The Islamophobic Huckster in the White House

For him, the violence emanates from the “martial language” of the Quran, which has hard-wired aggression into Islam. Like the recently fired national security adviser Michael T. Flynn and Mr. Bannon and Mr. Miller, the architects of the ill-conceived executive order barring the entry of citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries, Mr. Gorka sees Islam as the problem, rather than the uses to which Islam has been put by violent extremists. The contrast between them and the policy makers of the previous three presidential administrations could not be clearer: For their predecessors, the key has been to fight terrorists, not assault an Abrahamic religion.

The gist of Mr. Gorka’s worldview is that the United States is locked in an ideological conflict with “radical Islam.” A report he wrote with his wife assesses that “it is the key failing of U.S. efforts to fight terrorism that we have not understood the importance of ideology.” He attributes this failure to a “systematic subversion of the national security establishment under the banner of inclusivity, cultural awareness and political correctness.”

This is a supremely uninformed and ahistoric claim, as evidence demonstrates. Consider the raft of recently declassified United States government assessments of Islamic militancy going back nearly 40 years. The C.I.A. has produced in-depth analyses of Sunni radicalization dating to 1979, when Wahhabi messianists seized the Grand Mosque in Mecca.

In the mid-1980s, the intelligence community published and disseminated widely a major, detailed assessment of Islamist trends. The recent death of Omar Abdel Rahman, the sheikh who proffered divine approval for the first attempt to destroy the twin towers in 1993, is a reminder that the intimate ideological and religious sponsorship of Islamic militancy was on the United States’ radar for nearly a decade before Sept. 11. There were few national security professionals somnolent enough not to appreciate the salience of the jihadist threat after 1993, and the 1998 attacks on American embassies in Africa. But for those few, Sept. 11, 2001, was the ultimate wake-up call.

After Sept. 11, the American government, its allies, the academy and myriad journalists undertook to dissect the phenomenon of radicalization, explore its pathways, unpack Quranic language on violence and understand the sociology of Islamic terrorism. The suggestion that Mr. Gorka brings new insight is self-gratifying, grandiose malarkey.

What emerged from these decades of engagement with jihadism was a nascent counterterrorism strategy. That was scuttled when the United States took a sharp wrong turn with the invasion of Iraq, a misstep that was a profound boon to extremists. But even so, counterterrorism strategy has evolved into a sustainable program of counter-radicalization and targeted military operations. Mr. Gorka seems oblivious to this legacy. For him, a huge effort that gathered momentum decades ago somehow amounts to “downplaying the seriousness of the threat.”

What has been learned during this long effort from law enforcement, intelligence community analyses and an abundance of scholarship on jihadists is that religious doctrine is not their sole or even primary driver. The issues that Mr. Gorka so defiantly “jettisons” actually do play a role.

Declaring a religious war now would only validate the jihadist narrative and force fence-sitters to procure AK-47s. Having elevated a huckster weak on jihadist history and doctrine and unaware of what his own government has learned over decades, the Trump administration now risks exacerbating the very security challenges it hopes to surmount. H. R. McMaster, the newly appointed national security adviser — a strong choice — will quickly have to exorcise Mr. Bannon and Mr. Miller’s worldview if the administration is to forge a sound national security policy. Getting rid of Mr. Gorka should be an early priority.

pravalika nanda wrote:and to get back to your little article: let's all cont to pretend that islam is not waging a ideological war against the west.  just the winning prescription for the next election.

Kinnera-temp wrote:

pravalika nanda wrote:and to get back to your little article: let's all cont to pretend that islam is not waging a ideological war against the west.  just the winning prescription for the next election.

It is the unnecessary appeasement of the muslims, the refusal to see the threat of radical islamic fundamentalism and the labeling of anyone who raises concern as 'Islamophobes' by the liberals is what is driving people to the right everywhere in the world and the resentment of the muslims. The libtards have blood on their hands as much as Trumptard for his rhetoric in the death of Srinivas. He paid the price for being mistaken for a middle easterner.

pravalika nanda wrote:well, i tried to access the article and the nyt blocked my access - i get only 10 free articles from this esteemed newspaper - and instead they want me to subscribe and this is their current sad little tagline:

"TRUTH - IT IS GROUNDED IN FACTS."
ha ha ha


Another NYT tagline was something like,

"FACTS MATTER. Please subscribe."

