Obama’s U.N. “Let There Be Peace On Earth” Speech/If there truly is to be peace on earth, let it begin with Islam.
by LT. COLONEL JAMES G. ZUMWALT, USMC (RET)
September 26, 2014 /Family Security
http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/detail/obamas-un-let-there-be-peace-on-earth-speech
In his U.N. speech, as has been his wont since becoming President, Obama failed to definitively link Middle East violence to its root cause. He came ever so close to doing so, but then recalibrated his position. Throughout his speech, one could hear the refrain from the song “Let there be peace on earth…”
As the President himself reportedly wrote the speech, it deserves analyzing to better understand the mindset in “Obama’s World.”
He began with, “We come together at a crossroads between war and peace; between disorder and integration; between fear and hope”-nice words until the last one. When he uttered the word “hope” six years ago, it excited listeners, motivating former “Hardball” cable TV political talk show host Chris Matthews to proclaim, “I felt this thrill going up my leg.” Today when we hear Obama utter the word, we tend to cringe and wait for the shoe to drop.
He said, “Together, we have learned how to cure disease, and harness the power of the wind and sun.”
ons for the betterment of man made by Muslims-a group representing almost twenty percent of the global population. Iran has exhibited some creative skills by inventing a “finger-amputating” device last year for punishing thieves. But as far as contributions to society, Israeli recipients of the Nobel Prize outnumber Muslims a hundred to one.
Obama continued, “The brutality of terrorists in Syria and Iraq forces us to look into the heart of darkness…And we have not confronted forcefully enough the intolerance, sectarianism, and hopelessness that feeds violent extremism in too many parts of the globe.”
Right. But here he fails to mention the link to terrorism or violent extremism from which their brutality flows. It all flows from a single source-a holy book from which all Muslims take their teachings-the Koran. One needs to read it to believe it.
Obama, who has already incorrectly categorized Muslims as either “moderates” or “extremists,” now clouds the issue by introducing the words “violent extremism.” To clarify Obama’s error, in 2007 then Turkish Prime Minister (now President) Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, “These descriptions are very ugly, it is offensive and an insult to our religion. There is no moderate or immoderate Islam. Islam is Islam and that’s it.”
That should not be taken by Westerners as good news since all Muslims take their teachings from the same source-the Koran.
But, by using the words “violent extremism” is Obama now suggesting his extremists be further categorized into those who are violent and those who are not?
Obama then said, “…today I’d like to focus on two defining questions at the root of many of our challenges- whether the nations here today will be able to renew the purpose of the UN’s founding; and whether we will come together to reject the cancer of violent extremism.”
Again, he refuses to be specific about the derivation of the violent extremism. Forms of extremism exist in every country of the world, therefore, to which is he referring?
Obama came close to identifying the root cause of extremism with his statement, “But as we look to the future, one issue risks a cycle of conflict that could derail such progress: and that is the cancer of violent extremism that has ravaged so many parts of the Muslim world…But in this century, we have faced a more lethal and ideological brand of terrorists who have perverted one of the world’s great religions.”
This is it, listeners thought, Obama is going to tie these terrorist roots to Islam’s teachings.
It was not to be. While declaring the U.S. is at war with al-Qaeda and its ilk, Obama declared we “never will be at war with Islam. Islam teaches peace… So we reject any suggestion of a clash of civilizations.”
Wrong. Such a declaration is outrageous as Islam promotes perpetual war against all non-Muslims as mandated in the Koran.
Obama described ISIS and similar groups as “religiously motivated fanatics” but again failed to tie that fanaticism to a source-also referencing the spread of “sectarian conflicts…increasingly hard to contain,” without naming from where the sectarian divide emanates.
Obama then requested “the world – especially Muslim communities – to explicitly, forcefully, and consistently reject the ideology of al Qaeda and ISIL.” While he still refrained from identifying Islam as the link, why would he emphasize “Muslim communities” if it did not exist? And, if it exists, how can he then claim Islam is peaceful?
Obama stated, “It is time for a new compact among the civilized peoples of this world to eradicate war at its most fundamental source: the corruption of young minds by violent ideology…That means cutting off the funding that fuels this hate…”
His words flow but his actions do not. He violates this compact by funding the Palestinian Authority which teaches such violence to its children.
Never missing an opportunity to denigrate Christianity since he believes we are not a Christian nation, Obama added, “There is nothing new about wars within religions. Christianity endured centuries of vicious sectarian conflict. Today, it is violence within Muslim communities that has become the source of so much human misery.”
Here, the President suggests these two religions have alternated in fomenting hostilities among followers-as if both are equally guilty. He rewrites history with such a claim as internal Christian conflicts have been relatively short-lived when compared to 1400 years of continuous Muslim sectarian violence.
Obama ended his speech by reaching out to the youth of the Muslim world, stating, “You come from a great tradition that stands for education, not ignorance; innovation, not destruction; the dignity of life, not murder. Those who call you away from this path are betraying this tradition, not defending it…positive change need not come at the expense of tradition and faith…nor will we shrink from the promise of this institution (the U.N.) and its Universal Declaration of Human Rights…”
Wrong, wrong, wrong! Education is not treasured by the Muslim world (an annual Chinese government report listing of the top 500 universities in the world fails to include a single Arab university), thus inhibiting innovation and the better life it could bring.
The “change” Obama promotes does need to come “at the expense of tradition and faith” which breeds intolerance for non-believers and rejects the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as contrary to sharia-thus negating human rights for non-Muslims!
Obama may be singing the “Let There Be Peace on Earth” refrain, but no Muslim nation-based on a religion demanding an infidel-free world-is joining in the chorus.
If there truly is to be peace on earth, let it begin with Islam.
***Lt. Colonel James G. Zumwalt, USMC (Ret.), is a retired Marine infantry officer who served in the Vietnam war, the U.S. invasion of Panama and the first Gulf war. He is the author of “Bare Feet, Iron Will–Stories from the Other Side of Vietnam’s Battlefields,” “Living the Juche Lie: North Korea’s Kim Dynasty” and “Doomsday: Iran–The Clock is Ticking.” He frequently writes on foreign policy and defense issues.
