They Must Be Stopped: Why We Must Defeat Radical Islam and How We Can Do It [Hardcover]

You'll not get a Copenhagen called to discuss this topic nor will you have the media tripping over themselves to report or promote it, but it's already here. It's already costing human lives. It's already at your doorstep. Freedom is the victim here. All freedoms. Freedom of thought, speech, association, freedom of religion, you name it, all the great things the west has fought to win and protect. And guess what? dare to speak out and you will suffer, verbally at first. You're a biggot. Once they arrive, settle and assert their 'rights' the suffering will become physical. This is a dangerous book because it is true.

Let me be clear, that as an atheist, I find the Bronze-Age rooted desert spawned theism of Islam as savage and extreme as its Jewish and Christian forbears. Numbers 31: 15-18 gives us a fair example of the barbarian blood-lust underpinning Judaism and Christianity and of the glass houses that Jews and Christians live in when they throw holier-than-thou stones at the violent texts of Islam.

That said, I am an admitted Islamophobe - I DO fear the spread of islam. I watch and understand that the international community of Muslims (Ummah) strives with varying degrees of fanaticism for hegemony over all other ways of being through a systematic ratcheting up of aggressive confrontation and usurpation. Unique among modern-day major faiths, Islam roots and cheers for the decimation of all that differs with the Koranic version of how human beings should live.

Wherever Islam gains a foothold, intolerance, oppression, suffering and slaughter follow. The Muslim made a wasteland out of his land, then he laid waste to the land of his neighbor; now he seeks to do the same to ours. I may disagree on many fundamental political and religious levels with the author of this book, but on this I could not agree more: They must be stopped!

This thought-provoking work stands on its own as a guide to and polemic against Islamist expansionism. For background and deeper insight, I would however recommend Because They Hate, Brigitte's autobiography that covers her childhood in Lebanon. Westerners do not understand the culture and psychology of the Middle East, even in this information age. Since most countries in that region are under authoritarian or totalitarian rule, the citizens are for the most part ignorant of concepts like individual and religious liberty, tolerance and the rule of law. These virtues are in fact interpreted and portrayed as weaknesses. In addition, it's in the interest of the despots to incite hatred against the outsider in order to distract attention from the poverty and misery that they have caused.

The author unravels cluster upon cluster of misconceptions about jihad, boldly analyses the movement's history, identifies its basic beliefs, provides ample warning about the peril facing the free world and shows how to contain and counteract it. One of the book's most valuable features is a guide to jihadi formations around the world: where they are based, who their backers are and what they're targeting. This is not a matter of Right or Left but a very real threat that ought to unite all those who value Western civilization.

The first part deals mainly with controversial civil rights issues regarding the identification and apprehension of terrorists. Both Presidents Bush and Obama maintain that Islam is a religion of peace of which the minority of extremists is not representative. Gabriel disputes this view, arguing that it more closely resembles a totalitarian ideology and that many moderates are unfamiliar with certain aspects of their own belief system. Violence is not condoned only by a fundamentalist fringe but widely approved of as integral to an inherently expansionist faith that is resurgent under the direction of highly motivated leaders. Her analysis is supported by the facts of history and quotes from the movement's source documents.

The author proceeds to reveal the tactics of front organizations. The ultimate goal of both the terrorists and the perceived 'moderates' is a worldwide caliphate under Sharia Law. She exposes the various ways in which western institutions and governments are infiltrated. Petrodollars fund both the violent and non-violent approaches. The difference is that some of the 'moderates' pursue the same goal by means of propaganda, recruitment and negotiating special concessions that run counter to the laws of the host society. For decades the free world has received ample warning through plane hijackings, terrorist acts, murders of civilians, the Iranian Revolution and Taliban rule in Afghanistan but not even 9/11 has properly woken up the West. The 2006 Danish cartoon uproar and the large-scale civil unrest & vandalism in Europe since 2005 should serve as further warnings.

The oppression of women and minority groups in ME societies is vividly portrayed as is the racism that is closely associated with slavery. Ayaan Hirsi Ali who as a child lived in Saudi Arabia for a while, confirms these sad facts in her book Infidel. The West's postmodernist mindset has opened the gates for multiculturalism to be used as a weapon against it and as a shackle to render it defenseless. The way this works is brilliantly revealed by Stephen Hicks in Explaining Postmodernism. It is vitally important that defenders of freedom understand the concepts of "At-Taqqiyya" and "Ad-Dawa." The first is the craft of deception or permissible lying in order to promote the movement whilst the second is the process of gradual conversion. Networks of charities, madrassas and hospitals have been established throughout the West for this purpose.

The movement has successfully infiltrated the prison systems in Europe & the USA whilst Middle East Studies departments at universities are lavishly funded by oil-rich states, and Sharia-compliant finance is making inroads where it matters. Londonistan by Melanie Phillips exposes how the UK has become a Jihadist financial centre. Western propagandists of the resurgent faith have tried their utmost to hide the facts, undermine the truth and shut down debate. Amongst them is the ever-pious Jimmy Carter who persists in spreading disinformation, scapegoating Israel and saying 'peace' when there is no peace.

A stirring call to action, the book in its two final chapters also proposes a variety of feasible & sensible countermeasures to halt the infiltration. These include monitoring the hate literature produced & distributed by educational institutions, legislation to protect the police & security services so they may prioritize the physical safety of citizens, and close scrutiny of Sharia Banking and its tangled webs. Above all, the habit of political correctness must be challenged; the first duty of a government is to ensure the safety of its people. By now it ought to be clear from the European example that tolerance of intolerance simply fuels more intolerance. The causes & effects of this dangerous cycle are amongst the symptoms of societal decay examined by The French philosopher Chantal Delsol in her compelling books Icarus Fallen and The Unlearned Lessons of the 20th Century.