WaPO is telling me that "democracy dies in darkness."

trump has decimated the media to the point that they are reduced to announcing these painfully obvious pithys.

and trump is right to trounce these little losers as they have spent the last few years playing it politically safe, writing secular elitish stories in their little bubbles, neglecting the woes of half the country, propping up trump to bring their ratings up, and being completely and utterly wrong about the election and the people. you're not doing your job, you should get fired.

they're not honest, fair or balanced or even original.

i remember the economist repeated the same article telling its readers to not support modi; the little prince was better, apparently. tehy used the same words and even the same pic of modi in a peachy kind of top. i didn't bother to buy the economist after that - the telling me what to do i could ignore but this repetiton of the article was nauseating. i felt let down.

and those little losers in the democratic party - well, everyone can have wet dreams about gavin newsome or kamala harris or elizabeth warren, they're all cute but are uninspiring little ducklings, they have no gravitas, no courage, no power, no authority.

confuzzled dude wrote:

Kinnera-temp wrote:

pravalika nanda wrote:and to get back to your little article: let's all cont to pretend that islam is not waging a ideological war against the west.  just the winning prescription for the next election.

It is the unnecessary appeasement of the muslims, the refusal to see the threat of radical islamic fundamentalism and the labeling of anyone who raises concern as 'Islamophobes' by the liberals is what is driving people to the right everywhere in the world and the resentment of the muslims. The libtards have blood on their hands as much as Trumptard for his rhetoric in the death of Srinivas. He paid the price for being mistaken for a middle easterner.

What if it were your husband or son?

confuzzled dude wrote:

pravalika nanda wrote:well, i tried to access the article and the nyt blocked my access - i get only 10 free articles from this esteemed newspaper - and instead they want me to subscribe and this is their current sad little tagline:

"TRUTH - IT IS GROUNDED IN FACTS."
ha ha ha


Another NYT tagline was something like,

"FACTS MATTER. Please subscribe."

WaPO is telling me that "democracy dies in darkness."

trump has decimated the media to the point that they are reduced to announcing these painfully obvious pithys.

and trump is right to trounce these little losers as they have spent the last few years playing it politically safe, writing secular elitish stories in their little bubbles, neglecting the woes of half the country, propping up trump to bring their ratings up, and being completely and utterly wrong about the election and the people. you're not doing your job, you should get fired.

they're not honest, fair or balanced or even original.

i remember the economist repeated the same article telling its readers to not support modi; the little prince was better, apparently. tehy used the same words and even the same pic of modi in a peachy kind of top. i didn't bother to buy the economist after that - the telling me what to do i could ignore but this repetiton of the article was nauseating. i felt let down.

and those little losers in the democratic party - well, everyone can have wet dreams about gavin newsome or kamala harris or elizabeth warren, they're all cute but are uninspiring little ducklings, they have no gravitas, no courage, no power, no authority.

Spoken like someone living in safe confines of liberal-land.
** thats your response? you're not making sense but i dont expect you to.

Rani Singh wrote:The very fact that you are able to post messages by copying and posting articles critical of the current administration should make you realize that you live in a free country.

2996 people were killed on 9/11. Think about it. They were men, women and children who experienced a horrible death. Also think about the children who lost their mothers and fathers.

All the hijackers in the 9/11 attacks were Muslim.

It is quite natural that there is going to be resentment against and suspicion towards Muslims.

The truth is that innocent Sikhs and Hindus are paying a price for what Jihadi Muslims did to America.

Kinnera-temp wrote:

confuzzled dude wrote:

Kinnera-temp wrote:

pravalika nanda wrote:and to get back to your little article: let's all cont to pretend that islam is not waging a ideological war against the west.  just the winning prescription for the next election.

It is the unnecessary appeasement of the muslims, the refusal to see the threat of radical islamic fundamentalism and the labeling of anyone who raises concern as 'Islamophobes' by the liberals is what is driving people to the right everywhere in the world and the resentment of the muslims. The libtards have blood on their hands as much as Trumptard for his rhetoric in the death of Srinivas. He paid the price for being mistaken for a middle easterner.

