Liberal Democrat Says: Why Take The Risk Of Muslim Immigration?

As the news stories


accumulate
on the


Fort Hood

tragedy, it is now possible to



“jump to conclusions”


and at least suggest that the shooter acted from a
deep fervor based on his reading of


Islam.

Recently, I had a conversation with my friend,


Peter Gadiel,
who lost his 23-year old son, James, killed in the 9/11
attacks on the 103rd floor of the Trade Towers. Peter
told me his home town of Kent, Connecticut, had planned
to erect a plaque in James` honor.  Peter had
suggested that, in addition to the name and dates, the
plaque should include language what identified the



cause of James Gadiel`s death—murder by Muslim
terrorists. 
But the town selectmen felt that was too stark a
description and at that time


refused such language. 

As a Democrat and a social liberal, but one who believes
in truthful reporting, I was of course shocked at this
refusal. I hope the Kent selectmen will reconsider.

And I suggest that Americans better take a hard look at
this fanatical situation.

First the plain truth: Islam is a faith born certainly
in part in violence, which


has not evolved

in any substantial way since its 6th century inception.
Islam`s peaceful adherents, who no doubt represents that
religion`s majority, are, I am sure, as shocked at the
dastardly acts of those like Major Hasan as we all are.
But the record of both native-born Muslims and Muslim
immigrants to Europe and the US is


far from reassuring.

You may


recall my dismay

at the behavior of my university, Yale, when the Yale
Press canceled the scheduled publication in an academic
work of 12 cartoons spoofing Muhammad that appeared in a
Danish newspaper four years ago. Yale`s decision, which
also affected any future pictures of Muhammad, came
after consultations with Muslim clerics, diplomats and
counter-terrorism officials. (New
Criterion editor Roger Kimball


suggested

that it also may have been made out of fear of


Saudi donors.)

We had better begin to recognize the uncomfortable truth
that Islam just isn`t another religion which benignly
promotes peace on Earth and good will toward men (and
certainly not towards its women in


most Middle East countries).

My alma mater`s gutless censoring of this book of
cartoons reminded me of the recent book Reflections on the Revolution in Europe: Immigration, Islam, and the West
by



Christopher Caldwell.
Europe`s current Islamic immigration situation is
certainly a cautionary tale for the USA. European
governments serially sought to propitiate the most
radical Islamists by not allowing that religion, unlike
all others, to be spoofed in their mass media. Now the
infection has spread to America—and to my alma mater.

Noted American scholars such as the late


Samuel Huntington
of


Harvard

and


Lawrence E. Harrison,
director of the


Cultural Change Institute

at Tufts University`s Fletcher School, have long warned
us of the potentially dire cultural consequences of
importing, without need or restrictions,


radically alien immigrants

into the U.S. As Caldwell reported, many Islamic aliens
in Europe have


shown no interest

in the European way of life, culture or history. In
fact, they often come with dangerous animosities based
on their extreme views.

Caldwell`s comparison of Europe`s plight with the Cold
War put ice down my spine: "Imagine that the West, at the height of the Cold War, had received a
mass inflow of immigrants from Communist countries who
were ambivalent about which side they supported", he
writes. "Something similar is taking place now".

There has been nothing, Caldwell suggested, quite like
the recent influx of Muslims into Europe—he refers to it
as "a rupture in
its history". "In
the middle of the 20th century, there were virtually no
Muslims in Western Europe", he writes.
"At the turn of
the 21st, there were between 15 and 17 million Muslims
in


Western Europe,
including 5 million in France, 4 million in Germany, and
2 million in Britain."

OK, so Major Hasan was born here and is likely
unrepresentative. But the essence of his motivation is
being spread like a cancer among young, susceptible
people all over the world.

Question: If you were a GI, would you rather be in
combat alongside a


gay soldier

or a


devout Muslim?

Our present immigration policies leave the door wide
open for too many migrants of all races and religions.
But we must, as common sense American citizens,
understand that those who embrace Islam come from a
religious background which has carried its medieval
founder`s violent principles, as well as his benign
ones, forward into our modern era.

Anyone who expects Hasan`s acts and the other acts of
violence to be isolated incidents, I suggest, is not
looking at the straightforward statistical potential for



further dangerous violence,
as


Muslim numbers expand

in our country.  

Was the Ft. Hood incident an anomaly? Or a statistical
likelihood?

And why does America have to take this risk?

Donald A. Collins [email
him], is a freelance writer living in Washington DC and a former long time member of the board of FAIR, the Federation for American Immigration Reform. His views are his own.