Linda, Sorry to say, the answer is Cajones deficiency!
The islamists are not the kind of bullies we are familiar with, but they are bullies nevertheless. Like ordinary bullies, they stand tall until someone finally confronts them instead of bashfully accomodating them. But, as psychiatrists well know, all that applies to bullies in general applies to the islamists in particular: They have to be confronted with sufficient determination, because that’s the only thing that makes them back off. Nearly 10 years after 9/11, they have not been confronted as much as they should have, but some courageous individuals are doing their part, and in fact many of them are women:
Just Google Pamela Geller, Wafa Sultan, Phyllis Chesler, Aayan Hirsi Ali, and Brigitte Gabriel, for instance. Of course there are many more, and what we need to do is join their ranks, oppose the bullies and in the bargain shame the cowards (including those in high places) who don’t know better than to accomodate, and make unnecessary and damaging concession, such as not prosecuting all those who commit honor killings for instance, in the name of Sharia law, which is most definitely incompatible with US laws. It really is a matter of personal commitment and personal courage and determination, as it always is in such matters. The islamists will be defeated if and only if we gather the courage to expose them, confront them and defeat them.
Like all victories, this one has to be earned. But there is nothing new about this, as Thomas Jefferson had to create an expeditionary force (Today known as the US Marines) to confront the muslim pirates of the western and northern African coasts, during the mostly forgotten Barbary wars some two centuries earlier. It was the same scenario: These muslim pirates were the terrorists of their day, and they kept collecting the bribes from our merchant ships until they met a force determined enough to make them back off, which they did! The Islamic doctrines actually allow for defeat: When it comes, the vanquished bullies accommodate themselves to the outcome, because it is acceptable for them to conclude that this is how Allah wanted it.
But Allah is not going to want it unless we do our part. Some day George W. Bush will be recognized for the political capital he had the courage to invest in the effort, but at the present time the nation seems to be weary of the effort. Fortunately, we have the veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan, among whom our next models of courage and future leaders will emerge, as already evident in the case of Rep. Allen West from Florida, and probably many others of lesser visibility. Let’s not get discouraged, and let’s not abandon the fight!
