kidnappings were about getting ransom from rich families or individuals at first… With Daesh [IS], though, there is no negotiating. We had to pay the jizya tax or die.”

A Muslim schoolboy of African origin beat a 12-year-old girl at a school in Italy because she was wearing a crucifix around her neck.

According to ANSA news agency, the African boy “punched the girl violently in the back at the entrance to a middle school in the town of Terni on Thursday [May 14] and the girl’s mother caught the boy, who subsequently told Carabinieri paramilitary police he attacked the girl because she was wearing a crucifix, police sources said.”

The boy, who had only started to attend the school approximately three weeks earlier, began to bully the Christian girl—“insulting her and picking on her in other ways all because she was wearing the crucifix”—before he finally assaulted her.

Islamic history and doctrine is full of condemnation of and violence against the Christian crucifix. Islamic prophet Muhammad himself reportedly “had such a repugnance to the form of the cross that he broke everything brought into his house with its figure upon it.” He also once ordered someone wearing a cross to “take off that piece of idolatry.”

Italian police refused to charge the boy with any offense citing that he is a minor.

Coptic Solidarity

A homemade explosive planted next to a Coptic Christian church was detonated around sunset on May 16.

Although there were no human casualties at the St. George Church in Tamiya (Fayum governorate), as the church was mostly empty except for clergy, the church’s administrative offices and second floor glass was shattered, creating chaos and panic in the region.

Church security cameras captured the culprits: two men on a motorbike who stopped at the church, as one of the men dismounted and placed the explosive concealed in a bag adjacent to the church side, before speeding off.