It is certainly true that not all Muslims are terrorists, and not all terrorists are Muslims. But it is equally true that the most serious national security threats faced by the United States come from either terrorist Muslim organizations such as al-Qaida or from terrorism-sponsoring Muslim states such as Iran.
Many ordinary Iranians certainly do not support violent rhetoric and actions against the West and the nation of Israel — any more than all Germans backed the Nazis. But the fact is, irrational, radical Muslims are in control of Iran and are eagerly pursuing the development of nuclear weapons with which to threaten any perceived enemy. So the United States has no choice but to deal with the reality of radical Islam in Iran and elsewhere as a major threat to our security.
The Obama administration is showing once again that it does not understand that. The administration ridiculously replaced the term “war on terror” last year with the vague term “overseas contingency operation.” And it started saying “terrorism” should really be labeled “man-caused disasters.”
Now, in an effort to appease Muslim nations, the administration is removing the term “Islamic radicalism” from official documents relating to our national security strategy. “Instead of just terrorism, Obama wants to base the relationship (with those nations) on things like health care, science and education,” The Associated Press reported.
That would be fine by us — if those nations would stop sponsoring terrorist attacks and threatening their neighbors and the United States.
But word games will never satisfy violent Muslim radicals. They have made it clear that they seek our destruction.
That leaves us no choice but to defeat them, and we cannot defeat an enemy that we will not even name.