One of the first ways one can tell that an argument is falling apart is to watch those who argue address their counterparts in the debate. Those whose arguments are weak will insult their opponents and attempt to demean them in the spectators eyes not by addressing the facts but by building strawmen and changing the questions of the debate. Lileks usually one of the friends of those who fight terror lets his civilized side get in the way of the war with this poorly thought out screed.

Sometimes those ivory towers are so high and the air is so thin that the thoughts emanating from the occupants get silly. Lileks usually one of those we can count on to use his "pen" so wisely to fight this war goes completely off the tracks getting hysterical about what Rep Tancredo said about what might happen if a US City gets nuked.

Lets just take a look at this piece by awful piece and see what holds up.

One step forward: A group of British imams issued an honest-to-Allah fatwa against suicide bombers. According to the clerics, terrorists are not acting in the name of true Islam and will ride a hot, slick razor blade straight to hell. Good; more, please.

Wow imagine that, the religion of peace's main players in Britain 4 years after 9/11 decided to issue a Fatwa condemning terror attacks. Thanks a bunch and no we are not being too cynical when we believe that fatwa had less to do with a genuine desire to stop terror than it had to do with stopping the inevitable blow-back from the British people who are waking up to the fact that they are being considered by some to be a terror supporting nation with their attitudes towards "radical Islam". Yea I know James I am just a simple bigoted homeboy, the Koran and Islam are filled to the brim with the notion of loving your neighbors.

Plenty. Bombing Mecca to revenge the acts of maniacs is like nuking the Vatican to protest the pedophilia scandal in Boston.

Well that might be true, James, if the Pope was sitting in the Vatican preaching every Friday about the joys of sex with young boys. But he isn't and so he isn't at all comparable to the thousands of Imams around the world who do in fact preach that it is fine and dandy to blow up infidels, Jews and others who don't fit the extremely narrow description of Okey Dokey people to those so called Radical Islamic Imams. And if James claims that it is only minor Imams who preach that shit I will point to Mecca itself to last Fridays prayers that were censored by the Saudis but not before MEMRI got a hold of it and James will have to explain what the hell that Imam meant when he said it was ok to murder the Jews and those who support them.

The idea appeals to those whose nuanced study of Islam makes them conclude it's better to alienate 1 billion people than defeat a fraction of the same group. It appeals to those who believe that Islam is a metal shard that cannot be absorbed and must be removed, preferably by blowing up the body. And burying the remains in pig skins! That'll learn 'em!

I plead guilty to the charge of believing that Islam cannot be absorbed, but I can still be convinced otherwise. I have been patiently waiting for the reformation that will moderate Islams bloodthirsty desire to dominate and convert the world. I keep hearing that Islam is the religion of peace and I am willing to give it the benefit of the doubt. I am even willing to see if our experiment in Iraq works out to provide the spark that is needed to drive a reformation process. All these four years since 9/11 I have patiently waited for all Islamic nations to rise up and deliver those who hide in their Muslim populations waiting to strike us again, I am still waiting. All these four years I have been waiting for absolute no if ands or buts about condemnations regarding those heinous attacks. All these four years I have been waiting to see the Muslim populations in those countries rise up and defend their religion by stating in no uncertain terms that Osama Bin Laden is a apostate...I am still waiting. To say that they have had plenty of chance to get a grip on their radicals is to abuse the term understatement, but no one in Islam has felt the need because there is no penalty for not getting them under control and their murderous ways amuse the body politic of Islam.

So I couldn't wait to hear Jame's idea on how to deal with a Nuclear weapon going off in a US City and this is what I got...uh oh.

But just imagine nuking Tehran 10 months after an attack, after the CIA concludes Iran helped with the bomb that was dropped on us. ("Sorry about the WMD thing, but this time you can trust us. If we're wrong, well, we'll all take early retirement. Seriously.") The world would see it as coldblooded murder. The world, for once, would be right. There aren't any good options. They all stink. It'll take regime change in Syria, a revolution in Iran and a true come-to-Eissa moment in Saudi Arabia to get us past this mess. And we need all that to happen, oh, next week.

And this is the solution, we KEEP waiting for the reformation of Islam and we KEEP making the process inexpensive to the average Muslim. So while we bind the wounds of a city, with hundreds of thousands dead, we wait because you know James needs this war to be sweet and polite. We wouldn't want to upset the adherents of the Religion of Peace.

No that is not what we do. We do threaten to bomb Medina and Mecca. We make it expensive for Muslims to continue to support those who would murder us in the millions if they had the means. All it would take to stop the bombing would be for there to be a honest effort to discredit the terrorist by Imams around the world. If they are truly interested in not making this a battle to the death between two religions, Capitalism and Islam then they will immediately denounce the Terrorists in unequivocal terms. Thats all it takes to stop the destruction of their holy places, doing what they should have done four years ago.

But do I have much hope of that happening to a religion that has been at war with the west for 1,400 years? Nope. Does James have some information that shows they have abandoned their pursuit of Dar Islam by any means possible? Does James have any evidence of Islamic states that allow Christians, Jews, Hindus and others to live peacefully inside their borders? Or for that matter just on the otherside of their borders? Islams bloody borders anyone? Well James we just might be in a religious war whether we want to be in one or not and whether we are nice or not. But the ball is in their court as of now...we have given them plenty of chances to reform. The moment a nuclear weapon goes off in the US the Jacksonians will take over the reformation process and it will be ugly. Get used to it James, war sucks.

Roll the Daisy-Picking Ads, and Goodbye Tom

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