What Al Qaeda Wants: A Debate with Michael Scheuer
by Raymond Ibrahim Jihad Watch I recently wrote something of a lengthy exposition regarding ex CIA analyst Michael Scheuer’s continuous characterizations of Osama bin Laden as at once Robin Hood, Saint Francis of Assisi, and Thomas Jefferson — that is, a man fighting oppression and tyranny, that and nothing more.
No We Can’t
The Democratic left wing has been determined to lose America’s wars. by Bruce S. Thornton City Journal Review of Party of Defeat: How Democrats and Radicals Undermined America’s War on Terror Before and After 9-11, by David Horowitz and Ben Johnson (Spence, 224 pp.)
VDH UltraAngry Reader: Germany is Better, VDH!
Private Papers Dear Julian, I reply to your letter in bold print after each paragraph. VDH
Today in History
Constantinople saves Western Civilization from Islam by Raymond Ibrahim Jihad Watch Since certain Muslim media are fond of rehashing old history, reminding Muslims of the “atrocities” committed by the hated Crusader — past and present — it seems only logical that we here in the West also remember the past.
Islam Without Apologetics
Andrew Bostom documents the long history of Muslim anti-Semitism. by Bruce S. Thornton City Journal A review of The Legacy of Islamic Antisemitism: From Sacred Texts to Solemn History, by Andrew G. Bostom (Prometheus Books, 766 pp.)
Obama’s Race Card
by Bruce S. Thornton Private Papers The liberal media are in full Captain Renault mode, “shocked, shocked” to find race injected into the presidential campaign by a “Swift-boating” John McCain. How shameless can you get?
VDH UltraAngry Reader
Private Papers Victor, The ostensible cassi belli for attacking Iraq were to destroy Saddam’s WMD (nonexistent), stop his nuclear bomb development program (nonexistent), and eliminate his ties to al Qaeda (nonexistent). We can’t “win” the Iraqi war because its illusory objectives were never possible of attainment.
Al-Jazeera and History: The Fall of Acre
by Raymond Ibrahim Jihad Watch Amidst the images of suffering and slain Palestinians, Iraqis, and Afghanis, the internationally (in)famous Arabic news station al-Jazeera today had an interesting five-minute segment that it played over several times: the fall of the Muslim city of Acre (Arabic: ‘Akka’) to the Crusaders, which after a nearly two-year siege, occurred […]
Excusing Taqiyya?
by Raymond Ibrahim Jihad Watch Instead of trying to be “bold” and tackling a “controversial” topic, innate apologists would do better to simply remain silent.
Land Dispute or Jihad?
The Coptic monastery raid revisited by Raymond Ibrahim Jihad Watch Even though Dhimmi Watch admirably noted the recent attack on the Abu Fana Coptic monastery in Egypt, after just watching a graphic video detailing the affair on the Arabic satellite program Hiwar al-Haq — which makes clear that the raid (ghazwa) was far from being motivated by a “land dispute,” as […]
Religion and the Age
George Weigel gives Christian answers to the West’s most pressing questions. by Bruce S. Thornton City Journal A review of Against the Grain: Christianity and Democracy, War and Peace, by George Weigel (Crossroad, 2008, 352 pp.)
Islam’s War Doctrines Ignored
by Raymond Ibrahim MESH (Middle East Strategy at Harvard) At the recent inaugural conference for the Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa (ASMEA), presenter Ltc. Joseph Myers made an interesting point that deserves further elaboration: that, though military studies have traditionally valued and absorbed the texts of classical war doctrine — […]
No Country for Old Liberals
by Bruce S. Thornton Private Papers According to liberals, they are tolerant, open-minded, sensitive to complexity and nuance, and wary of simplistic explanations. So why is a column by the liberal Michael Hirsh, in the liberal newsweekly Newsweek, so intolerant, close-minded, simplistic and bigoted?
Jihad Studies as Trivia
by Raymond Ibrahim Private Papers This article was first published in Middle Eastern Studies at Harvard.
Leaving the New Episcopal Church
by Craig Bernthal Private Papers Most Christians in America probably don’t know much about what is happening in the Episcopal Church (TEC).
Islam’s Public Enemy #1
Coptic priest Zakaria Botros fights fire with fire. by Raymond Ibrahim National Review Online Though he is little known in the West, Coptic priest Zakaria Botros — named Islam’s “Public Enemy #1” by the Arabic newspaper, al-Insan al-Jadid— has been making waves in the Islamic world.
Real Talk?
The Saudi king ought to stop killing non-Muslims first. by Raymond Ibrahim National Review Online According to the Associated Press, Saudi King Abdullah, in an unprecedented move last week, “made an impassioned plea for dialogue among Muslims, Christians, and Jews” — going so far as to refer to the latter two as “our brothers.”
Spitzer’s Comic Fall
The understand the disgraced governor, brush up your Aristophanes. by Bruce S. Thornton City Journal Commentators are already calling the rise and fall of New York governor Eliot Spitzer “tragic.”
The Old Script
Does Obama really think he settles racism with relativism? by Bruce S. Thornton Private Papers Barack Obama’s attempt to defuse the crisis in his presidential campaign caused by videos of his “spiritual mentor’s” bigoted sermons has been spun as “the most significant public discussion of race in decades,” as The New York Times gushed.
Paying the Piper
by Craig Bernthal Private Papers Temperance is not high in the current list of American virtues. We are the 9th most obese people on earth, according to the World Health Organization, with 74% of American’s over 15 identified as overweight.