With over 30 attacks prevented on our homeland since 9-11, we must realize that counterterrorism will never work if it only includes the investigation of cells as they arise. We need also to counter the fuel which generates those cells. That fuel is political Islam and the common desire of all Islamists to form an Islamic state. Whether those states are peaceful or violent does not change the ground rules of the Islamic state which are governed by clerical interpretations of sharia and thus are not real democracies but rather oligarchies and theocracies.  I believe most Muslims do not want to live under such rule and for that reason so many came to the United States. But even with that, we have yet to challenge Muslim thinkers to explain whether they believe in American exceptionalism and the humanitarian preference of societies rooted in freedom and liberty over Islamism. Regardless of how 'updated' some apologetic Islamists try to say their version of sharia is, it's academic version remains theocratic and an anathema to the American way of life.
It is time for Muslims to lead the charge within the Muslim consciousness for the victory of liberty over Islamism. It is time for Muslims to expose the human rights disasters which so many nations have become which are dominated by autocratic and theocratic Muslims like Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Iran, Syria, and Pakistan to name a few. If a post-modern Islam is to become a reality for my children, it can only happen if Muslims begin to expose and reject medieval actions done by Muslims in the name of Islam.
To that end I narrated and was interviewed in the new documentary, The Third Jihad just out this past week in limited theatrical release across the country from Los Angeles to New York and now being released from the film's website. Â Without directly confronting the aspects of western secular liberal society which are in conflict with Islamist societies, true counterterrorism will remain a figment of our imaginations.
Author's Note:Â With the launch of this website I am humbled to be invited and included in this perpetual virtual meeting of people and collection of the thoughts of so many trying to make a difference in the contest of ideas. Since 9-11 my life's dedication to countering political Islam within the Muslim community has had to evolve from the sporadic local struggles of my personal life in various towns in America. Perpetually frustrated with the dominance of the opinions, apologetics, and dissimulations of Islamists who supposedly speaking for 'all American Muslims' in the mainstream media, we formed an anti-Islamist activist organization and think tank. The American Islamic Forum for Democracy (AIFD) is focused on exposing and defeating the ideas of political islam from within a spiritual Muslim consciousness.
