Islamists insist that Islam is the best religion on earth, although it is extremely intolerant, denigrates women, and incites hatred and violence. They preach that if you accept our “religion,” which is the “Word of Allah,” we can enter into a dialogue with you.

How can you enter into a dialogue with someone who denies your tenets and principles of religious freedom, and preaches uncivilized practices?

Only when the West starts recognizing a spade is a spade, such a dialogue could start making sense – otherwise, it is propagandistic and futile.

via Family Security Matters » Publications » Exclusive: The West is Naïve, Greedy, and Cowardly When it Comes to Appeasing Islamists.

Somehow I think Obama is going to call the sword a tool of peace or a spade a heart.  Why? You tell me.  I’ll give my opinion on the June 3rd and June 5th.  But I’d like to hear your thoughts prior to this.

Those who object to the idea that Islam was spread by the sword are not at war with Pope Benedict but with history. What are now called Muslim lands used to be Christian, Jewish and Zoroastrian lands. Force was the key element in the rapid expansion of the caliphate in the century between the death of Muhammad in 632 and the Muslim defeat at the hands of the Franks in the Battle of Tours in 732 in what is now southern France. The rules of engagement were laid down in the Hadith Sahih Muslim 19:4294, which instructs Muslims to offer any unbelievers they encounter three choices: to convert, pay tribute or be forcibly subjugated.

The martial underpinnings of Muslim expansion conveniently are summarized in the flag of Saudi Arabia, which features the Shahada, the first pillar of Islam, underlined by a sword. According to the Web site of the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the sword was added in 1906, “symbolizing the military successes of Islam” as well as those of founding King Ibn Saud.

via EDITORIAL: The Pope and Islam – Washington Times.

Let us not squander what our soldiers have fallen in combat to give us and those around us.  They don’t fight without cause, they may fight for their brother next to them, but for those of us at home remember they fight for us, our families, and our futures too.