Advice to President Bush
Wonfgang Bruno
2005/07/11
Dear Mr. Bush: I was one of the Europeans who supported your re-election the
past fall. In my view, a good leader needs at least two basic qualities: The
courage to do the right thing, and the wisdom to understand what the right thing
is. John Kerry didn’t have an ounce of either and would have been a disaster
as president. I still believe, or at least hope, that you possess the spine
necessary to do the job. But I’m not equally convinced you fully
understand the nature of your enemy. For you, a devout Christian, religion
is something inherently positive. Perhaps that makes you misjudge Islam. Perhaps
you view it as a religion currently beset by many problems and aggressive
groups, but still one that can offer comfort and moral guidance to millions of
people. That is a fundamental mistake. Islam is not an addition to the American
diversity rainbow. In fact, it wants to scrap the diversity rainbow and replace
it with an Islamic cave. Ataturk’s
Turkey has tried for generations to enforce Western-style democracy and
secularism, and the experiment is failing. You
should listen more to the likes of Ibn Warraq, Ali Sina and Robert Spencer,
and less
to Bernard Lewis.
The most important military task in the immediate future is preventing the
mullahs in Iran from getting nuclear weapons. This has to be done at all cost,
even if it means armed strikes against Iranian nuke facilities. Such a move will
meet stiff international opposition, but it is of critical importance. The
downside is that we may risk ordinary Iranians rallying behind otherwise
disliked leaders. A strike against Iran should be combined with steps to weaken
the foundations of the Islamic Republic, and encourage
the people to overthrow their oppressors. Ironically, the election of
hardliner Ahmadinejad for president just made this easier. Rafsanjani is more
cunning and could have fooled both Europeans and Iranians for a few more years.
Ahmadinejad is a brute who will kill off the illusion of "reform" and
the deceptive "good cop - bad cop" game his predecessor Khatami kept
alive for eight years. The time is now right for toppling the mullahs.
However, in the ideological battle against Islam, little has
happened in the four years since 9/11. We are treading water, and as the London
bombings showed, we don't have time to do that. If anything, it has become even
more difficult to openly criticize Islam in infidel nations. The Islamic world,
supported by Saudi petrodollars, is
working tirelessly to subvert our freedom of speech. It is understandable
that a person as powerful as the US President cannot and should not say
everything, even when it’s true. But you should quietly start preparing people
and open their eyes to what we are facing. If the traditional media hesitate to
deal in a straightforward manner with Islamic issues, then we have to bypass
them and bring the message directly to the people. Concentrate on the Western
nations first, and Europe in particular.
Many Americans are tired of watching the back of a continent that always
seems to get itself into more trouble. Given the bad press President Bush
receives in European media, any open efforts on your behalf could anyway prove
to be counterproductive. If done in more subtle ways, it is not as impossible as
some people think. The referendums about the proposed EU constitution in France
and Holland demonstrated that there are now two powerful and sometimes
contradictory currents at work in Europe: Anti-Americanism, partly a reflection
of Socialist instincts, but also carefully nurtured by the elites as glue in
their Euro-federalist project. The other is increasing disillusionment with
European political leaders. Instead of a Europe united against the USA, the
elites are creating a Europe united in
common opposition to their neo-feudalist leaders and the oligarchs in Brussels.
Americans can play these two impulses against each other. There are many
Europeans who are more negative towards their own leaders than the USA. Hook up
with some of them. Encourage them as a counterweight to the biased Eurabian
media. This is also important for what we might label as “civilization
awareness”. Multiculturalism and anti-Americanism have greatly weakened the
sense of belonging to a shared Western civilization. It needs to be rebuilt, by
establishing ties between Americans and groups of Europeans ordinary Americans
can relate to.
Show Europeans that their elites are indeed selling them out. Buy the
copyrights to Bat Ye’or’s book Eurabia:
The Euro-Arab Axis. Translate it into as many European languages as
possible, and make sure that many websites have it available for free online,
both in the full version and in a summarized version. Since American media are
hardly much better when it comes to writing about Islam, many Americans would
benefit from this, too. Europe still has a window of opportunity to act, but it
is closing fast. A decade from now, the combined forces of neo-feudalism,
resurgent nationalism and right-wing extremism, Marxism, and Islam could be too
strong for level-headed Europeans to withstand. Either Europe’s
home-grown totalitarian impulses will fuse with Islam, completing Europe’s
transformation into Eurabia, or
they will compete for the spoils, tearing the continent apart. Europe will
burn again, for the third time in a century.
Give stipends and all the library resources needed to people such as Ali Sina
and Ibn Warraq, to write about Islam. You should also encourage websites by
ex-Muslims, and the best websites by non-Muslims. Make a selection of the best
critical books written about Islam. The
books in their full length should be made available on the Internet in major
languages They can also be downloaded and reprinted in countries where the
reach of the Internet is still limited. Start with supporting those who are
already in the business. Give them grants to do their work on a
semi-professional basis, and help increase their reach. The websites could be in
English or bilingual, catering to both national and international audiences. Jihad
Watch and Faith
Freedom International should be used as the cyberspace version of Radio Free
Europe, and the cornerstones in a global network of similar websites.
I am not saying that the Internet alone will do the trick. But it is the
least censored medium and still largely outside the control of the politically
correct elites. It can and should be spearheading the efforts. The entire
operation could be done quietly and unofficially without spending too much
money. Freedom of speech is the lifeblood of Western civilization. It doesn’t
matter if we capture Al-Qaeda operatives in Iraq and Afghanistan if Islam
strangles our freedom at home. Likewise, we can’t win a fight against Islam
unless people are made aware of the true nature of Islamic teachings. This part
of the struggle has been neglected so far. It is my hope that you, Mr. Bush, can
help in dealing with this during your second term. Much depends upon it.
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