Mitt Confronts our Nation's Greatest Challenge

I admire these words delivered by Mitt Romney regarding Hillary's desire to engage in talks with Iran. Here is a little of what he says, "Someone else considering a run for the White House recently addressed the Iran issue, and you won't be surprised to find out that I don't agree with her approach.

"In a speech last night in New York City, Senator Hillary Clinton said that she needs to quote 'understand' unquote Iran better - and to help her with her education process, that we should quote 'engage Iran' unquote.

"Friends, someone who doesn't understand Iran hasn't been paying attention - at this point, we don't need a listening tour with Iran. While I support gathering intelligence about our adversaries in any way possible, engaging is not the right policy. To the contrary, economic and diplomatic isolation must be our priority.

"Indeed, she argued that our strategy of engagement with the Soviet Union during the Cold War was a model for how we could deal with Iran. Now, for all the former Soviet Union's flaws, at least they maintained a commitment to national survival. They were not suicidal. The same cannot be said about the Iranian regime. And we must stop making analogies that are disconnected from the world in which we operate.

"And someone who wants to engage Iran displays a troubling timidity towards a terrible threat."

Michael Freund who writes for the Jerusalem Post conducted a very comprehensive study of polls on radical isalm. His results are frightening.

1. five months ago, and broadcast on Britain's Channel 4 TV, nearly 25% of British Muslims said the July 7, 2005, terror bombings in London, which killed 52 innocent commuters, were justified.

2. 30% said they would prefer to live under strict Islamic Sharia law rather than England's democratic system.

In other countries, the figures are no less unsettling.

4. A survey in December found that 44% of Nigerian Muslims believe suicide bombing attacks are "often" or "sometimes" acceptable.

5. Only 28% said they were never justified.

6. Pew Global Attitudes Survey, released in July 2006, "roughly one-in-seven Muslims in France, Spain and Great Britain feel that suicide bombings against civilian targets can at least sometimes be justified to defend Islam."

7. less than half of Jordan's Muslims believe terror attacks are never justified.

8. In Egypt, only 45% of Muslims say terror is never justified.

9. Jerusalem Media and Communications Center revealed that 77.2% of Palestinians supported the kidnapping(Cpl. Gilad Shalit ),

10. 66.8% said they would back additional such attacks (Cpl. Gilad Shalit ).

11. More than six out of 10 Palestinians also said they were in favor of firing Kassam rockets at Israeli towns and cities.

in September,

12. On the fifth anniversary of the September 11 attacks, a survey conducted by Al-Jazeera asked respondents, "Do you support Osama Bin-Laden?" A whopping 49.9% answered: yes.

13. July 2006 global Pew survey found that among Muslims, a quarter of Jordanians, a third of Indonesians, 38% of Pakistanis and 61% of Nigerians all expressed confidence in the mass murderer who founded al-Qaida.

14. Lebanon six months ago, Beirut Center for Research and Information found that over 80% of the Lebanese population said they supported Hizbullah.

15. A majority of Palestinians backed Hamas in parliamentary elections last year? Sure, there are also places where support for violent jihad is not as high. As

16. Reuters reported on October 15, just 10 percent of Indonesian Muslims said they backed jihad and supported bomb attacks on the island of Bali aimed at foreign tourists.

"Indonesia is home to more than 200 million Muslims, so while 10 percent may sound like a small number percentage-wise, it is actually quite large in absolute terms. It means there are some 20 million Muslims in Indonesia alone who are willing to say out loud that they support the use of violence and terror against innocent human beings."

I like the way Michael Freund ends his article, concluding;

"POLITICIANS and journalists might wish to believe, as we all do, that the backers of violent jihad are few and far between, and that they do not represent large numbers of people with like-minded extremist views. But that is simply not the case. The arithmetic of jihad is quite straight-forward, and it is time we stopped looking the other way and pretending otherwise.
The threat posed by Islamic fundamentalism to Israel and the West can, and must, be met. With determination and a sense of purpose, victory is not out of reach."

What has Mitt Romney been saying? What have the soldiers and Iraqi security forces been saying all along? See Here

Michael continues with his comclusion, "But the longer we continue to underestimate the extent of the problem, the more difficult it will be to defeat it. So let's put aside all that wishful thinking, and roll up our collective sleeves and get to work. Like it or not, the war on terror still faces a long road ahead."

Mitt Romney, once again spoke loudly and clearly about the mistake to "Not lift a finger," in our own defense.