Sort Of At Gunpoint

An American convert to Islam, Adam Gadahn, joins Al Qaeda #2 Ayman Al Zawahiri in "inviting" Americans to convert as well - and subtly warning us of the consequences if we don't.

CAIRO, Egypt Sep 2, 2006 (AP)— An American thought to be an al-Qaida activist appeared in a videotape with the terror group's deputy leader Saturday and called on his countrymen to convert to Islam and for U.S. soldiers to switch sides in the Iraq and Afghan wars.

The 48-minute video, posted on an Islamic militant Web site, had footage of al-Qaida's No. 2 leader, Ayman al-Zawahri, and of Adam Yehiye Gadahn, a 28-year-old American who the FBI believes attended al-Qaida training camps in Pakistan and served as an al-Qaida translator.

Kind of like the invitations that Fox reporter Steve Centanni and cameraman Olaf Wiig got.

The video included no direct threats of terror attacks.

Gadahn delivered a lecture on Islam and the "errors" in Christianity and Judaism. He also said the United States is losing the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and told U.S. soldiers they are fighting President Bush's "crusades."

"Instead of killing yourself for Bush … why not surrender to the truth (of Islam), escape from the unbelieving army and join the winning side. Time is running out so make the right choice before it's too late," he said.

"Before it's too late" sounds quite a bit like a direct threat, doesn't it?  Muslim teaching dictates that you "invite" the infidels to convert to Islam and follow the true path ... before you slaughter them. Some claim that this is not true, that true jihad is peaceful.  Others disagree.

Gadahn claims in the video that the Muslims are winning.  John Hinderaker at Power Line sees a parallel with an earlier totalitarian ideology.

I found Gadahn's reference to Islam as the "winning side" interesting. I think that today's Muslim imperialists have the same conviction that their victory is historically ordained that once sustained the Communists. Back in the days when I hung out with Communists, they used to say that the best motivation for a convert to their cause was a desire to be on the winning side. At that time, of course, lots of people believed that Communism was the wave of the future. Even some anti-Communists, like Whittaker Chambers, thought that Communism, in the end, probably couldn't be stopped.

Someone--if I could remember who, I'd credit him--wrote recently that the Islamic terrorism we are now experiencing is analogous to the Bolshevik and anarchist terrorism of the early years of the 20th century. If that's true, we have a long road ahead of us. Europe will very likely succumb to Islam in the years to come, for reasons of demography and spiritual and intellectual exhaustion. But Americans are no more interested in converting to Islam than they were in adopting socialism. And Americans not only are more stubborn about such things than Europeans, they are also better at reproducing.

Me?  Like Matt Damon in Good Will Hunting, "I'm holding out for something better."

9/3/06 1040: Speaking of Centanni and Wiig, the group that took them plans to force more conversions at gunpoint.  Nice.  Islam must not be an otherwise attractive religion, if its adherents have to threaten non-Muslims with death to get them to consider converting.