Call our enemy what they are: radical Islamic terrorists

Editor: The Islamic terrorist attacks in London were followed by the now expected responses; handwringing, hugs, expressions of grief and solidarity, and re-assurances that Islam really is a religion of peace.

Like it or not, we are at war with Islamic terrorists, at least according to them. History shows that an essential pre-condition to success in war is to identify your enemy. That puts them on notice and also focuses one’s own side on the task at hand.

Our enemy is not the religion of Islam or those who practice it in a peaceful way.

The only world leader to name our enemy to this point is Donald Trump.

It’s baffling why politicians pull their punches on this. Either they’re blind, or in denial that this just can’t fit the contemporary liberal narrative of toleration, diversity and inclusiveness.

These are admirable ideas, but straight-thinking people won’t try to mask or excuse radical Islamic terrorism under these labels.

There’s a lot of spadework to be done to stop Islamic terrorists from sheltering behind the curtain of religion. Much of the responsibility lies with the Muslim community, which needs to denounce this perversion of their religion.

Until now their protestations have been muted. They need to turn up the volume and they must deny the jihadis any measure of legitimacy, toleration, encouragement or sanctuary.

The hard part seems to be for security authorities to act quickly on the intelligence they glean. We have laws to protect privacy and allow due process, but these must be pushed to the limit.

We need to continue to strike radical Islamic facilities, activities and leadership in places like Syria and Iraq. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sent the wrong message by pulling out of these fights and has made things worse by making a voluntary payment of $10.5 million to our most infamous home-grown Islamic terrorist.

John Thompson, Kaleden