Proud to be an American

President Bush gave a powerful speech today wherein he spelled out in bold, clear words the danger facing America and the world, and our commitment to prevail. I was proud of our country. Following are some of the excerpts that I particularly liked.

“Recently our country observed the fourth anniversary of a great evil, and looked back on a great turning point in our history. We still remember a proud city covered in smoke and ashes, a fire across the Potomac, and passengers who spent their final moments on Earth fighting the enemy. And we remember the calling that came to us on that day, and continues to this hour: We will confront this mortal danger to all humanity. We will not tire, or rest, until the war on terror is won.

Bin Laden has stated: "The whole world is watching this war and the two adversaries. It's either victory and glory, or misery and humiliation." The terrorists regard Iraq as the central front in their war against humanity.

The militants believe that controlling one country will rally the Muslim masses, enabling them to overthrow all moderate governments in the region, and establish a radical Islamic empire that spans from Spain to Indonesia.

With greater economic and military and political power, the terrorists would be able to advance their stated agenda: to develop weapons of mass destruction, to destroy Israel, to intimidate Europe, to assault the American people, and to blackmail our government into isolation.

As Zarqawi has vowed, "We will either achieve victory over the human race or we will pass to the eternal life." And the civilized world knows very well that other fanatics in history, from Hitler to Stalin to Pol Pot, consumed whole nations in war and genocide before leaving the stage of history.The murderous ideology of the Islamic radicals is the great challenge of our new century.

Like the ideology of communism, Islamic radicalism is elitist, led by a self-appointed vanguard that presumes to speak for the Muslim masses. Bin Laden says his own role is to tell Muslims, quote, "what is good for them and what is not."

Like the ideology of communism, our new enemy teaches that innocent individuals can be sacrificed to serve a political vision. And this explains their cold-blooded contempt for human life.

We don't know the course of our own struggle -- or the sacrifices that might lie ahead. We do know, however, that the defense of freedom is worth our sacrifice. We do know the love of freedom is the mightiest force of history. And we do know the cause of freedom will once again prevail.

May God bless you.
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Meanwhile, in the “enlightened” world…Daniel Pipes noted in his article "Enforce Islamic Law in Canada?" that "efforts to integrate Muslims into the West [often] upset a benign status quo" and gave as examples the banning of Santas, Nativity plays, Christmas carols, and Bibles so as not to offend Muslim sensitivities.

And in Merry old England the Dudley Council, West Midlands, instructed employees that all pig-related novelty items are henceforth banned from its offices, so as not to offend Muslim staff. (See Representation of pigs) This includes pig toys, porcelain figures, calendars, and even a tissue box featuring Winnie the Pooh and Piglet. There's no mention of piggybanks, but presumably those must go too.

Dudley Councillor Mahbubur Rahman endorsed the ban: "It's a tolerance of people's beliefs."

Just what we need, more of the tolerance that led to the London bombings by Islamic fascists.