Then They Came For Me

© David Burton 2015

     On the evening of 13 November 2015, terrorism returned to Paris, France when over 100 people were massacred by Islamic terrorists. The murder of innocent people in the heart of Europe comes at the apex of the vicious anti-Semitism that has sweeping Europe and the fundamentalist Islamic terror that has been raging throughout the Middle East. These are the products of religious extremism, bigotry, and indifference. The chickens are now coming home to roost and we are now reaping the whirlwind of blind apathy to these abominations. The massacres in Paris should not come as a shock. We have been allowing the cancer to grow. We were forewarned but chose to ignore the warnings. The terrorist attacks in Paris are the direct results of political naivety, incompetence and ignorance. Politicians have even been unwilling to name the problems by their rightful names.

     It's time to drop the evasive language too often used to describe the perpetrators of these crimes and get specific. They are not just "violent extremists," and they are not just "terrorists," They are radical Islamic extremists driven by their perverted view of the Moslem religion.

     The civilized peoples of the world need to wake up and admit that we are at war. The enemy is and has been radical fundamentalist Islam. On September 12, 2001, the enemy was not Osama bin Laden nor al Qaeda. On November 14, 20015, the enemy was not ISIS. These, along with the Moslem Brotherhood, Boko Haram, Hezbollah, Hamas, Iran, the Janjaweed, are merely the armies of radical fundamentalist Islam. None of these are "JV teams". "Contain and degrade" will not work with these adherents to the fundamentalist Islamic manifesto of death and subjugation - only "destroy and eliminate" can succeed in ridding the world of this evil. These are armies of bloodthirsty and implacable enemies, intent on killing us and destroying our way of life. They are the visible manifestation of the basic disease - extremist Islam. Like any disease, removing the visible symptoms of the disease does not result in a cure. The root cause of the disease must be ferreted out and destroyed or the patient will die. We need to stop addressing the symptoms and get down to the fundamental task of defeating the extremists that are organizing and directing the war against the civilized world. Eliminate the sponsors of Islamic terror, whether they are the despotic leaders or the theocratic madmen calling for Armageddon. Shutter the Madrassas that inculcate the teachings of hate intolerance and terror in the minds of children, close the Mosques where clerics urge followers to commit inhumane acts in the name of Islam, shut down any and all media that incites masses to martyrdom and violence. It’s long past time to vigorously prosecute all purveyors of hate, bigotry and intolerance. The fight against extremist Islam won't be easy, nor will it be quick. But hoping the problem will one day go away is simply not a strategy.

     Shortly after World War II, Martin Niemöller, a prominent Protestant pastor who had earlier emerged as an outspoken public foe of Adolf Hitler and spent the last seven years of Nazi rule in concentration camps, said of the global apathy to the emerging threat of Hitler and the Nazis leading up to the horrors of the Second World War:

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.
        --- MARTIN NIEMÖLLER: "FIRST THEY CAME FOR THE SOCIALISTS...",
            United States Holocaust Memorial Museum: Holocaust Encyclopedia, Accessed 14 November 2014.

     Today, we can restate Niemöller’s words as follows:

First they came for the Israelis, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not an Israeli.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for the Kurds, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Kurd.

Then they came for the Arab Christians, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not an Arab Christian.

Then they came for the Egyptian Christian Coptics, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Coptic.

Now they are coming for me—who will speak for me?

     Listed below are my previous writings (rantings?) concerning the threat posed by radical fundamentalist Islam, America’s and Europe’s responses (or non-responses) to the threat, and some underlying reasons for the continuation and growth of the threat. All of these articles are contained in this Son of Eliyahu web site.