Perfect on paper?

Remember a ways back when we were having the intense conversations about Communism, and how on paper it wasn't such a bad idea? I'll give you this, Ryan never thought that, but glancing at the first Soviet Constitution in 1917 it really didn't seem like it would become the scourge it became.

Teaching Sunday night CCD to my ninth graders about the Crusades, it came to me that Islam is the same way. Read about it and wow, doesn't seem all that bad at all. Five tenets, daily prayer, alms, hospitality to one's neighbor, the hadj, and the proclamation of faith and boom! Call me Akmed. Nowhere is there paradise and 72 virgins. Nowhere is there car bombs, personal explosive devices, IEDs and the like.

Dig a little bit and all of a sudden JIHAD itself takes on a much less sinister meaning. "Live the struggle," in literal terms, means living the faith every moment of every day.

A twist here and a tweak there and all of a sudden you have a holy war, promised paradise, the subjugation of women and the inherent and not just expected, but demanded inequality of society based on sex, race and religion. Some fire hot rhetoric and nineteen men are driving planes into buildings and a field in PA.

This came to me because we were having the conversation about our war on Islam and Titus made a very disturbing point. Is there such a thing as a moderate Muslim? One can point to Muslims in affluent societies and see a noticeable lack of suicide bombers and say, "Look Ma! Moderates!" Titus made the observation that it's the same Western spiritual malaise affecting Christianity, Judaism, pick your faith. By following the modern word(quite a few illiterates in there and not a lot of popular debate concerning faith interpretation)of Islamic faith, there is no moderation. The modern interpretation of the Koran and the teachings of Mohammad are clear concerning the conversion or conquest of one's neighbors: the modern version of JIHAD.

In this similarity to Communism we find historical stratagems for waging the current war. Reagan outspent the Soviets, effectively bankrupting a system that could not compete. Outspending the current terrorist or radical groups isn't an issue, but choking their funds are. Remove the economic fuel and the radical engine dies.

I'm not going to launch into my domestic energy agenda again, so breathe easy. But it is an accurate historical model and the key to victory is in front of us. Has been the whole time. Where do (or did) Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran, the regime of Saddam Hussein, pick your "bad" group, get their money from? What fueled and funded the radicals?