'Tattaglia’s a Pimp. It Was Barzini All Along.'

After 9/11, understandably, there was a great deal of international focus upon the jihad terror threat. Western governments quickly decided, without a shred of evidence, that what had happened on that terrible day was completely un-Islamic, and that jihad terrorism had its roots in alleged Western misconduct, not in Islamic texts and teachings. That has opened the door to a huge number of ills, most notably the “Islamophobia” myth that Muslims are victims of particular harassment and discrimination in the United States, and thus deserve special favors and consideration. But while the jihad threat was and is real, it is clear now that the far greater immediate threat to freedom was the American Left.

It’s all reminiscent of a scene in The Godfather, after a meeting of the Five Families, the major organized crime organizations in this country. The meeting came after Santino “Sonny” Corleone, the son of the biggest boss of them all, Don Vito Corleone, is gunned down in a war among the Families. Speaking of two of the crime bosses, Don Corleone says: “Tattaglia is a pimp. He never could have outfought Santino. But I didn’t know until this day that it was Barzini all along.”

So it is today: the threat we thought was coming, which is nonetheless still very much a real threat, is positively benign in the face of the much greater threat. And just like Tattaglia and Barzini, the two are partners.

For two decades now I’ve been asked how it is that the Left and the jihadis could ally, given the moral libertinism that the Left champions and Sharia commands such as the one to execute homosexuals. For years I’ve answered that the two groups have a common enemy. Most major Muslim organizations in the U.S., including the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), are linked to the Muslim Brotherhood, which has the stated goal (according to a captured internal document) in America of “eliminating and destroying Western civilization from within, and sabotaging its miserable house.” What better way to do that than by joining up with the Left in opposing any and all effective counter-terror measures? What better way to do that than by helping to install as president a man who is beholden to socialist internationalists and has sold his country’s interests to the highest bidder? And who could see the members of Antifa and Black Lives Matter doing anything but applauding that business about “eliminating and destroying Western civilization from within”? Plus, in allying with Islamic jihadis and supremacists, who have hitherto been mostly not American, Leftists could preen about how non-racist they are, and claim that opposition to jihad terror was really all about white supremacism, anyway.

This has been a symbiotic relationship, but now it is clear that the Left has been the driving force behind it. In a certain sense, that has been clear all along. Were it not for mass migration policies that have been foisted upon Europeans and Americans by Leftist politicians, who demanded that their people accept them or else be destroyed with charges of “racism” and “xenophobia,” Islamic jihadis would not have gained nearly the foothold in the West that they have. Were it not for those same politicians lauding groups such as CAIR and ISNA, appearing at their events, and treating them as if they really were the civil rights organizations they claim to be, efforts to analyze and stymie jihad activity would not have been so universally defamed as “Islamophobia” and excluded from the public discourse.

Back in September 2001, if we had had some politicians with spines, who were willing to stand up to the Left and maintain that it wasn’t “Islamophobic” or “hateful” to speak honestly about the motivating ideology behind jihad terror and the roots of that ideology in Islamic texts and teachings, we would most likely not be in the fix we’re in today. The Qur’an, the life of Muhammad, Islamic law, and 1,400 years of Islamic history are clear: warfare against unbelievers is an integral part of Islamic doctrine and has been pursued more or less constantly ever since Islam began. But it would not be any significant factor in the West today at all were it not for the non-Muslim enablers of Islam, who for their own short-sighted advantage have made jihad violence a significantly greater ongoing threat in the West than it need have been.

Apparently the Leftist titans think that they can exploit these anti-Western forces in pursuit of their own anti-Western agenda and emerge unscathed. They are in for a surprise. Barzini was, too.

Robert Spencer is the director of Jihad Watch and a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center. He is author of 21 books, including the New York Times bestsellers The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades) and The Truth About Muhammad. His latest book is Rating America’s Presidents: An America-First Look at Who Is Best, Who Is Overrated, and Who Was An Absolute Disaster. Follow him on Twitter here. Like him on Facebook here.