Harpoon's Recipe for 'Peace'

Harpoon Siddiqui, who I've come to think of as the Tariq Ramadan of the Toronto Star if not of Canada, has not a shred of doubt about what's motivating Muslims to want to blow up scads of infidels--and it has nothing to do with Islam's core (and animating) principle (which, oddly enough, he doesn't cite): jihad is the way, sharia is the goal. No, the reason for the Shahzads and Hassans and Abdulmuttalubs is--wait for it--kafir belligerence, our mucking about where we don't belong, in lands that have been squared away for Allah. "To end terrorism," reads the headline over Harpoon's latest in the newsprint version of the paper, "get out of Muslim lands." (The online header is somewhat more anodyne.)

That's it. That's the whole recipe. Am-scray, vamoose, getouttatown, and "terrorism" will magically disappear:

It goes without saying that democratic societies need to be alert, that security forces need to do what they must and that the Shahzads of this world be dealt with severely under the criminal justice system. But it’s increasingly clear that terrorism is not likely to end until the U.S. and its allies end the military occupation of Muslim lands and stop the killing, maiming and displacing of tens of thousands of Muslims.

He's right in a way--at least in theory. Islamic Utopianism holds that once the infidel submits and Islam prevails both near and far, there will be "peace." In reality, though, even were infidels to retreat and, ultimately, submit, terrorism would still be a going concern as various Islamic factions vied for supremacy and tried to atomize each other.

Harpoon is hoping you'll ignore Islam's history of conquest by the sword, i.e. the jihad both past and present. Why not drop him a line and tell him that, all things considered, you prefer to move into the future with your head not parked up your butt (the prefered noggin positioning of those wracked by liberal guilt, i.e. the bulk of Toronto Star readership).

Update: It's because they want to kill us, stupid