5.08.2006 | “Londonistan”

There is a must-read q&a with British writer Melanie Phillips. It may be found at NRO, and it gives a brief but encompassing snapshot of what the fruits of some modern -isms have been in Britain. And which may lie in store for America.

The most virulent of these -isms are Islamism and multiculturalism. The first of which is the enemy of our shared Judeo-Christian heritage. The second of which is the driving force behind Britain's muddleheaded embrace of Islamists who would destroy our freedoms from within.

As Ms. Phillips illustrates, the harm done, and yet to come, is the result of self-inflicted wounds:

The government is very much to blame because it denied the significance of what was going on and allowed it to grow under its nose. Amazingly, even since the London bombings last July the government and the security establishment still refuse to acknowledge the religious nature of Islamist terrorism. The thinking goes: Al Qaeda bad, Muslim Brotherhood not so bad; indeed, we can use the Brotherhood to divert young Muslims away from terrorism! This is called British sophistication.

Over on this side of the Pond, it's called "nuance." And it is every bit as much a cancer on our foundations of liberty as it appears to be in Britain.

It is time we awake from our slumber; acknowledge that those who preach submission to Islam are the enemies of free men and women. And they make cowards of us if we refuse to call them such: enemies.