What if it were your husband or son?

Yeah, bring in all those 550% more middle eastern refugees. The threat from them+the resentment of the locals because of all those refugees increases the threat to you, your son, my husband and my sons. America will never be the same again!

pravalika nanda wrote:
** thats your response? you're not making sense but i dont expect you to.

pravalika nanda wrote:well, i tried to access the article and the nyt blocked my access - i get only 10 free articles from this esteemed newspaper - and instead they want me to subscribe and this is their current sad little tagline:

"TRUTH - IT IS GROUNDED IN FACTS."
ha ha ha


Another NYT tagline was something like,

"FACTS MATTER. Please subscribe."

WaPO is telling me that "democracy dies in darkness."

trump has decimated the media to the point that they are reduced to announcing these painfully obvious pithys.

and trump is right to trounce these little losers as they have spent the last few years playing it politically safe, writing secular elitish stories in their little bubbles, neglecting the woes of half the country, propping up trump to bring their ratings up, and being completely and utterly wrong about the election and the people. you're not doing your job, you should get fired.

they're not honest, fair or balanced or even original.

i remember the economist repeated the same article telling its readers to not support modi; the little prince was better, apparently. tehy used the same words and even the same pic of modi in a peachy kind of top. i didn't bother to buy the economist after that - the telling me what to do i could ignore but this repetiton of the article was nauseating. i felt let down.

and those little losers in the democratic party - well, everyone can have wet dreams about gavin newsome or kamala harris or elizabeth warren, they're all cute but are uninspiring little ducklings, they have no gravitas, no courage, no power, no authority.

confuzzled dude wrote:

Kinnera-temp wrote:

confuzzled dude wrote:

Kinnera-temp wrote:

pravalika nanda wrote:and to get back to your little article: let's all cont to pretend that islam is not waging a ideological war against the west.  just the winning prescription for the next election.

It is the unnecessary appeasement of the muslims, the refusal to see the threat of radical islamic fundamentalism and the labeling of anyone who raises concern as 'Islamophobes' by the liberals is what is driving people to the right everywhere in the world and the resentment of the muslims. The libtards have blood on their hands as much as Trumptard for his rhetoric in the death of Srinivas. He paid the price for being mistaken for a middle easterner.

What if it were your husband or son?

Yeah, bring in all those 550% more middle eastern refugees. The threat from them+the resentment of the locals because of all those refugees increases the threat to you, your son, my husband and my sons. America will never be the same again!

You may not have realized it, but we'll browns are under threat, especially the ones that live down south.

Kinnera-temp wrote:
Looks like you've never visited the south, especially Atlanta. It seems to me that there's more racism in the dem states, esp nj, ny and mi (where i moved from, which was a dem state then) than in the republican metros. I love Atlanta! It's a fine place, with good hearted people. I changed my opinion about republicans after moving here. Whatever you hear and imagine about republicans in your democratic bubble isn't true. This is just not my opinion. I talked to many other people who moved here from nj and mi. They all love this place more than the ones they moved from.

MaxEntropy_Man wrote:I don't need to know Republicans personally. The hateful social policies they pursue and the economic policies that reward only the richest of the rich and empty talk about repealing Obamacare with no back up plan (60 attempts in all) whatsoever tells me all I need to know about the party and the people who support them. I had classmates from college, close friends who used to support a Reaganite version of them.  They've distanced themselves from the party because they can't stomach the modern hate brigade that the party has become. It's unrecognizable to them.

confuzzled dude wrote:

Kinnera-temp wrote:
Looks like you've never visited the south, especially Atlanta. It seems to me that there's more racism in the dem states, esp nj, ny and mi (where i moved from, which was a dem state then) than in the republican metros. I love Atlanta! It's a fine place, with good hearted people. I changed my opinion about republicans after moving here. Whatever you hear and imagine about republicans in your democratic bubble isn't true. This is just not my opinion. I talked to many other people who moved here from nj and mi. They all love this place more than the ones they moved from.

