20th Century Fascism

Equals Today’s Radical Islam

 

Robert L. Wichterman

Robert L. Wichterman writes from Lancaster, PA.

Having been dormant for many years, Islamist militancy was reawakened following the Soviet Union’s 1979 invasion of Afghanistan. Al Qaeda, Hamas, and the other Muslim extremists have used the same stratagems to prepare their people for a jihad (holy war) against us, and the West, as the German Nazis employed in the 1930s: Select a distinct ethnic race or group who are “easy to hate.”

The Nazis chose the Jews, the Gypsies, Christian pacifists, and the Communists. Their propaganda explained that these people were slowing Germany’s recovery from the Great War. And that they were responsible for the unfair Versailles Treaty, and the economic depression. Not many Germans disagreed with their message.

Dictatorships have always taught their people who their enemies were, and who they should hate. The authoritarian Islamic governments have followed the same course. Like their predecessors, Islam has picked the Jews and their nation, Israel. However, the Jews and Israel are no longer weak and defenseless. In fact, they are not only stronger than their Arab adversaries in every area, but Israel’s military forces have humiliated the Arab’s armies time after time. The resulting animosity is so intense that Israel does not appear in any Arab school’s geography books. (That region is named “Palestine.”)

The Iranian clerics have dubbed the United States “The Great Satan,” because we defended the Shah (who had continued to supply us during OPEC’s 1974 Arab oil embargo). Moreover, due to Western Europe’s support of Israel, Israel has been added to the list of “infidel” nations to be destroyed and Islamized. For, just as Hitler and Stalin’s goals were to achieve world-wide hegemony for their nations, Islam’s is the same, and more: That Islamic Law would be recognized and practiced in every country.

To effect that end the rulers of the Islamic authoritarian states control their people as Hitler and Stalin did: They intimidate and terrorize them by assassinating any opposition leaders, and some ordinary non-threatening workers--so that no one ever feels “safe.” Plus, to coerce firms to stop deliveries of food, ammunition, and other needed materials, they will videotape the capture, torture, and execution of lower-status employees. This tactic has led several carriers to discontinue trucking services to the U.S. and other coalition forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. And it persuaded Spain and the Philippines to bring their military home.

The intent of all authoritarian governments is to attain more power. Every politically free nation is their rival. The living standards of free nations is so superior to those trapped in a police state, that tyrants will use any measure to hide the contrast from their subjects. The autocrats endeavor to discredit democracies, using outright lies, and publicizing half-truths about our problems with crime, racial discrimination, pornography, and alcoholism.

The totalitarian dictators of the 21st century share another incorrect opinion with those from the 20th. Germany, Japan, the Soviet Union, and now the Islamists had the view that the citizens of democracies are “soft,” and are afraid to fight and die to preserve freedom.

With only a few anomalies, this notion has been discredited. The truth that “Freedom is not free” has been widely disseminated and accepted. The companion axiom that “A nation will only remain free as long as its citizens are willing to die to preserve it,” is also generally affirmed. As proof, we are now sending a 100 percent volunteer military force “into harm’s way” to defend those liberties, and our way of life.

In the first six months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the news was continually bad; except for Col. Doolittle’s air raid on Tokyo, we lost Wake Island, Guam, and the Philippines. However, we knew that we could not surrender, or sue for peace. The only option was victory, no matter how long it took to achieve it, and despite the casualty figures.

Soon after we defeated the Axis nations, the U.S.S.R. instigated the Cold War with the West. It ended in 1989 with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Now, radical Islam has declared war on the U.S., the non-Muslim world, and those sects within Islam who do not follow the Sunni Wahhabi interpretations.

Throughout the Muslim world America is condemned not only for its ideals and lifestyle, but because Islamists believe we are infidels who are opposed to Allah. Thus, as we succeeded in defeating fascist Germany and Italy, imperial Japan, and the totalitarian U.S.S.R. in the 20th century, we have to “tough it out” again in the 21st. Peace at any price is a poor alternative, and really not an option.     *

“God grants liberty only to those who love it, and are always ready to guard and defend it.” –Daniel Webster