On Friday morning, ABC-TV’s Good Morning America quoted Barack Obama as saying that ISIS had been contained.

Before the day was out, ISIS killed 150 people, including some outside a soccer match …

… and an estimated 100, executed during a death metal concert:

The world expressed solidarity with the victims …

… although as usual Obama is more indignant about American guns and alleged climate change:

As anyone old enough to remember 9/11 knows, this isn’t the first time the evil that is radical Islam has killed innocents. A few months ago, another Islamic extremist group, Al-Shahab, killed 148 people, all but six of them students, at Garissa University College in eastern Kenya, near the Somalia border. The terrorists separated Muslim students from Christian students, then executed the Christians. On Thursday, 43 people were killed and 239 wounded in Beirut. By whom? ISIS again.

It should be pointed out that radical Islam does not represent all of Islam. Muslims died on 9/11, and the death toll Friday likely included Muslims. (By one count, 6 million Muslims live in France.) Scenes of Reason lists seven times that Muslims stood up to radical Islam:

1) WHEN THE LOCAL MUSLIM HOTEL STAFF IN TUNISIA FORMED A HUMAN SHIELD TO PROTECT TOURISTS
When Sky News released this image some people commented that it looked as though the Muslims on the beach were just standing by. Killer Seifeddine Rezgui murdered 38 people in Tunisia. Islamist group Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack.

Later, a video would show locals and hotel workers chasing the killer, picking up bottles as weapons and shouting at him “Why?”

Other witness accounts confirmed the bravery of the Tunisians. They placed their own lives in danger protecting the guests.

2) THE 7/7 BOMBING SURVIVOR WHO NOW PREVENTS CHILDREN FROM BEING RADICALISED

Sajda Mughal was the only Muslim in the underground carriage targeted in the 7/7 bombings in 2005.

After the attack she quit her job in the city and now works for a charity attempting to stop young people becoming radicalised.

“Islam teaches you to respect life, not even to harm an ant – how could you harm a human being in the name of Islam?” – Sajda Mughal in an interview with the Mirror.

3) WHEN THE IMAMS RECORDED THIS VIDEO

Imams are leaders of the Mosque. They lead the prayers, teach the religion and help out in the community. In the past people have worried that Mosques were places where extremist views could be preached in secret. A group of Imams from around the UK decided to make this video, setting themselves against the actions of Islamic State.

4) WHEN YOUNG MUSLIMS DECIDED TO WAGE A “JIHAD” OF THEIR OWN AGAINST THE ISLAMIC EXTREMISM

More and more reports describe young Muslims who are radicalised by extremist messages. Many are travelling to areas like Syria and Iraq to join Jihad (holy war).

The Muslim Youth League decided to do something about this. They launched a campaign urging politicians and leaders from the Muslim faith to condemn violence and extremism.

5) THE MUSLIM WOMEN WHO FORMED THE ANTI-EXTREMIST GROUP “MAKE A STAND”
The group used an image of a Muslim woman using a Union Jack flag as a headscarf. Visiting cities up and down the country, they educated many against the dangers of radicalisation.

The campaign was created by Sara Khan who also co-founded the Inspire group; which was created to empower Muslim women and work towards gender equality.

You can view some of the women making a stand on the MAS wall as part of the Inspire website.

6) WHEN MUSLIMS AROUND THE WORLD TOLD ISIS “NOT IN MY NAME”

Activists and ordinary people uploaded images to social media with #NotInMyName.

Groups like ISIS have used social media to spread their message and many fear they are winning the online battle.

“After finding out that James Foley had been beheaded and David Haines was next, we decided enough was enough and that we must take action and take a stand to show the world they do not represent us Muslims. They will not kill in the name of Islam.” – Zahra Qadir from Active Change, the charity behind the campaign.

7) AND WHEN LOCAL MOSQUES OPENED THEIR DOORS AND INVITED IN MEMBERS OF THE COMMUNITY

This year, to mark the 10th anniversary of the 7/7 bombings, Mosques around the country opened their doors. They invited non-Muslims to attend a peaceful “iftar”; the meal eaten after sunset by fasting Muslims. Imams are also encouraged to mention 7/7 in their sermons.

That list is best described as necessary, but not sufficient. Unless ordinary Muslims worldwide stop radical Islam, things like what Joel Taylor suggested four years ago may well happen …

Dr. Robert Morey has one solution to the ‘alleged ‘war on terror’. Destroy the foundations of Islam. While all will not say ‘Amen’ to that, it’s worthwhile to point out that Christianity has a foundation which cannot be destroyed … ever. Islam, on the other hand, depends on places and buildings for its continued existence.

