ISIL ATROCITIES MOUNT AS JIHADISTS SET SITES ON CONQUERING ROME

East County News Service

February 20, 2015 (San Diego)—Threats of Islamic State (or ISIL) forces spreading across northern Africa and into Europe are growing.  After establishing a caliphate in portions of Iraq and Syria, ISIL jihadists have reportedly burned 40 people alive  in Iraq’s Anbar province as well as a Jordanian pilot and beheaded 20 Egyptian Christians in Libya. This weeks, Turkish intelligence reportedly warns that ISIL may be plotting terror attacks in Turkey.

Leaders of the Islamic State themselves have declared their intention to conquer Rome in Italy, the symbolic heart of Christianity. A new video issued by ISIS last week warned “the nation signed with the blood of the cross” that “we are south of Rome.”

Last October, the cover story of ISIL’s Dabiq magazine was titled, “Reflections on the Final Crusade.” It showed a photo of a black Islamic State flag flying over St. Peter’s Square and predicted the conquest of Rome.

The article warned ominously, “We will conquer your Rome, break your crosses, and enslave your women, by the permission of Allah, the Exalted. If we do not reach that time, then our children and grandchildren will reach it, and they will sell your sons as slaves in the slave market.”  The article further incited immediate violence, stating, “Every Muslim should get out of his house, find a crusader and kill him.”

The actions and rhetoric of ISIL bear a disturbing similarity to one other parallel in history: Adolph Hitler’s quest to conquer Europe and kill all who did not fit his vision of Aryan perfection including Jews, gypsies, gays and others.  In Hitler’s case, the prejudice was based principally on race; while ISIL is driven by a bloodthirsty religious zeal. 

Both are equally dangerous, since both movements hold at their core a belief that global conquest and genocide are both justifiable and desirable.

President Barack Obama has asked Congress to approve a war declaration against ISIL, but at a recent conference on extremism with predominantly Muslim attendees, the President insisted that America is not at war with islam, but rather with extremism.

“They are not religious leaders. They’re terrorists,” he said, saying “We are at war with people who have perverted Islam.”  He defended his stance by stating that calling the crisis a religious war would only give an appearance of legitimacy to ISIL claims of a holy war. He also called on Muslim clerics to denounce the violence.

Obama has drawn criticism, predominantly from Republicans, for refusing to single out Islamic extremism as the enemy, however. 

Politico reported that former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliania, at a private fundraiser for Republican presidential candidates, stated, “You've got to be able to criticize Islam for the parts of Islam that are wrong. You criticize Christianity for the part of Christianity that is wrong. I'm not sure how wrong the Crusades are. The Crusades were kind of an equal battle between two groups of barbarians: the Muslims and the crusading barbarians. What the hell? What's wrong with this man that he can't stand up and say there's a part of Islam that's sick?"

Interestingly, the Crusades in modern times have been portrayed as examples of ruthless barbarism by Christian forces.  There were clearly atrocities committed on both sides, and some Crusades targeted groups other than Muslims.  But the truth is more complex, and at its roots, the Crusades arose in defense of Christianity after hostilities instigated by Muslim forces. 

Crisis Magazine published an article titled “A Crash Course on the Crusades.” This excerpt from The Crusades – the World’s Debate  by Hilaire Bellock describes the origins of the Crusades:

“From its beginnings, Islam has been a violent and imperialistic movement.  Within 100 years of the death of Mohammed, Islamic armies had conquered ancient Christian lands in the Middle East, North Africa, and Spain.  The Holy City of Jerusalem was captured in 638.  Islamic armies launched raids throughout the Mediterranean and even attacked Rome in 846.  Life in the conquered regions for Christians was not easy; many were forced to convert, others converted due to societal pressure (Christians and Jews were considered to be barely above the status of slaves in Islamic society); still others maintained the Faith at great risk.”

If that sounds eerily parallel to the conquests by the Islamic State today and its subsequence massacres, forced conversions and enslavement on conquered peoples, read on. In the early 11^th century, Jerusalem’s Egyptian Muslim ruler ordered the destruction of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which was rebuilt.  But when Seljuk Turks, non-Arab Muslims, conquered Jerusalem in the 11^th century, “…in 1065 the Seljuks began a campaign of persecution against Christian pilgrims in the Holy Land in which the Bishop of Bamberg and 12,000 pilgrims were massacred by the Muslims only two miles from Jerusalem. They waged war against the Christian Byzantine Empire, winning a decisive victory at the Battle of Manzikert (1071). “ Bellock concludes, “It was this event that one historian has described as “the shock that launched the Crusades.”