Islamic Radiation Therapy-Part I

I haven't sounded off on Tom Tancredo's suggestions about radiation therapy for radical Islam. I wasn't a big fan of his to begin with; here's my take on him in January

Tancredo-A good hunk of the Peanut Gallery is saying "Who's he?" His big claim to fame is being a hawk on illegal (and legal) immigration; this will give him big street cred in the paleocon corner of the blogosphere and elsewhere. I smell the ghost of Pete Wilson and don't want to touch him with a ten-foot Hungarian.

The Republican party is just now recovering from the fallout from Prop 187 and a Tancredo candidacy would slide the party towards a more anti-Hispanic vibe; even if he doesn't get the nomination, his foes could easily catch that illegal-immigration-hawk meme and PO both Hispanics and libertarians. Yes, libertarians, since an effective border-control system would most likely have some sort of national ID card that would smell of Big Brother as much as Pete Wilson.

After this, I think we can cross him off as a serious presidential candidate. If you wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt, you could contrast that with the Reagan pre-Saturday-address shtick about bombing the USSR. However, Reagan didn't have to worry about arousing thousands of miltant Communist terrorists and clearly meant it as a joke.

Neither is true about Tancredo-Richard Hall comments that "Tancredo made an effective recruiting officer for the suicide bombers."

The funny thing is, a lot the people who'd like Tancredo the immigration hawk wouldn't mind entertianing the thought of nuking Mecca. This might actually help him with his core constituency. However, it shows that he's not ready for prime time.

More on this tomorrow; it's bedtime.

Comments

[Terrahawk]

I believe Tancredo is correct and let me lead you to why.

1. Who are we fighting? Terrorists is a nebulous term and worthless as a definition. At a minimum we are fighting Islmaic jihadists. They are the ones who take the Koran at it's face about violence against the infidels. At the extreme end, we are fighting Islam itself. Considering that Islam has never shown much in the way of peacefulness whenever it has had any sort of power this is a possibility. Also, consider that every "moderate" Islamic gov't walks a fine line in keeping order, you have to think that maybe the majority or significant portion of Muslims support the jihadists.
Either way, the moderates don't seem to be able to control the jihadists.

2. Islam is very much tied to geography. It worships at holy sites and requires pilgrimages.

3. Mecca is the center of Islamic worship.

4. What sort of deterrent effect would threatening to glass Mecca have if a WMD was ever unleashed on American soil? It could be an effective deterrent since muslims revere Mecca. It could enrage muslims at even the implication, let alone the actual effect. It might do nothing since the jihadists aren't the most rational people in the world. Plus, some jihadists believe that Allah would never let Mecca get nuked. My thinking is that we end up with a mixed bag deterrence wise. However, it might get the "moderates" to do something.

5. What would be the effect if we actually had to nuke Mecca? Let's say the jihadists nuke New York with several million dead and injured. Is it enough to say we are going to catch the people behind this? Yeah, millions of dead for a couple of hundred jihadists is a trade-off they'll take anytime. If we nuke Mecca though, I believe jihadism and possibly Islam collapse. One, Allah didn't protect Mecca, therefore doubts about their religion surface (like pulling back the curtain in the Wizard of OZ). Two, it shows that we will respond with equal force. Three, it destroys their holiest site and shames them (shame plays an important part in Islam). Finally, it leaves them feeling helpless and helpless Islam is the only safe Islam.

Final note in this long post, the way to avoid this nastiness to to separate muslims from Western society. We need to stop muslim immigration, remove all legal and illegal immigrants, and revoke the citizenship of and deport all muslims who have professed jihadist sympathies. It's the least bloody solution.