A tradition in the politics of American presidential campaigns is the increase in disingenuous rhetoric, often with minimal regard for recognizing the realities of the day. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton fight to emulate the “real deal” as presidential candidates who will “end the war” in Iraq. It’s as if the outcome in Iraq has no consequence to the future of the human political rights in the Middle East, or anywhere else on the globe. Oddly, Jimmy Carter rises from the ash heap of presidential politics past, proclaiming that Hamas is ready to “accept Israel as its neighbor.” Might America also be ready for a new understanding of Islamic terrorism? Is it all much ado about nothing?
As the campaign for the White House in 2008 more and more emulates the simple-minded myopia of “Support the Troops, Bring them Home” yard signs, there’s a different message being brought to bear upon the “thin blue line” protecting the residents of Main Street and Elm Street America. Some in the endless 2008 presidential campaign promise a departure from the “politics of fear.” However, training mandated by Pennsylvania’s Municipal Police Officers Education and Training Commission (MPOETC) tells a different story, as municipal law enforcement learn to comprehend the real threat of radical Islam.
Understanding this threat is a complicated quest that still evades the United States, even after 9/11. Waled Phares, senior fellow and director of the Future Terrorism Project at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies is credited in the 2008 MPOETC with the following 2005 quote: “Jihad is not benign, and the West’s denial of that fact was terribly ironic Â… The United States was paving the way for its own defeat, by blurring its vision, confusing its mind, and moderating its reactions to the early danger signs, not to mention the terrorist strikes to come. It was clear that the nation turned a blind eye to the historical definition of jihad, the one that would really come to matter.”
It seems not much has changed. As the self-serving political pragmatism of the 2008 presidential campaign diverts America’s eye from the continually approaching ball of jihad, cops on the beat are being trained to understand radical Islam’s vision of extending “sovereign Islamic rule and religion over the entire globe.”
Part of what Pennsylvania’s municipal police officers are learning is to comprehend the edicts affirming “the supremacy of Islam.” Radical Islam, according to MPOETC, assumes the authority to “nullify, abolish, or do away with” previously established religions and systems of government, establishing Islamic rule based on the Koran and the “example of Muhammad.” Officers are learning about “Muhammad’s Doctrines of War,” and the concept of the “Call to Islam,” a prerequisite to a Muslim attack on a nation of infidel enemies. Osama Bin Laden’s “Letter to the American People” of 2002 contained such a “Call to Islam,” which, according to radical Islam, gives subjects three choices: Accept Islam as your religion; refuse to accept Islam, but pay a tax and assume status as a second-class citizenry under Islamic rule; or be subject to attack, bringing forced submission to Islamic law, or death.
As the American public tunes in, or tunes out, the rhetoric of presidential politics, Pennsylvania’s municipal police officers are being enlightened on the rhetoric of some of the A-list of radical Islam. There’s Ayatollah Khomeini’s vision of Islamic world dominance, the Sunni mindset of the Hamas Charter, the Shiite spin from the Hezbollah point of view, and the Palestinian Authority’s calls for the destruction of America. In a class all its own is the visionary impact of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s encouragement to radical Islamists everywhere: “Imagine a world without Israel and the United States, it can happen.” Police are reminded of Iran’s quest for developing nuclear technology -- strictly for civilian use.
Finally, Pennsylvania’s police officers are being made aware of things like America’s enthusiastic funding of Jihad through the illicit drug trade and bootlegged electronic media and counterfeit products. But the bottom line of the training is sobering evidence of radical Islam’s preparation to launch terror attacks on American schools, including statements by radical leaders, “justifying attacks on U.S. women, school children, and the like.” As we choose our next president, I hope the outcomes of election 2008 include the electorate’s and the candidates’ reality based assessment of the realities of the post 9/11 world.
Donald Hoffman is a freelance columnist living in Fountain Hill. He is a municipal police sergeant. His e-mail address is hoffman50287@msn.com.