In spite of the hundreds of billions of dollars being spent on defense and intelligence, our nation has once again failed to prevent an Islamic inspired terrorist attack on our soil. Nonetheless, we are told that we must accept massive domestic spying and surveillance or we will not be safe even though these unconstitutional, Orwellian programs have never prevented a single attack. Considering the amount of manpower, money, and technology dedicated to counterterrorism operations that still fail, one could easily conclude that rooting out Islamic extremists is just too difficult. However, nothing could be further from the truth. Terrorism is not a new phenomenon. There are plenty of effective strategies to combat terrorism. Some are more palatable than others, but agree or not, these strategies have been proven effective. The problem is that our government not only refuses to acknowledge these viable options, but will brutally attack and smear anyone that tries to sensibly address these shortcomings of our “War on Terror” and domestic counterterrorism efforts. Today, I am going to talk about the easiest and by far the most effective counterterrorism measure, which the government refuses to employ at our expense. However, it is up to you whether or not you are now willing to take decisive action against the growing war with fundamentalist Islam or incur the risk and wait till it gets worse. Either way, I promise you that decisive action, no matter how unpalatable, will ultimately be forced on you and the longer you wait, the more painful it will be for everyone.
The government would make you believe that without the National Security Agency (NSA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), etc. all spying on you, it is impossible to insure your security. This is bogus logic. There is strong evidence to support that domestic surveillance is actually counterproductive to preventing terrorism because it creates a huge amount of distracting data. Further, if there really are terrorists all over the country ready to attack us and these programs work, then we should be intercepting them planning the attacks routinely. Let me pose some simple questions to you and allow you to use some basic logic. Do you ever wonder how the government knows there are terrorists all over? If the government can know these enemies are here, then why don’t they arrest them or do something about it? Further, if we already know so much about these extremists and their plans, why do we need to continue to spy on our own people when even the government admits the programs don’t work? The truth is we don’t and the fearmongering is used to grab more power and control the people. It doesn’t take a whole lot of money or technology to weed out your extremists and you certainly do not need to violate the Constitution. However, it may require you to offend some people and not be politically correct. It is amazing that today we will race to undermine our Constitution and destroy our civil liberties, but fight doggedly against any notion of hurting the feelings of someone that wants to kill us and destroy our civilization. I am treading dangerously close to sounding like a suddenly well informed Donald Trump here, but we really do need to get our priorities straight. Until we fix this, the evils of political correctness and tolerance will walk us right into a disaster as a nation.
So here it is…the grand plan for security the hundreds of billions of dollars spent on spying, surveillance, analysts, and bombs could never bring you. To root these terrorists out, simply stop bringing in people from countries that are known to harbor Islamic radicals such as Somalia, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Iraq, and Syria. (It wouldn’t hurt if we stopped arming, training, equipping, funding, and advising them too, but that is for another discussion.) I am not saying don’t bring in any Muslims, but we are at war with a brand of Islam that has to be screened for. This needs to be extended to these same people that may have been living in a country like Germany or England for some time and are attempting to come to the US. Further, anyone here on visas or that has been granted residency in the last five years from those identified countries should be asked to report for a visa review. Those that don’t should be immediately tracked down and deported and those that do should be vetted for ties to any type of fundamentalist Islam. Those shown to have ties to these fundamentalist brands of Islam should be deported. There is a reason Japan doesn’t have a problem with Islamic terrorism and it is because they don’t let Muslims into their country, view the religion as dangerous, and have no fear saying so. Congress took some action on this this week to enhance visa security even though a better bill sponsored by Rand Paul to do much like Donald Trump suggested was unfortunately voted down by a bi-partisan majority last week. This is a start, but much more needs to be done.
This isn’t Nazi Germany and no one is going after Muslims with pitchforks and torches. These sensationalist accusations are pure nonsense. We all know there are plenty of people living in the US that are Muslim and are still very much loyal Americans, condemn violence, and live lawful, productive lives. We, and this includes me…live with, work with, most likely socialize with, and buy from Muslims daily. Muslims serve in our military, are active across our intelligence community, and are significant contributors to the highly educated workforce that includes doctors and engineers. This is normal and healthy and I will not let the government and their media clowns try to spin this into something that it is not. This is also not the same as trying to group all evangelical Christians into group with abortion clinic bombers, which is a straw man argument I will not let the Left construct. What I am discussing is a sensible, systematic approach to vetting anyone in or attempting to enter our country for enemy allegiance; a bar far higher than simply being a Muslim, speaking out against the government, or even being a true dissident.
To be specific, various brands of Sunni Islam have been inextricably linked to radical ideologies, terrorism, and plots to implement Sharia Law in the US and should be used in profiling potential terrorists. Approximately half the Muslims in the US ascribe to Sunni Islam, but a smaller minority actually practice the fundamental brands of Islam most associated with terrorism. Of these, the Salafists in particular or anyone ascribing to the Wahhabi fundamentalist teachings inside the US should be identified and watchlisted or arrested. Those identified adhering to the above ideologies here on visas or as resident aliens should be rounded up and deported immediately. Some would point out that most of Saudi Arabia would match this description and I would respond; “Exactly. Did you by chance notice the nationality of most of the 9/11 hijackers or who else in the Middle East besides ISIL likes to cut people’s heads off with swords and beat women for driving a car?” This is a lifestyle incompatible with our way of life. Further, those with links to known terrorist groups like HAMAS should also be identified and jailed, not watchlisted. Any mosque that preaches this type of radical Islamic ideology should be shut down and its attendees identified and tracked as potential terrorists if not arrested outright. This is not a freedom of religion issue any more than it was when we correctly went after communists during the Cold War. Both are enemy ideologies that seek to fundamentally change and destroy America.
At this juncture it is important to dispel a few myths. First, the notion that you can’t profile for national security is pure garbage. We can, have, and do. Second, the idea that the FBI can’t target “religious” centers (call them whatever you want) that openly support sworn enemies of the US and actively advocate for the violent overthrow of our country is equally absurd and are not protected under the First Amendment. Only someone insane and/or suicidal would suggest that while at war we should allow and protect our enemy’s “right” to set up a headquarters in every major US city, spew propaganda, and actively recruit soldiers for the fight against you. Germans during both World War One and Two were allowed to live free in the US, but those assessed with divided or hostile loyalties were targeted, surveilled, and/or arrested. Believe me, if you can justify such illegal and unconstitutional acts as targeted killings of US citizens without due process and the bulk collection of personal, private data you certainly can find the legal justification to investigate known terrorists hiding behind a thin veil of religion. It certainly has a long legal precedent whether you like it or not. Finally, the government has all the power and authority it needs to protect the people, but it lacks the will and incentives. The government actually benefits from a perpetual war on terror and that is why it has done nothing substantial to actually bring it to a decisive end. In fact, the government has accelerated the rate of Muslims entering this country and made the problem far worse.
If we were to get serious, weeding out and deporting or at least profiling these potential terrorists would eliminate close to 85% of our Islamic terrorism problem without the use of any sweeping domestic surveillance programs supported by tens of thousands of analysts and government employees. It would also save hundreds of billions of dollars, an untold number of lives, and actually work. However, if we believe that we can turn the historic racial/ethnic ratio of this nation upside down and blindly harbor a growing population with loyalties centered in the Middle East that has historically been the enemy of Christianity without fundamentally tearing this nation apart, we are mistaken…and this is to speak nothing of the disastrous effect it will have on any war overseas.
By Guiles Hendrik
December 9, 2015
