Islamofascist

Islamofascists—Islamic fascists—appear to have replaced terrorists in the lexicon of the Global War on Terrorism.

It would also appear that the world is now engaged in the Global War on Islamofascism (GWOI).

The term appeared June 6, 2003, in the mission statement or anti-com.com:

"anti-com.com is a collaborative effort of, independent, like-minded people, all thoroughly disgusted with authoritarian and totalitarian regimes, groups and their supporters. Western civilization finds itself at the beginning of the 21st century, after the retreat of communist ideologies, facing the forces of a new and perhaps graver reactionary threat. We are all witnessing the violent and disruptive growth of islamofascism, and other purulent ideologies that commit atrocities, enslave populations and pervert religion to pursue an anti-western and particularly anti-American agenda. ...

"Totalitarian communism, islamofacism, anti-globalism, anti-westernism, and other dangerous ideologies must be exposed for the great frauds and threats to human liberty they represent."

Anti-com.com Protest Warrior among its affiliated "Organizations & Projects". On August 17, 2004, the term was employed by Protest Warrior's Kfir Alfia and Alan Lipton in the Manifesto posted on the GOPUSA Forum just before the Republican national convention for the 2004 presidential election:

"Now we face a new threat, Islamo-fascism, a movement that will not stop so long as any outpost of Judeo-Christianity remains.

"It doesn't matter that Islamo-fascist countries have no freedom, no civil liberties, no women's rights, no science, no art, and are controlled by billionaire oligarchs who pay the clerics to keep their people under control; that they are part of the revolutionary struggle against America is all that is required to receive the moral approval of the 'pacifists.'"

And ...

"Ponder the irony of Islamo-fascist groups pouring in from Iran and Syria decrying American 'occupation', knowing full well that we would like nothing better to do than pull out, and it's their actions which necessitate our remaining."

The term appeared in an October 6, 2004, posted by the anonymous Vic at anti-com.com, who wrote:

"The President is no angel, but to consider, much less endorse Kerry as a viable alternative based on his performance last Thursday is not only ridiculous and ignorant, it is stupid and dangerous in the context of the global War on Islamofascism. ... How strange, then, that it is not the nuanced Massachussets intellectual, but the reckless Texas cowboy who understands how to prosecute and win the global War on Islamofascism."

The term has also been attributed to Khalid Durán in an article he wrote for the Washington Times in a reference to Islamist fundamentalists, Albert Scardino wrote February 4, 2005, in the Guardian Unlimited (UK).

"Terrorists" = "extremists" = "fascists"

"You know the White House is getting nervous when the president of the United States starts dropping the 'f-bomb'," Michael Tackett wrote in a Chicago Tribune editorial September 3, 2006.

"And not just him," Tackett wrote. "We've heard it from Vice President Dick Cheney and from Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, among others. So there's not much doubt that this is part of a plan. Few administrations have perfected the notion of a drumbeat better than those in Bush 43."

"The pivot from 'extremists' to 'fascists' suggests that 'extremist' wasn't cutting it in terms of ringing the voters' chimes and summoning support for the war in Iraq, which the president continues to say is the epicenter of the global war on terror. There is increasing evidence that a majority of Americans no longer agree with how the president connects those dots, or his success in fighting either battle."

Examples of use

• "The Islamo-fascists are fighting us on an asymmetrical, global battlefield that spans from Baghdad to Pakistan to Indonesia to the streets of London. To retreat from any battlefront where we are engaged with this enemy is foolish and reckless."—Wade Zirkle, Vets for Freedom Action Fund, August 11, 2006.

• "The recent arrests that our fellow citizens are now learning about are a stark reminder that this nation is at war with Islamic fascists who will use any means to destroy those of us who love freedom, to hurt our nation."—President George W. Bush, Green Bay, Wisconsin, August 10, 2006.

• According to "White House officials", the "central line of attack against Democrats from now through the midterm elections: that the withdrawal being advocated by Democrats would mean thousands of troops would have died for nothing, would give extremists a launching pad from which to build an Islamo-fascist empire and would hand the United States its must humiliating defeat since Vietnam."—Jim Rutenberg and Adam Nagourney, New York Times, June 22, 2006.