Hmm.. As a resident of Virginia, I know a thing or two about them and it takes much beyond your daily small talk to get to know them.

Kinnera-temp wrote:

confuzzled dude wrote:

Kinnera-temp wrote:
Looks like you've never visited the south, especially Atlanta. It seems to me that there's more racism in the dem states, esp nj, ny and mi (where i moved from, which was a dem state then) than in the republican metros. I love Atlanta! It's a fine place, with good hearted people. I changed my opinion about republicans after moving here. Whatever you hear and imagine about republicans in your democratic bubble isn't true. This is just not my opinion. I talked to many other people who moved here from nj and mi. They all love this place more than the ones they moved from.

Hmm.. As a resident of Virginia, I know a thing or two about them and it takes much beyond your daily small talk to get to know them.

ayyo ayyo! It must be so hard for you. Please stay safe.

confuzzled dude wrote:

pravalika nanda wrote:well, i tried to access the article and the nyt blocked my access - i get only 10 free articles from this esteemed newspaper - and instead they want me to subscribe and this is their current sad little tagline:

"TRUTH - IT IS GROUNDED IN FACTS."
ha ha ha


Another NYT tagline was something like,

"FACTS MATTER. Please subscribe."

WaPO is telling me that "democracy dies in darkness."

trump has decimated the media to the point that they are reduced to announcing these painfully obvious pithys.

and trump is right to trounce these little losers as they have spent the last few years playing it politically safe, writing secular elitish stories in their little bubbles, neglecting the woes of half the country, propping up trump to bring their ratings up, and being completely and utterly wrong about the election and the people. you're not doing your job, you should get fired.

they're not honest, fair or balanced or even original.

i remember the economist repeated the same article telling its readers to not support modi; the little prince was better, apparently. tehy used the same words and even the same pic of modi in a peachy kind of top. i didn't bother to buy the economist after that - the telling me what to do i could ignore but this repetiton of the article was nauseating. i felt let down.

and those little losers in the democratic party - well, everyone can have wet dreams about gavin newsome or kamala harris or elizabeth warren, they're all cute but are uninspiring little ducklings, they have no gravitas, no courage, no power, no authority.

Spoken like someone living in safe confines of liberal-land.

pravalika nanda wrote:
what bs. there have never been any safe confines in the us. i know, i used to wear a bottu to school until i went to high school. i know surd classmates who got beat up in nyc way before 9/11. so shove it you loser.

confuzzled dude wrote:

Kinnera-temp wrote:
Looks like you've never visited the south, especially Atlanta. It seems to me that there's more racism in the dem states, esp nj, ny and mi (where i moved from, which was a dem state then) than in the republican metros. I love Atlanta! It's a fine place, with good hearted people. I changed my opinion about republicans after moving here. Whatever you hear and imagine about republicans in your democratic bubble isn't true. This is just not my opinion. I talked to many other people who moved here from nj and mi. They all love this place more than the ones they moved from.

Hmm.. As a resident of Virginia, I know a thing or two about them and it takes much beyond your daily small talk to get to know them.

confuzzled dude wrote:

Kinnera-temp wrote:

confuzzled dude wrote:

Kinnera-temp wrote:

pravalika nanda wrote:and to get back to your little article: let's all cont to pretend that islam is not waging a ideological war against the west.  just the winning prescription for the next election.

It is the unnecessary appeasement of the muslims, the refusal to see the threat of radical islamic fundamentalism and the labeling of anyone who raises concern as 'Islamophobes' by the liberals is what is driving people to the right everywhere in the world and the resentment of the muslims. The libtards have blood on their hands as much as Trumptard for his rhetoric in the death of Srinivas. He paid the price for being mistaken for a middle easterner.

What if it were your husband or son?

Yeah, bring in all those 550% more middle eastern refugees. The threat from them+the resentment of the locals because of all those refugees increases the threat to you, your son, my husband and my sons. America will never be the same again!

You may not have realized it, but we'll browns are under threat, especially the ones that live down south.

