Dear President Bush,
You said yesterday that our country was "at war with Islamic fascists." I know you were just parroting the line your minders fed to you, but please let us stop for a moment and think about the words coming out of your mouth. What does it mean to be an Islamic fascist?
Well, first of all, what does it mean to be Islamic? Would you let
somebody get away with calling himself "Christian" if he went around slaughtering civilians wholesale? And what about that term "fascist"?
Fascism is a particular ideology, based around the adoration of the leader, the state, and the party, and the close integration of industry and media with the state. Our enemy is not fascist.
No, Mr. President, you should call our enemy by its real name: fundamentalism. We are at war with an enemy opposed to the values of the Enlightement, an enemy who claims to act in the name of religion but follows false prophets who preach hatred. Our enemy claims to be a waging a jihad, a holy war, when in fact it is waging an unholy war. Our enemy believes that it knows the Truth, that it is good and all who oppose it are evil, and that there is no room in this world for compromise. Our enemy is not "Islamic fascism"; it is fundamentalism.
Admit it, and you will realize that there is no way we can win this war so long as loyal Americans have to fight a rear-guard battle at home in defense of democracy, freedom, science, and open-mindedness.
(Cross-posted to Biogeopolitics)