Charming Snakes

Ralph Peters exercised extreme clarity while writing about religious extremism in this article in the New York Post: Petting The Snakes. After reading these brief excerpts, click the link and read the entire article, paying particular attention to paragraphs including italic emphasis.

Of course, we didn't take faith's power seriously. We still don't. Washington continues, frantically, to deny that belief has anything to do with religious terrorism.

To understand what Muslims believe and their belief affects their behavior, we need to become [familiar] with the source of their belief: the Qur'an. The link at the end of the previous sentence goes to the Muslim Student Association site at U.S.C. It displays three parallel translations of Islam's canon of scripture. If you prefer a single translation with the translator's explanation of the text, try the work of Abdullah Yusuf Ali, one of the three provided by the M.S.A.

Fired by visions of serving an angry god, the terrorists are sure that they're bound to win, that all those of weaker belief will fall before them. Nothing short of death will make them quit.

The key concept in that excerpt is triumphalism, derived from belief in Allah's promises of victory and reward. Read Know Thine Enemy (part 11) for a glimpse into the roots of Islam's triumphalism.

When dealing with those who believe they're on a mission from their god, our cult of negotiations plays into their hands. They'll break any agreement, when the time is right. A deal isn't a deal. Unbelievers have no standing.

9:1-3 pretty well take care of that issue. Moe made a ten year treaty with Mekkah when he was weak, and broke it after three years when he had amassed an army.