Propagandhi711 wrote:

confuzzled dude wrote:

Kinnera-temp wrote:

confuzzled dude wrote:

Kinnera-temp wrote:
It is the unnecessary appeasement of the muslims, the refusal to see the threat of radical islamic fundamentalism and the labeling of anyone who raises concern as 'Islamophobes' by the liberals is what is driving people to the right everywhere in the world and the resentment of the muslims. The libtards have blood on their hands as much as Trumptard for his rhetoric in the death of Srinivas. He paid the price for being mistaken for a middle easterner.

What if it were your husband or son?

Yeah, bring in all those 550% more middle eastern refugees. The threat from them+the resentment of the locals because of all those refugees increases the threat to you, your son, my husband and my sons. America will never be the same again!

You may not have realized it, but we'll browns are under threat, especially the ones that live down south.

oh, comrade. hope you pray for us living down south cowering in fear.

pravalika nanda wrote:

max, you love to talk about how mass is so safe the people so nice you're all so blue etc. why don't you go jump in a tub of vibhoothi, put on your jandhyam and go to work in a panchi? let me know how you get treated.

Hellsangel wrote:

Propagandhi711 wrote:

confuzzled dude wrote:

Kinnera-temp wrote:

confuzzled dude wrote:
What if it were your husband or son?

Yeah, bring in all those 550% more middle eastern refugees. The threat from them+the resentment of the locals because of all those refugees increases the threat to you, your son, my husband and my sons. America will never be the same again!

You may not have realized it, but we'll browns are under threat, especially the ones that live down south.

oh, comrade. hope you pray for us living down south cowering in fear.

Do comrades pray?

MaxEntropy_Man wrote:

pravalika nanda wrote:

max, you love to talk about how mass is so safe the people so nice you're all so blue etc. why don't you go jump in a tub of vibhoothi, put on your jandhyam and go to work in a panchi? let me know how you get treated.

There are no absolutes. We are talking about probabilities here. All it takes is one nutter.
I am not religious. Even before I abandoned religion, I had never sported vibhooti pattais except at home. Why would I start now?
What is a jandhyam and what is a panchi? I don't know what those words mean.

** but everyone knows this, you know the upanayam thing - the strings -janjam? jannuvi? and the panchi is the indian silk lungi that you somehow turn into pants.

** and these are cultural markers, not religious ones, so abandoning them means you abandoned your culture.

I do have a close friend from grad school, a sri vaishnavite who used to wear the sri charaNam every single day. He has kept up the practice to this day and he has lived in many parts of the US. It is sufficiently important to him that he doesn't mind the questions. As far as I can tell it has not impeded his career progress.

** oh is he unmarried? cuz there's a guy online who's like trying to hit on me with that sri charanam. not hot at all. it would be very weird to kiss him.

Sikhs wear turbans and Jews wear yarmulkes. For those who care about their Hinduism, Sikhism, and Judaism and the external symbols that go with them, this is important. One hopes they don't ever lose the freedom to do so.

** I think yarmulkes are fine. turbans seem unhygienic to me. if they don't want to lose these freedoms they should move to india. you can do anything there. except eat cow.

confuzzled dude wrote:Over the weekend, I heard of at least three anti-foreigner slurs targeted at Indians in our area.

A McLean man is facing hate crime charges after police said he bit another man’s face in November after an altercation in which he used anti-Muslim slurs.

Robin McGreer, 35, approached a 31-year-old man in a Tysons Corner Center parking lot Nov. 27, started a conversation and then threatened him using anti-Muslim slurs, Fairfax County police said.

An altercation ensued and McGreer bit the man’s face, leaving him with a “significant face wound,” police said. McGreer left the scene before police arrived.

Two Jewish schools in the Washington region received bomb threats Monday, disrupting classroom activities and leading police to sweep the campuses in Maryland and Virginia.

The threats came to both schools through what seemed to be an automated voice message system, school officials said. Police are investigating.

The calls came into the Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School in Montgomery County and Gesher Jewish Day School in Fairfax County after 9 a.m. Administrators at Gesher evacuated the school as police swept the building for explosives. Students on the upper campus in North Bethesda at Charles E. Smith were kept in their classrooms as part of the school’s standard procedure as administrators and police inspected the building and its perimeter.