ENOUGH GUILT TO SHARE

No one is saying that everyone in Muslim countries is directly responsible for the actions of others. What we are saying is that it is not only conceivable that we are holding you responsible for your own actions, we are doing so. Remember the words of a wise man:

All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.

There are many good Muslims. Why aren't they doing anything? Your public condemnation of groups like al Qaeda and a boycott of the hajj and a refusal to attend mosques where imams preach that all non-Muslims are evil would go a long way. Your silence makes you an accessory.

2. Nazi Germany was a wonderful example. People wanted to avoid a war and so they turned a blind eye to what was done in Germany. The desire for "peace in our time" made us want to find ways to accommodate his demands. The reason Nazi Germany did NOT triumph is that good people were willing to fight and give their own lives for others. It took some time for us to come to terms with what had to be done but we did it.

Westerners were complicit to a degree in the Holocaust but that doesn't absolve Nazi Germany of its responsibility. Fighting the Nazis doesn't absolve us of our own sins in letting this take place, but it was an attempt to rectify it. In any case, Nazi Germany is NOT part of the West. Nazi Germany was destroyed in World War II. Berlin was reduced to rubble. The country was occupied by the allies and many of its people lived under communist rule for almost fifty years.

Germany still functions with treaty provisions that limit its behavior. The WWII Nazi leaders were put on trial for crimes against humanity and many were hung. Some stayed in prison for the rest of their lives. Some were able to escape and live in the jungles of South America, but many were ultimately brought to justice. None of them were lionized.

Compare that to the Muslims in Palestine who cheered as the WTC towers came down. They were filled with people who had done nothing to the Palestinians. The Palestinians, and all Muslims, lionize Muhammad Atta. They shield Osama bin Laden. If he really went against Islam he would have been killed or turned over to the UN.

I would also say that, on the same basis, Muslims have their own share of responsibility. Unlike the US and most of western Europe, Muslims were allied with the Nazis.

Many people believe that this type of hard look at reality on the ground is doom-mongering and worse, God forbid, racist. I guess it depends whether you see this as a war or not. If you don't, a lot of the discourse here will seem frightful and insane. I think some people use certain dehumanizing language because they need to buck themselves up for a long battle. If it's a war, it is either us or them, and I prefer us. If we survive with our freedoms intact, and their effort to cut us down fail, then we can wring our hands over 'what we've become.' We seem to have gotten over the awful demonization of the German and Japanese people during WWII. And if we fail, it's all a moot question.

George Orwell is said to have opined, "Decent people sleep soundly in their beds because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf."