THE TERRORISTS ARE WINNING

Posted at 8:45 a.m. ET

This is a good follow-up to our report on Andrew McCarthy, below. 

Steve Emerson, one of the American pioneers in the fight against terrorism, and a man who's taken major abuse because of his work, weighs in on where we stand in the battle.  He's not very encouraged by the behavior of the politically correct battalions who are active in American life: 

Watching and reading the last 5 days of reports of the Mumbai attacks was an Alice in Wonderland experience. Even after an Islamic terrorist group took credit, TV anchors and reporters assiduously avoided the term Islamic terrorist. They must have consulted with the Thesaurus for the Politically Correct to determine that the word "gunmen" would not offend any jihadist.

Oh, I don't know, Steve.  Do we really want to use "gunmen," and associate Islamic terrorists with the National Rifle Association?  Maybe we should say, "armed partisans"?

On Wednesday, even though everyone knew by then that the perpetrators were jihadists, CNN constantly referred to the terrorists as "extremists"—with no modifier. Hell, they could have been the Basque ETA or the ultra right wing U.S. militia. Then a CNN anchor asked his guest with totally innocence, "Now why would an extremist group target a Jewish house of worship?" Because, my dear politically correct anchor, it was an Islamist terrorist group.

Fairly typical for a CNN anchor.  They're very intellectual, you know.

The most that government officials, in cahoots with mainstream media, could utter were names like Al Qaeda (AQ) or Laskar-e-Taiba (LeT) as potential suspects. Yet even here, the discussions were mindless. One talking head said it could not be AQ since AQ behavior is to have massive simultaneous explosions (as if Al Qaeda follows a pre-programmed script).

Emerson nails it.  We've all heard reporters say that such and such an attack bears the "fingerprints" of a particular group, or doesn't, as if that group can never change its tactics.

Last year, the Departments of State and Homeland Security issued an internal memorandum that henceforth no one could use the term "Islamic terrorists" and could only use the generic term "militant" or "extremist." Even President Bush, who once invoked the term "Islamofacism," now refuses to use the term Islamic terrorist. In Canada, the author Mark Steyn was the subject of three human rights complaints and subsequent trials for calling radical Muslims terrorists and other such "slurs." He won all three tribunals.

You'll notice how the changes made the Islamists love us.  Ask the people of Mumbai.

But Emerson points out that hope is coming, not from our State Department or from The New York Times, but from courageous Muslim journalists:

Aijaz Zaka Syed, a Muslim columnist who wrote a column for Sunday's Khaleej Times Online:\

"It's all very well for us to say Islam has nothing to do with extremism and terrorism. We can go on deluding ourselves these psychopaths do not represent us..."

"The great religion that preaches and celebrates universal brotherhood, equality of men and peace and justice for all has been hijacked by a demented, miniscule minority. And, as my friend says, only Muslims can solve this problem. Only Muslims can confront these anarchists in their midst..."

"Only they can get their faith freed from the clutches of extremism. This is no time to hide. It's time to stand up and speak out. For the terrorists will continue to speak on our behalf, until we do not speak up. This is no time for silence. Enough is enough!"

Indeed, enough is enough. It is time to start listening to folks like Mr Syed or the courageous Zuhdi Jasser, rather than cave in to the PC crowd.

But those Muslim journalists are a small number compared to the PC legions:

It all comes together. After more than 7 years since 9/11, we can now issue a verdict: Islamic terrorists have won our hearts and minds. Let's thank those who made it happen: the U.S. government, European governments and the mainstream media...

...The Mumbai massacre was a heavily planned plot carried out by Islamic terrorists. Period. Memo to Obama: Until the onus of responsibility is put on Islamic "civil rights" groups that want to ban free speech and claim that anyone who uses the term Islamic terrorist is a racist, there is no hope of winning the battle.

Well said, well said, well said.  Steve Emerson would have cheered last night's briefing by Andrew McCarthy, reported below.  Both men are heroes.

December 3, 2008.