From his book Winning the War Against Radical Islam 

“The terrorists and terrorist nations such as Saudi Arabia only fear one thing: the destruction of the religion of Islam.There is nothing in this life that has greater value to them than Islam. They are willing to sacrifice and even die to promote Islam. This religious motivation is the engine that drives the Jihad against us.

The path to Paradise, according to the Five Pillars of Islam, involves the city of Mecca and its stone temple called the Kabah. Muslims pray toward Mecca five times a day. What if Mecca didn’t exist anymore?

They must make a pilgrimage to Mecca and engage in an elaborate set of rituals centered around the Kabah once they arrive. What if Mecca and the Kabah were only blackened holes in the ground?

What if Medina, the burial place of Muhammad was wiped off the face of the planet?

What if the Dome Mosque on the Temple site in Jerusalem was blown up?

The greatest weakness of Islam is that it is hopelessly tied to sacred cities and buildings. If these cities and buildings were destroyed, Islam would die within a generation as it would be apparent to all that its god could not protect the three holiest sites in Islam.

With American ships stationed all around Arabia and troops on the ground within Saudi Arabia itself, it would take about 7 minutes for cruise missiles to take out Mecca and Medina. These cities could be vaporized in minutes and there is nothing the Saudis or any other Muslim country could do to stop us. The Israelis could take out the Dome Mosque at the same time. It could happen so fast that no one would have the time to respond. With these surgical strikes, few lives would be lost. And, with three strikes against them, Islam is out!

The US government and its allies must agree that this is the final solution to the Muslim problem. We must tell all terrorist groups that the next time they destroy the lives and properties of Americans at home or abroad, we will destroy Mecca, Medina and Dome Mosque. They will be responsible for destroying the three most holy sites in Islam and bringing the religion to its knees.

We must tell all the Muslim countries that are presently supporting and harboring terrorists that if they do not cease and desist at once, we will destroy the heart of their religion.

… particularly if Donald Trump becomes president.

As it is, there is little evidence the world the U.S. supposedly leads has the will to destroy radical Islam. James S. Robbins points out:

Earlier on Friday, hours before a small band of allegedly ISIS-linked jihadists took over 150 innocent lives in Paris, President Obama downplayed the terror threat. “I don’t think [the Islamic State is] gaining strength,” he said on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” “we have contained them… you don’t see this systemic march by ISILacross the terrain.”  This assessment betrayed a certain type of intelligence failure, the inability to understand the transnational aspect of the threat. ISIS is an adaptive unconventional enemy that has built a potent international network of highly motivated killers. We cannot simply draw a red line on a map and hope they stay inside it.

President Obama also said “we’ve made some progress in trying to reduce the flow of foreign fighters,” referring to international jihadist recruits heading into Syria. But what about the flow of foreign fighters out of the region? It is significant that Syrian and Egyptian passports were found near the bodies of suicide bombers in Paris. Earlier this year ISIS threatened to send 500,000 refugees to Europe to sow chaos, and this year there have been over 700,000 asylum claims filed in Europe alone. It is unknown how many of these might be ISIS infiltrators, but recent experience has shown – whether in Paris, Madrid, London, Boston, or with the 9/11 attacks – that it only takes a small number of committed terrorists to wreak havoc. …

The White House is fresh out of ideas how to counter the Islamic State’s compelling ideological message. At the UN Summit on Countering Violent Extremism in September, President Obama cycled through the usual litany of supposed solutionsto the terrorism problem; confronting “economic grievances,” “creating opportunity and dignity,” spreading “more democracy in terms of free speech, and freedom of religion.” However, ISIS, al Qaeda, and other Islamist extremist movements are immune to these appeals. They don’t offer their followers a job training program, they promise an eternal afterlife in Allah’s glory. President Obama also lectured the world once again that “violent extremism is not unique to any one faith, so no one should be profiled or targeted simply because of their faith.” But the global jihadist movement is most definitely unique to Islam, and the sooner the White House confronts that fact the better.

And yes there was an offensive Youtube video involved, but it was a warning, not a provocation. Last July ISIS released a video in which a French jihadist vowed to “fill the streets of Paris with dead bodies,” then shot a bound Syrian soldier in the head and kicked him off a cliff. Like most such threats it passed with little notice. But the Islamic State has shown a disturbing propensity to at least try to make good on its promises. The Paris massacre shows that half-hearted attempts to degrade, contain, or diminish the jihadist threat are failing. What we need is a strategy to defeat and destroy them. There is no substitute for victory, but unfortunately only ISIS seems to understand that.

 

This was on the Classic Rock Lovers Facebook page, which doesn’t exactly have to do with Friday’s events, except that it does: