Interview with Robert Spencer of Jihad Watch.

In one of the most interesting interviews I have ever conducted via email Robert Spencer of the well-received Jihad Watch discusses the ever increasing terrorist threat to the United States, how to defeat sharia law, and his new book. This is the 33rd in JiP's interview series.

From all at Jumping in Pools, we would like to offer our thanks to Mr. Spencer for answering the questions of a few bloggers from the hills of New York, we appreciate it.

Tim Knight - Mr.Spencer, during the eleven months Obama has been in office, has the terrorist threat in the United States increased or decreased?

Robert Spencer - It has sharply increased. 2009 has been a record year for jihad plotting by American citizens and U.S.-based jihadis. A full one-third of the domestic jihad plots that have been uncovered and attacks that have been perpetrated since 9/11 have emerged in 2009. My friend and colleague Steve Emerson of the Investigative Project says: “There’s definitely a rise in jihad recruits and volunteers in the United States, whether they’re concerning plots here in the U.S. or whether they involve material support to terror plots overseas.”

It looks as if the jihadists have been emboldened by Obama’s weakness.

TK - Mr.Spencer, what do you believe was Obama's greatest mistake in his three months of dithering on Afghanistan?

RS - There were so many mistakes, it is hard to choose. He ruled out defeating the Taliban and victory in any sense as part of the objective there, so that our troops are glorified social workers, putting their lives on the line in order to build schools and hospitals that will in many cases be blown up by the Taliban, and will not move the Afghan populace to love us in any case. He has spoken glowingly of the “great religion of Islam,” undercutting the efforts of human rights activists to draw attention to the plight of women and non-Muslims under the rule of Islamic law. He has spoken, with a fantastic disregard for reality, about the “moderate Taliban,” and signaled his willingness to surrender large portions of Afghanistan to the real Taliban, with all their brutality and oppression.

But probably the worst is his casual treatment of American lives. He left the American troops that were already there twisting slowly in the wind while he slowly made his decision.

TK - Mr.Spencer, it appears the radical Islamic sharia law is coming closer and closer to the United States, how do we fight this evil?

RS -

• Enforce existing laws. Section 2385 of the federal criminal code states that “whoever knowingly or willfully advocates, abets, advises, or teaches the duty, necessity, desirability, or propriety of overthrowing or destroying the government of the United States or the government of any State, Territory, District or Possession thereof, or the government of any political subdivision therein, by force or violence, or by the assassination of any officer of any such government...shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both, and shall be ineligible for employment by the United States or any department or agency thereof, for the five years next following his conviction.”

If this law were enforced against Islamic supremacist groups in the United States, the stealth jihad could be stopped in its tracks.

• Reclassify Muslim organizations. Any Muslim group in America that does not explicitly renounce, in transparent and manifest deed as well as word, any intention now or in the future to replace the Constitution of the United States with Islamic Sharia should either be closed or, at a minimum, be classified as a political rather than a religious organization and made subject to all the responsibilities and standards to which political organizations must adhere. Likewise, mosques and Islamic schools should be closely monitored, and any that preach Islamic supremacism in the United States summarily closed.

• Call a moratorium on Muslim immigration into the United States. This is a simple matter of national security. Immigration policy must work toward the integration of all immigrants, and the all-encompassing societal program of Sharia makes the integration of pious Muslims ultimately impossible. While there are undoubtedly millions of Muslims who have no interest in jihad either by violence or stealth, no Islamic authorities anywhere in the world have declared heretical or in any way unacceptable the idea that non-Muslims must be fought against by various means and subjugated under the rule of Islamic law. Unless and until that begins to happen, no one can be sure of the sentiments of any individual believer. Consequently, simply to protect ourselves, there should be a moratorium on Muslim immigration, combined with a clear notice to Muslims in the United States that any action on behalf of Sharia supremacism is unacceptable.

• Take pride in our own culture. We must reject the revisionism and self-hatred that dominates the textbook view of U.S. history and Western civilization today, and recognize that Western culture, threatened in many particulars that we take for granted, is worth defending. American schools should rescue their curriculum from the empty rhetoric of inclusion and multiculturalism, and place a greater emphasis on the study of our own country and of Western civilization. We must re-learn our own history, take pride in it, and revere – not find new ways to deride – those who built the political and legal institutions of this country, with its unrivalled freedoms and solicitude for the individual. As far as the study of Islam goes, we must demand that schools eliminate the misinformation deliberately inserted in textbooks by Islamic interest groups.

TK - Mr.Spencer, Israel is going to have to attack Iran at some point, regardless of what "deal" is made? Iran seeks the destruction of Israel, nothing will stop that. When should Israel launch an attack, and should the United States be involved?

RS - Israel should act sooner rather than later. The longer it waits, the more multifarious and entrenched the Iranian nuclear program is. The United States should certainly be involved, but probably won’t be in this age of Obama. Probably the best thing we can hope for is that the U.S. doesn’t prevent Israel from acting.

TK - Mr.Spencer, tell us a little about your new book with Pamela Geller?

RS - The Post-American Presidency: The Obama Administration’s War On America is a thoroughgoing expose of how Obama is subverting American sovereignty, turning allies into enemies and enemies into allies, acting against the freedom of speech and other Constitutional protections, and carrying out a radical socialist program that could lead the nation to disaster. Right now it will be published in July by the Threshold imprint of Simon and Schuster; in light of the rapid pace of events they may decide to bring it out sooner.

TK - Mr.Spencer, besides for your Neo-Conservative beliefs, what other political opinions do you hold?

RS - I don’t characterize myself as a neo-conservative. The term is elastic and often sloppily used, sometimes with a nasty ethnic undertone. I do believe that America should defend herself when attacked, and value the freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, the equality of all citizens before the law – all of which are under attack today from Islamic jihadists and their far-Left allies.

TK - Mr.Spencer, Wikipedia has become a tool to use against Conservatives such as yourself, and Conservatism as a whole, do we ignore or combat the inaccuracies at Wikipedia?

RS - Certainly my Wikipedia bio is marred with inaccuracies, distortions, and half-truths, placed there in order to give people the worst possible impression of my work. What’s more, I’m told that when people try to edit it to make it more accurate, someone generally erases what they have done within hours. Supporters have told me that it sometimes seems as if the forces supporting jihad, Sharia, and statist Leftism are standing by.

And I’m by no means alone in this – it happens to virtually everyone who is standing against the Leftist/jihadist alliance. And while I am sympathetic to attempts to combat Wikipedia’s inaccuracies, it seems that they are generally futile.

The only real problem regarding Wikipedia is that anyone takes it seriously as a source of information. It seems to me that it would be far easier to explain to people why Wikipedia is worthless than to try to keep any accurate information up there.

TK - Mr.Spencer, the 2012 Presidential election is under three years away, who do you want to run for President?

RS - Anyone who will defend American freedom and stand up against the increasing assault upon our Constitutional rights and protections by the hard Left and their man in the White House.

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