Read more at: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/418700/george-w-bush-didnt-create-isis-islam-did-david-french
Friday, May 22, 2015
George W. Bush Didn’t Create ISIS; Islam Did
by David French May 21, 2015 4:00 AM
There are few things the Left loves more than a college liberal
“speaking truth” to conservative power. Days ago, 19-year-old University
of Nevada student Ivy Ziedrich seemed to enjoy just such a moment and
“made headlines around the world” when she confronted Jeb Bush about
ISIS.
Ms. Ziedrich had the gumption to confront Bush in the midst of a
scrum of reporters and confidently recite leftist conventional wisdom
about the current Middle East crisis, declaring: “Your brother created
ISIS!” After all, according to accepted academic conventional wisdom,
the war in Iraq is the source of all (recent) jihadist evil.
And with that statement, the clock started running on 15 minutes of fame
— no, 15 minutes of public adulation. Interviews with ABC News, the New
York Times, and other outlets followed, with reporters eager to hear
her thoughts on the Middle East. And while Ms. Ziedrich is no expert,
there is one thing she said that is all too true: “It’s frustrating to
see politicians ignore the origins of our conflicts abroad.” One thing Ivy Ziedrich said is all too true: “It’s frustrating to
see politicians ignore the origins of our conflicts abroad.”
Yes, Ms. Ziedrich, it certainly is. And if you’re on the left or from
some quarters of the right, it must be downright exhausting to not only
“understand” those origins but also link them in some way to the
failings of American, Israeli, or imperialist European policies. Here’s
the current scorecard: ISIS is George W. Bush’s fault. Al-Qaeda and the
Taliban exist because of Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush (through
the Afghan war against the Soviets and then the Desert Storm-related
American troop presence in Saudi Arabia, of course), with the various
al-Qaeda franchises in Syria, Yemen, and North Africa merely the fruit
of the same poisonous Reaganite tree. The jihadist destruction of
ancient — pre-Muslim — world heritage sites?
That’s just collateral
damage in the war against Reagan and the Bushes. Hamas, Hezbollah, and
the PLO are easy to peg — Israeli creations, one and all, existing
solely because of the “Occupied Territories.” As for Libya, we actually
put those jihadists in power. But what about Boko Haram? I’m sure any
decent professor can tell me some way we’re responsible for their
atrocities.
But that’s just the last few decades. What about tracing further back?
To the founding of the Muslim Brotherhood or to the Ikhwan of the
Arabian peninsula? The Ikhwan — as savage as ISIS — trace their origins
back to 1913, before the Europeans dominated the Middle East.
What about
the centuries of conflict between Christian Europe and the Ottoman
Empire? Vienna must have richly deserved its sieges. After all,
Europeans launched the Crusades, right? And before the Crusades, when jihadist Muslim armies invaded and
conquered the Christian lands of the Middle East and North Africa,
capturing the Iberian Peninsula and threatening modern-day France,
there’s little doubt that they were simply striking out at . . .
something the Christians did.
No, Ms. Ziedrich, George W. Bush didn’t create ISIS. Islam did. Embedded
within this faith is a concept called “jihad,” and no matter how many
professors tell you otherwise, there are countless millions of Muslims
throughout more than a millennium of history who’ve interpreted “jihad”
not as a mandate for self-help and personal improvement but as a mandate
for war and conquest, a mandate to purify and spread the faith at the
point of the sword. The influence of militaristic jihadists waxes and
wanes, but it is there, always.
To believe that American actions have created the jihad is to give
America greater influence over the Muslim heart than Allah. The current
jihad is an extension of the ancient jihad. The foes have changed (the
Habsburgs are long gone, and the Holy League peaked at Lepanto in 1571),
but the motivation is the same. Why did Osama bin Laden mention “the
tragedy of Andalusia” (the more than 500-year-old reconquest of Muslim
Spain) in his post-9/11 address? Because, for the jihadist, it’s all one
war.
Our choices are the same choices faced by the great non-Muslim
powers that came before us: convert, submit, die, or fight.
So, by all means, let’s not ignore “the origins of our conflicts
abroad.” Regarding our conflict with Islamic terrorists, the origins lie
in a religious imperative, one that predates the founding of the United
States by more than ten centuries.
George W. Bush is no more
responsible for creating that conflict than he is for writing the Koran,
passing down the Hadith, or establishing the first Caliphate. And in
confronting that foe, our choices are the same choices faced by the
great non-Muslim powers that came before us: convert, submit, die, or
fight.
Given those options, there is but one valid choice for a free people.
It’s too bad that Ms. Ziedrich, her peers, and her media cheerleaders
can’t see past the politics to understand the troubling truth. After
all, it will soon be her generation’s turn on the wall. Will they accept
the challenge?
— David French is an attorney, a staff writer at National Review, and a
veteran of the Iraq War.
Read more at: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/418700/george-w-bush-didnt-create-isis-islam-did-david-french
Read more at: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/418700/george-w-bush-didnt-create-isis-islam-did-david-french
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