Listen To Terrorists

After the 9-11 terrorist attacks, I found it a little disturbing that many in the west were quick to make excuses as to why the act was perpertrated. Ralph Peters asks us to listen to what the terrorists say first:

Yet, no matter how fiercely our enemies declare that their faith compels them to kill, our elected and appointed officials continue to insist that the terrorists don't understand themselves - that they're really driven by economic factors or our own foreign-policy missteps, that their savage interpretation of Islam is only a ploy . . .

Shouldn't we pay just a little attention to what our enemies say about themselves?
Radical Islam isn't just a smokescreen. Jihad is real. And it ain't about who got the Coca-Cola franchise in Khartoum.

As I seethe through DC meetings (always careful to wash thoroughly afterward), I'm continually disheartened by the contortions of "experts" determined to prove that enemies who regard death as a promotion aren't really devout, that they just need hugs and massive amounts of aid.

(...)

In the Greater Middle East, even lackadaisical Muslims have been molded by the legacy of 13 centuries of Islam. Thus Mom thinks it a splendid thing that her son strapped on a bomb and became a martyr by murdering 40 innocents in a market.

Her culture admires that "sacrifice." Ours doesn't.

Listen to the Gitmo Five. Unlike our Washington pols, they have intellectual integrity. They're telling us honestly who they are and why they seek to kill us.

Our response? "They don't know what they're talking about."