Nina Shea, Ned May, Diana West, Clare Lopez

Are we failing to understand the nature of our enemies and blinding ourselves to the threats that they pose?  Today’s guests address this issue beginning with Nina Shea of the Center for Religious Freedom at the Hudson Institute.  Nina first explains the situation in Egypt where the Muslim Brotherhood is not being open about its agenda for the new Egyptian government.  It is likely though that broad restrictions and punishments for any expression against Islam will continue to be instituted.  These will target women, religious minorities, and political reformers, and further hinder the discussion about freedom of speech in Egypt by essentially taking it off the table.  This perverse agenda is only being exacerbated here in the United States with the recent State Department conference with the Organization for Islamic Cooperation.

 

Ned May, blogger at the Gates of Vienna and Big Piece contributor, addresses the issue of Sharia law. Court cases in Europe have proven that Sharia law is being upheld and thus the question is can the imposition of Sharia happen here too?  In Austria, an activist by the name of Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff has been found guilty of hate speech.  Her case highlights the point that Muslims can defame Christians and Jews without facing prosecution, but under Sharia law all other faiths are prosecuted for exposing Islam.  Similarly in the United Kingdom, the courts have upheld Sharia law by forcing a Muslim mother to give her child up for adoption in order to prevent the mother’s father from carrying out honor killings.  It appears that Sharia law is taking precedent over the common law of European countries.

 

Next Diana West, columnist at the Washington Examiner and author of The Death of the Grown-Up, examines how the doctrine of Sharia law is being enforced in the United States.  This submission to Sharia doctrine stems from US counterinsurgency doctrine in which our goal over the years has been to convince the Islamic people, in Afghanistan for example, that we are the “good guys”.  Unfortunately this concept has led to increased sensitivity to and accommodation for Islamic norms and practices that have saturated our military training.  This has also led to directives such as at the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) that dictate adherence to Islamic law and provide a means for the regulation of American freedoms.

 

Today’s show concludes with Clare Lopez, Senior Fellow at the Center for Security Policy and former CIA intelligence officer.  Clare explains some recent court cases and documents that point to the connection between the Iranian government and Al-Qaeda.  First, a judge ruled in favor of several family members of 9-11 victims because of proven evidence that Iran and Hezbollah provided support to Al-Qaeda for the terrorist attacks.  Law firms have joined together to assemble evidence that show this connection too.  The U.S. people have a right to know the truth about 9-11 and the U.S. government has the responsibility to hold these members of Iran’s political leadership accountable for their actions.