When does it become right?

Tuesday – February 8, 2011

When does it become right?

Today’s title is an important one, because we need to ask the question: When does it become right.

I am all for world peace. I am all for getting along with our neighbors. I am all for reaching out to find peaceful solutions too many of the problems that cause violence. I am all for exploring ways to better our society.

But sometimes, in the process, you must start to ask the question: When does it become right - in order to find a solution.

Recently, Chris Mathews of MSNBC compared the Tea Party to the Muslim Brotherhood. There are a few facts about the Muslim Brotherhood that you might not be aware of.

One of the key figures that we must consider when we discuss the Muslim Brotherhood and its history is Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman. His involvement with terrorism goes back many years. He was identified in as a participant in the plot to assassinate Egyptian president Anwar Sadat. Rahman was the spiritual leader of a group of young people who had just formed a new cell of the radical group call Jama’at al-Jihad, and they asked him what the fate should be of a ruler who has ignored the law of God. Abdel Rahman’s reply was: “Death.”

The argument of death has been a necessary step for Muslim extremists to justify violent actions against their own governments. Islam traditionally requires believers to be obedient to the ruling powers, but labeling political leaders as being un-Muslim allows for them to argue that they are, therefore, illegitimate rulers over Muslims and can be removed by force.

The Muslim Brotherhood took credit for assassinating Egypt’s former President Anwar Sadat. Rahman was indicted for the assassination, because he was accused of issuing a fatwa ordering Sadat’s murder. Eventually, he was acquitted, but even today he makes it quite clear that he does not consider Sadat to have been a Muslim: “Sadat was not a Muslim. He made a mockery of Islam and its principles.” Anwar Sadat, Jimmy Carter and Israeli Prime Minister Menachim Begin signed the Camp David Peace Accords which created the blue print of peace between Egypt and Israel and the region for thirty years.

Omar Abdel Rahman may have begun his jihad by first attacking the government of his home country, but he eventually moved on to a bigger target: the United States. Rahman blames the West, in general, and the United States in particular, for all the evils committed by his own government in Egypt. He has, therefore, decided that Arab leaders like Hosni Mubarak are not independent actors; instead, they are merely the pawns of the West.

While living in the United States, Rahman continued to preach his brand of violent, extremist Islam — even to the point of becoming a very controversial figure within the Muslim community of New York City. On October 1st, 1995, Rahman was convicted with nine others for their involvement in a conspiracy to plant bombs at New York landmarks like the United Nations building and FBI offices. These people were also accused (but not convicted) of being involved with the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center which caused six deaths and more than one thousand injuries.

He is currently serving life plus 65 years at the Supermax penitentiary in Florence, Colorado for seditious conspiracy, solicitation and conspiracy to murder Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, solicitation to attack a military installation and bombing conspiracy. The Sheik is but only one cleric that continues to stir the waters of peace in a world that is now struggling with multiculturalism on a country by country basis.

The Brotherhood is now making demands in the development of Egypt’s new government. We must consider all the implications in allowing this group to participate. They are committed to destroying the Camp David Peace accords and they are committed to destroying Israel. We must ask the question when does it become right to give extremism a seat at the table. The fact is Egypt would be in a better place, if they only had the Tea Party to worry about.

Chris Mathews knows all to well the details of the Sheik and the Brotherhood. He however continues in his quest and his battle against a group of people who have not committed any violence namely the Tea Party. When you mix politics with the vengeance that Mathews obviously harbors, it becomes dangerous. This is a perfect example of asking the question: when does it become right?

The Sheik and Chris Mathews might not have loaded the gun or lit the fuse, but they are however, responsible for the words that cause others to load the gun and light the fuse.

When we ask the question: when does it become right to compare the tea party to the Muslim Brotherhood we can then legitimately ask the question when does it become right for any violent organization to ask for political clout? The President, himself, said the brotherhood is anti American. So, when does it become right to consider them a trusting member for peace?

Gregory C. Dildilian
Founder and Executive Director
Pinecone Conservatives

A footnote: Anything becomes right when enough people make it right this goes for violence and for peace. It begins with asking the right question: when does it become right!