Petraeus Takes a Stand Against Anti-Islam Rhetoric

Petraeus' remarks denouncing a church’s plan to burn a Qur’an are a rebuke to those who insist on recasting the war against radical Islam as a war against all Islam.

The anti-Islam extremists who are trying to take over the conservative movement have never had to answer for their shrill and intolerant rhetoric. But now that the top commanding General in Afghanistan, David Petraeus, has called out some of them for endangering the lives of U.S. servicemen and women overseas, that may change.

Petraeus, of course, has widely and publicly denounced a Florida church’s plan to burn copies of the Qur’an. The book burning is designed to mark the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center which precipitated the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

But Petraeus’ remarks are also a rebuke to some conservative pundits and scribes who are providing intellectual cover to yahoos like Qur'an-burning pastor Terry Jones.

“I am very concerned [about] the potential repercussions of the possible [Qur’an] burning,” Petraeus told the Associated Press.

Even the rumor that it might take place has sparked demonstrations such as the one that took place in Kabul yesterday. Were the actual burning to take place, the safety of our soldiers and civilians would be put in jeopardy, and accomplishment of the mission would be made more difficult.

Petraeus’ comment was no isolated, off-the-cuff remark. It was a deliberately planned statement issued to several different news organizations after the General spoke about the issue with the em>Wall Street Journal<.

This “is precisely the kind of action the Taliban uses and could cause significant problems,” Petraeus said. “Not just here, but everywhere in the world we are engaged with the Islamic community.”

Indeed, the radical Islamists would love nothing more than to assume the mantle of “defenders of the faith,” defenders of all of Islam against an amoral and immoral America.

That’s why an integral part of our military strategy in Iraq and Afghanistan has been to make important distinctions -- distinctions between Islam proper and radical Islam, between faith-loving Muslims and violent Jihadists, between those who want to work with the West and those who would destroy the West.

The radical Islamists say these distinctions do not exist. They tell ordinary Afghans and Iraqis that America is really at war with them and their religion -- and yahoos like Qur-an-burning pastor Terry Jones agree with these Islamists! They agree that America is at war with all of Islam.

We’re not, of course. In fact, our entire military strategy in Iraq and Afghanistan involves working closely with moderate-minded Muslims so that they can assume control of their own countries and we can recede quietly into the background.

But if Islam is inherently violent and dangerous, then such a strategy is complete and utter folly. Our Soldiers and Marines are dying for a mistake, a rather big and dramatic mistake.

I don’t believe this, but if you think that all of Islam is the problem, and not just radical Islam, then I don’t see how you can avoid such a conclusion -- and thus, I don’t see how you can support the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Some conservatives like Jed Babbin are candid about this. They want the United States to get out of Iraq and Afghanistan -- now. But most of those with a prejudice and an animus against Islam are less clear-eyed than Babbin. They pretend to support these wars while condemning all of Islam as the enemy. And, in so doing, they give aid and sustenance to the radical Islamists who would destroy us.

NewsReal Blog, for instance, to which I once contributed, traffics in the most virulent and nasty anti-Islam rhetoric and propaganda. Recent posts, for instance, have called for the “eradication” of Islam, insisted that Islam equals Islamofascism, and warned that “Islam has taken over Europe and is fully intent on conquering America.”

In short, Islam “sucks,” says NewsReal contributor Andrew Klavan.  It is “the enemy’s ideology,” adds Klavan’s NRB colleague Bosch Fawstin. “And evading that fact only helps its agents get away with more murder than they would otherwise.”

Actually, the inconvenient truth that many conservatives have been avoiding is that anti-Islam extremists are trying to take over their movement. These extremists peddle the most ludicrous and far-fetched theories; and these theories are undermining our war effort in Iraq and Afghanistan and jeopardizing the safety of our Soldiers and Marines.

It is high time that these extremists be confronted, exposed and driven back under the rocks from which they crawled. General Petraeus’ statement warning against the Qur’an book burning may herald the beginning of this crucial effort.

Historians, after all, mark the downfall of Joseph McCarthy to his April 22, 1954 exchange with Army counsel Joseph Welch. McCarthy, of course, was a reckless demagogue who shamelessly distorted a real problem, communist subversion in America. In so doing, McCarthy also undermined the anti-communist cause.

McCarthy had gained a popular following until, finally he went too far for most Americans: by challenging the integrity of the United States Army.

Until this moment Senator, I think I never gauged your cruelty or your recklessness… Let us not assassinate this lad further, Senator. You’ve done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?

The same questions must be asked today of the conservative anti-Islam extremists. They have seized upon a very real problem, radical Islam, and shamelessly distorted it to impugn all of Islam. And, in so doing, they are undermining the entire American war effort.

And so we must say: You’ve done enough. Have you no sense of decency? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?

General Petraeus has put that problem on the table for conservatives; and it is a problem the Right must resolve -- now.

You can follow John Guardiano on Twitter: em>@JohnRGuardiano<