• "Should the coalition leave and Iraqi democracy fail, ... Al Qaeda would be emboldened. Terrorist groups would be emboldened. The Islamofascists would be emboldened."—President George W. Bush, March 21, 2006.

• "The connections between the Nazis and the Islamofascists are rooted in more than shared ambitions of world domination and violent methods. ... Consequently, as a practical matter, we have no choice but to fight the Islamofascists, both abroad and at home. Surrender, whether in Iraq or elsewhere, is not an option."—Frank J. Gaffney, Jr., RenewAmerica, March 20, 2006.

• In December 2005, just prior to the emergence of Vets for Freedom, David Horowitz's FrontPageMag.com published the article The party of Defeat by David Bellavia, which attacked the Democratic Party leadership in general—and John Kerry, John Murtha, Howard Dean, and Edward M. Kennedy in particular—and which echoed Bush administration pro-war rhetoric:

"Though soldiers bleed for the right to dissent, we must remember that at times dissent will embolden our desperate Islamofascist enemy, especially when they read accounts of the growing fecklessness of the American people and her policy makers."

• "Some call this evil Islamic radicalism; others, militant Jihadism; still others, Islamo-fascism. Whatever it's called, this ideology is very different from the religion of Islam. This form of radicalism exploits Islam to serve a violent, political vision: the establishment, by terrorism and subversion and insurgency, of a totalitarian empire that denies all political and religious freedom. These extremists distort the idea of jihad into a call for terrorist murder against Christians and Jews and Hinduism|Hindus]] -- and also against Muslims from other traditions, who they regard as heretics."—Speech by President George W. Bush, National Endowment for Democracy, October 6, 2005.

External links

Undated material

• John R. Guardiano, "The U.S. military tells Iraqis the truth, and some call it a 'scandal'," Operation Homefront, accessed August, 14, 2006: "The global war on Islamofascism ultimately is a two-front conflict that must be waged both domestically and overseas."

2004

• Vic, "Bush Destroys Kerry in Foreign Policy Debate," anti-com.com, October 6, 2004.

2005

• Albert Scardino, "1-0 in the propaganda war," Guardian Unlimited (UK), February 4, 2005.
• John Mark Butterworth, "Very little peace to be found in Serenity. Producer of the hit TV series Buffy, the Vampire Slayer and its spin off, Angel, crafts new movie," Spero News, September 28, 2005: "If you're on the Left, you might take this as an allegory of the religious Right, President Bush and the global war on Islamofascism as the US seeks to democratize other nations who may not be eager to adopt Western style government."
• News Release: "President Discusses War on Terror at National Endowment for Democracy," Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, Washington, D.C., October 6, 2005.
• Editorial: "Spitzer and Weld," The New York Sun, December 27, 2005: "For Mr. Spitzer to praise New York as the birthplace of the anti-war movement - at a time when America is in the middle of a global war on Islamofascism in which our existence is at stake - is the worst kind of pandering to the hard-left moveon.org crowd."

2006

March

• Brian Knowlton, "Bush sees no Iraq pullout before '09," International Herald Tribune, March 22, 2006.

June

• Jim Rutenberg and Adam Nagourney, "G.O.P. Decides to Embrace War as Issue," New York Times, June 22, 2006.

July

• "Victor Davis Hanson, Friend of Israel," jeremayakovka.typepad.com, July 6, 2006. re Victor Davi Hanson: "With a lean frame and an even keener mind, he's someone you definitely want to have on your side in a fight -- could be a barfight or the global war on Islamofascism."
• "Country Music is Pro-Israel, When Being Pro-Israel Is Uncool," jeremayakovka.typepad.com, July 22, 2006: "Fortunately, as evidenced at yesterday's Hannity Freedom Concert, such skepticism is easily drowned out by the unabashed patriotism which runs though the American heartland and which doesn't miss a beat when it comes to taking sides with the the world's most righteous nation in the global war on Islamofascism, Israel."
• Mark Eichenlaub, "Indian Islamist terror group had ties to Saddam," Insight Magazine, July 25-31, 2006 (issue); posted July 25, 2006.
• Austin Bay, "What fate for Islamofascism?" Washington Times, July 28, 2006.

