What to do about sharia in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Dr. Andrew Bostom highlights the necessity for us to know basic Islamic doctrine and history and argues that we should not fight on behalf of people who will vote in the sharia:

But to invest unlimited blood and treasure which effectively gives electoral sanction to more Shari'a . . . is a tragic and dangerous delusion. And we have failed miserably in this regard in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

Specifically, we should have refused as Paul Bremer did refuse initially . . . , to give our imprimatur to constitutions that are subservient to the Shari'a, rendering them incompatible with universal human rights. . . .

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We have a moral obligation to oppose Shari'a, which is antithetical to the core beliefs for which hundreds of thousands of brave Americans have died, including, ostensibly, 3000 in Iraq itself. There has never been a Shari'a state in history that has not discriminated (often violently) against the non-Muslims (and Muslim women) under its suzerainty. Moreover such states have invariably taught . . . the aggressive jihad ideology which leads to predatory jihad "razzias" on neighboring "infidels" . . . .

That is the ultimate danger and geopolitical absurdity of a policy that ignores or whitewashes basic Islamic doctrine and history, while however inadvertently, making or re-making these societies "safe for Sharia)"—as in Afghanistan, Iraq, Gaza, and now, likely, an Hezbollah-dominated Lebanon.

It would have been gratifying to have had Mr. Bremer obstruct an Iraqi constitution that recognizes the sharia as the supreme law. Even had he done so, we think the constitution would have had little legitimacy in Iraq because the imams still carry too much clout and the hue and cry against the constitution would probably have killed it.

Our contrary thought is that allowing the sharia to take hold in these various countries is not an incorrect strategy. We have heretofore argued in favor of the Sharia Enjoyment Strategy (SES), which essentially allows people who choose the sharia to enjoy its full ferocity and soul-sapping retrograde effect. They can have all the eyeball plucking, adulterer stoning, homosexual hangings, and hand chopping they can stand while they read magazines about people in infidel countries leading tranquil productive lives.

Maybe Colonel Bunny can be the new "X" to articulate a new containment strategy against the Islamic menace . . . . There is evidence that SES is working in Iran, where the youth appear to have had their fill of the radical Shiite clerisy. All without our having to lift a finger. (Iran's nuclear activies do require us to lift a finger, of course.)

A clear enunciation of the strategy might go like this:

People of Iraq and Afghanistan. In your countries, we have destroyed enemies of ours who were enemies of yours. We have given you the gift of representative government. You are now free to use that gift to make your government what you want it to be. May God grant you the wisdom to make the right choice.

You even have the right and the power to choose to live under a government whose laws are inferior to the sharia. If that is your choice, enjoy it and may it give you the blessings of a vibrant, free society.

We think to choose Sharia as your ruling principle is to choose to live as slaves, subject to the commands of fanatics and priests who have no understanding of mathematics, medicine, economics, technology, or any other aspect of modern life. Under it, you are guaranteed arbitrary law. Wherever the sharia has prevailed there has been backwardness, poverty, oppression, and death. Now you can experience all the glories of Islamic rule if that is what you want.

Knock yourselves out.

We will not return to alter your choice. We will return only to destroy any government that dares to send soldiers or terrorists against us.

However, if your government chooses to live in peace with us, we will leave you alone.

But -- and this is a big "but" -- it is clear that historically Muslims have had contempt for infidels. If you choose to retain that contempt for us and cling to all the words of the Koran and the sharia that counsel war against infidels and show contempt for infidels, do not expect us to be your friends.

Thus, the SES and the Rogue Regime Decapitation Strategy^TM (RRDS) (discussed here and here) should be the cornerstones of our policy toward the Islamic world.

We can implement it forthwith after giving our present effort in Iraq and Afghanistan a chance to play out while killing several thousand more jihadi fools in the process.

Viva Bush!

" Making the World Safe for Shari'a?" By Andrew Bostom, The American Thinker, 8/16/06 (emphasis added; footnote and links omitted).