TERRY MOSHER
What can you say when your mind explodes with the thoughts about the savagery of the group that is called ISIS. There are no words, written or otherwise, that can express the horror of what this group does and what it is all about.
No wonder my head is aching, but its pain that doesn’t come close to comparing to the pain and suffering that this group is causing not just to the tragic victims in Paris, but to the people it holds hostage and is killing in Syria, Iraq and other areas of the Middle East and North Africa.
These people who belong to or sympathize with ISIS are not really people. They are not human. They are the scum of this Earth, the dirt that I scrape off my shoes after taking a walk today (Tuesday, Nov. 17) in the blustery and wet weather that is the Pacific Northwest this time of the year.
The consequences of their actions and the actions of other groups fighting for control in Syria and elsewhere have sent millions scrambling for safety. The flood of immigrants have raised issues in Europe, not the least of which has caused concern that among them are hidden the bad guys, the scrum who treat life in any form the enemy and must be killed.
Now the tragedy in Paris has given pause to the connected politicians and to governors in over half of the United States who suddenly don’t want to take in the fleeing men, women and children from Syria for fear the boogie men with their thirst for killing will be among them.
I can feel for the politicians (mostly Republican presidential candidates) and the governors who think this flood of immigrants will have among them Trojan Horses who will jump out and start killing as they already have not just in Paris, but also in Kenya with more to come I’m guessing.
However, we are the land of liberty. This country was founded on immigrants (I would guess that even the bombastic Donald Trump’s ancestors came from somewhere else) and is known world-wide as the land of freedom. People from all over this Earth want to come here if they can, and not to kill but to feel what it is like not to be prosecuted for their beliefs, whatever beliefs they have.
It’s true that we have not always been so giving when it comes to opening our national borders to the persecuted. While Hitler was shooting and gassing and burning Jews by the millions, our country allowed just a few thousand escaping Jews to enter America. It wasn’t until 1944 that we finally opened our doors in this country to them in greater numbers.
And the reason why we didn’t make a satisfactory attempt to save the Jewish population was for the same reason our top officials are currently reluctant to allow escaping refugees into our country now – the fear of the Trojan Horses. There was a fear that German agents would be among them, and there also was a deep anti-Semitic feeling in this country at the time.
So here we are again. As I write this there is a rising consensus not to allow the Syrian refugees into this country, although so far our governor is saying he would welcome them in this state.
For the politicians and government officials, it’s safe to take the stand not to allow them in. Because who would if there was even a small chance the killing will start in our own communities?
That fear is real, I’m sure, among a lot of us. But if we succumb to the fear aren’t we letting this scrum defeat us? If they can terrorize us with fear they will have won. If that fear leads us to enact laws that take away our freedoms, we are losers in this tragic game.
It was FDR who said, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” And he was right on. If we let fear get the best of us, we have lost.
So, with that in mind, I say bring on the refugees. We will have to vet them before they enter, but there already is a vetting process in place. We are a nation of freedom, we are a melting pot nation, let the melting begin.
The bigger problem is what is happening in the Middle East that is causing this mass immigration. Civil war in Syria and the rise of ISIS creating a caliphate that establishes strict Muslin law that first appeared over 1500 years ago, and is intended to create one world under one God using that law.
Under the caliphate, all infidels are to be killed. And anybody that is not a devoted Muslin is considered an infidel. That includes you and me.
ISIS believes that their action will lead to a war to end all wars in the plains of Iraq and that the great “Roman Army” (which the current group is saying is the United States) will come down and confront them. They believe they will lose the great battle, but that the battle itself will trigger the second-coming of Jesus and the End times and lead to the greater caliphate.
So as long as ISIS exists, the killing will go on. As it becomes more powerful, it will extend its reach to foreign shores, including I presume to the shores of America.
What needs to be done is to exterminate ISIS. Not just confine it, but to kill it like you would a rat setting up shop in your house. You don’t tolerate the rat, you kill it.
I don’t think our president is doing enough. He needs to use his leadership of the most powerful country on Earth to organize a regional army made up of troops from Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the rest of our allies there to kill the rat (ISIS). I don’t believe you can do that by airpower alone, or by sending in 50 special operational troops, as he has done.
The time to react is way past time. There will be more killings like we have seen n Paris, and probably here in America, if we don’t act fast. My last resort would be to put our troops on the ground to fight ISIS. But that option should be on the table.
I think it’s terribly sad that we live in a world where terrible things happen, and happen over and over again. I don’t get it. Why can’t we live in peace? Why must we continue to destroy each other? Why can’t we just love one another?
But it is what it is. Sometimes – often in fact – I think our world is the Hell the Bible talks about. If it is, I want out of here.
Try to stay peaceful and loving. I’m outta here. I’m going to see if I can relax and write something about the Seahawks, and maybe the Mariners. Stay warm and out of our wet weather.
Be well pal.
Be careful out there.
Have a great day.
You are loved.