Why should we #neverforget?

Why should we never forget September 11, 2001? As people posted, tweeted, or reported on the anniversary of that awful day, “never forget” was hash- or otherwise tagged to nearly every remembrance. But are we to never forget the suffering and sacrifices of the victims merely because it was a uniquely horrible event? Or because communal remembering helps us unite as a country? Isn’t there a more important reason to not forget what was done to us that day?

“Never forget” is also tied to another horrible event in history. For the victims of the Holocaust, and all Jews, not forgetting what was done to them is aimed at assuring that it doesn’t happen to them again. By regularly calling attention to the cruel, evil injustice of the Holocaust they minimize the likelihood that such a wholesale, ethnic slaughter will ever be repeated. But that requires knowing what to look for and guard against. Nazi Germany is no more, but anti-Semitism is unfortunately still alive and well.

Likewise, as Americans, never forgetting the murderous attacks on our soil by Islamic terrorists must be more than sorrowful sentiment if we hope to prevent future ones. We must recognize and remember the motivations of the perpetrators. Because just as anti-Semitism is still a threat to Israel and Jews all over the world, Islamic fundamentalism is still a threat to any country that is not Islamic. And it is to their advantage that their potential victims are unaware of or overlook that fact.

How eye-opening and yet unsurprising was Rep. Ilhan Omar’s (D-Minn.) remark earlier this year when referencing the 9/11 attacks, saying that “some people did something.” As a Muslim, she has an interest in deflecting attention away from the critical role her religion had in the attacks. And the New York Times tweeting that “18 years have passed since airplanes took aim and brought down the World Trade Center” demonstrated the tendency in the media to avoid depicting Islam unfavorably. Islamic terrorists took aim, with the airplanes they were controlling. The Gray Lady got quite a bit of flack for the tweet and eventually deleted it, but the flack should be tempered with some slack. Over the years some at the major news outlets have been credibly threatened with physical violence if they report on Islam accurately.

I’m sure the NY Times doesn’t intend to further the Islamists’ goal of world domination, and probably neither does Rep. Omar (though she very well may). But that’s exactly what they’re doing in downplaying the undeniable religious motivation of the September 11 attacks. Those men attacked the United States because of their religious beliefs, not in spite of them. They were following in the footsteps of their prophet, killing infidels towards the goal of bringing every person into submission to their god and wiping out those who refuse.

Omar Ahman, the founder of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), supposedly a Muslim civil rights organization but considered by many to be a front for terrorist activities and propaganda, was reported as saying, “Islam isn’t in America to be equal to any other faith, but to become dominant. The Koran . . . should be the highest authority in America, and Islam the only accepted religion on earth.” He subsequently denied saying it but there’s little doubt that he did.

Another prominent Muslim, Siraj Wahhaj, former vice-president of the Islamic Society of North America and current leader of The Muslim Alliance in North America, “has been accused of urging his followers to overturn the U.S. system of government and set up an Islamic dictatorship,” according to the Office of the Inspector General, U.S. Department of Justice.

I trust that our government leaders are aware of the continuing threat of Islamic fundamentalism, but the average citizen needs to be aware as well. Muslims looking to make America an Islamic dictatorship will have an easier time of it if they succeed in fooling the public into favoring Muslims as a peace-loving, oppressed class, which they are well on their way to doing. There are plenty of peace-loving Muslims in this country, I’m sure, but we mustn’t let that fact blind us to the real danger the jihad-loving ones present. We’ve got to be less concerned about political correctness and more about facing reality, keeping our eyes and minds open and our memory sharp.

A present threat of a future Islamic America is why we must never forget.