August

• "Reuters has found the critical military issue," CDR Salamander Blogspot, August 7, 2006: "Yep, the MSM is on point for you and me. They have found the critical item of importance in the Global War on Islamofascism: t-shirts, ..."
• News Release: "President Bush Discusses Terror Plot Upon Arrival in Wisconsin," Austin Straubel International Airport, Green Bay, Wisconsin, August 10, 2006.
• Amanda Beck, "US Muslims bristle at Bush term 'Islamic fascists'," Reuters, August 10, 2006.
• Joe Cella, "Will the Global War on Islamofascism Impact the 2006 Elections?" RedStateNetwork.com, August 10, 2006.
• Kari Huus and Tom Curry, "The day the enemy became 'Islamic fascists'. The president turns a new phrase to describe the 'war on terrorism'," MSNBC, August 11, 2006.
• James Boyce, "Can I Ask a Dumb Question? What's An Islamic Fascist?" The Huffington Post, August 11, 2006.
• Robert Parry, "The Bush-Bin Laden Symbiosis," consortiumnews.com, August 11, 2006.
• Lisa Miller, "Escalation in Terminology. When President Bush described a war against 'Islamic fascists,' some American Muslims became very angry," Newsweek (MSNBC), August 12, 2006.
• Editorial: "It's fascism," Washington Times, August 12, 2006.
• Richard Allen Greene, "Bush's language angers US Muslims," BBC, August 12, 2006.
• Enver Masud, Op-Ed: "'Islamo-fascism' is an Oxymoron," The Wisdom Fund (Al Jazeera), August 12, 2006.
• Cal Thomas, "The Islamofascism War," Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, August 13, 2006.
• David E. Sanger, "News Analysis: 'Islamic fascists'? Bush sees a war of ideology," New York Times (International Herald Tribune), August 13, 2006.
• "Kean, Hamilton: Iraq War a Mistake," NewsMax, August 13, 2006.
• Jay Tea, "Naming Names," Wizbang! Blog, August 13, 2006.
• Letters to the editor: "Terrorism, not Islam, behind bomb threat," The Enquirer (Cincinnati, OH), August 13, 2006.
• Timothy R. Furnish, "'Islamic Fascism': Well, It’s Half Right," History News Network, August 14, 2006.
• Daniel Pipes, "At War With Islamic Fascists," FrontPageMag.com, August 14, 2006.
• "Christian Right and 'Islamo-Facism' by Dan Jennejohn," Age of Tyranny News, August 15, 2006.
• Jonathan Cook, "Suddenly, I'm an 'Islamic Fascist'," The Palestine Chronicle, August 15, 2006.
• Abdus Sattar Ghazali, Opinion: "From crusade to Islamic fascism," Milli Gazette Online (India) and Al-Jazeerah, August 16, 2006.
• Geoffrey Nunberg, Opinion: "'Islamo-Creeps' Would Be More Accurate. President Bush refers to Muslim terrorists as 'fascists.' Does he know what he's talking about?" Los Angeles Times, August 17, 2006.
• Dale Franks, "...And a Rain of Frogs, and Flaming Hail Mixed With Blood," The QandO Blog, August 19, 2006.
• Evan Thomas, "The New Age of Terror. Soldiers in the war on terror have learned much since 9/11. So, too, has the enemy. How the London plot was foiled—and where we are in the five-year struggle," Newsweek (MSNBC), August 21-28, 2006 (issue).
• Katha Pollitt, "Unfortunate Word Choice. The Nation: There's A Lot Wrong With Bush's Use Of The Term 'Islamo-Fascism'," The Nation (CBS News), August 25, 2006; "The Trouble with Bush's 'Islamofascism'," AlterNet, August 26, 2006: "If you thought the War on Terror was bad, get ready for the international disasters that the 'war on Islamic fascism' will produce."
• Thom Hartmann, "Reclaiming The Issues: Islamic Or Republican Fascism?" Common Dreams, August 28, 2006.

September

• Michael Tackett, Editorial: "There is desperation in the air," Chicago Tribune, September 3, 2006.
• Joe Gandelman, "Baggage, Fighting Fascism And Donald Rumsfeld," The Moderate Voice, September 4, 2006.

• This article uses content from Islamofascist on SourceWatch.