Persecution

Michelle Malkin points us to a chilling post on JihadWatch which suggests that the murder of a Coptic Christian family in New Jersey was a premeditated act of deception and religious persecution.

The Armanious family had inspired several Muslims to convert to Christianity — or thought they had. These converts were actually practicing taqiyya, or religious deception, pretending to be friends of these Christians in order to strengthen themselves against them, as in Qur'an 3:28: "Let believers not make friends with infidels in preference to the faithful -- he that does this has nothing to hope for from Allah -- except in self-defense."

Most of us do not want to make generalizations about Muslims. But we need to be frank about a few things. The radical Islamicists are waging a war which we cannot put in conventional categories.

1. They are willing to target civilians
2. They have no identifiable organized government with which we can deal.
3. They will use any and all manner of deception to accomplish their goals, including media manipulation.
4. They are not only willing, but often desirous of death in their cause.

As a result, we have a difficult task. There is no particular country which we can approach diplomatically. The enemy generally will not be dressed in a military uniform and will hide behind civilians. We will need counterintelligence like never before in history to anticipate their strategies. We cannot expect mercy or rational actions from front line combatants from the other side and though we will not wish to use inhumane tactics, we cannot expect them reciprocate.

This is a stealthy and ruthless enemy. I am personally thankful we have a president who has understood that this war is not a conventional one and has been willing to take the heat for decisions he has made from those who still want to categorize the war on terror in conventional terms. GWs occasional conciliatory comments about the peacefulness of Islam aside, he at least understands the nature of the war itself is unconventional.

But I wonder what it will take for most of us to be willing to say this is a religious war which they have declared. To quote Aragorn from the Two Towers, "Open war is upon us, whether we would risk it or not."