FIFTH COLUMN ALERT: "How governments need to deal more effectively with their Muslim populations"

The subtitle for this article could be: "You do the work, and we'll reap the benefits."

What I am referring to is a very disappointing op-ed from Mansoor Ijaz, a brilliant man, born in America, to Muslim parents from Pakistan who became university scientists. He networks with consummate skill and finds out what is going on in the Islamic terror world long before most people do.

For some reason, Mansoor Ijaz has reissued his older op-ed piece, from April 25, 2004, originally published in the Los Angeles Times. What is in that op-ed cannot go unchallenged.

IJAZ: Muslim extremism's increasingly present face in Western societies is largely the result of a political failure of governments that are losing the battle for the hearts and minds of those who find the message of Al Qaeda's leaders more appealing than that of Tony Blair, George W. Bush or Spain's recently unseated prime minister, Jose Maria Aznar.

Disappointingly, the finger of blame points away from Muslims and Islam. It is back to impossible causes such as Blair, Bush, and Aznar. No, it isn't the fault of these heads of state. The fault lies right in the heart of the Muslim ghettos in America and the West. They preach Islam, a full philosophy devoted to nihilism. Young people quest for a philosophy to help them understand life. Islam gives them something they accept as an "understanding," but it serves to turn their impetuous youth into "killbots" solely to preserve, protect, and further Islam.

I am not lying or exaggerating. What I am saying about Islam, Islam says about itself. It is all there in Islamic core doctrines, easily available for purchase. I bought. I read. I concluded.

Unlike Muslims, I take responsibility for what is in my mind and how I behave. I have sought out and found proper philosophy for understanding and engaging life, and have spent a lifetime implementing it. Al Qaeda could not be more alien to me now or at the worst of my impetuous youth. Ideas move men. Men move cultures. Cultures move civilizations. Therefore, ideas create civilizations (or destroy them). It "ain't" hard to understand. Raphael Patai in his magnificent book, The Arab Mind, describes this mindset and thinking of Muslims to avoid any meaningful self-responsibility.

IJAZ: So why are Muslim citizens in Western countries hesitant to do more to help unearth extremists hidden in their communities? It's a combination of frustration, apathy, fear of overreaching authorities and a sense of helplessness to do anything about poorly crafted government policies..

IJAZ: In the United States, Muslim citizens who want to help rid their communities of extremist elements are afraid and increasingly angry. Those who venture into the nearest Federal Bureau of Investigation office to offer a helping hand are often met with suspicion about their motives. Also, their communities often brand them "Uncle Abdullahs" for betraying the Muslim cause.

Now, why would anyone feel distrust about Muslims? Could it be their dedication to hudna, taqiyya, kitman, and Muhammad's dictum regarding jihad, "War is deception"? Could it be that Muslims have an indelible track record of deceit and treachery, spanning more than 14 centuries? Could it be that Islam itself as doctrine has never changed from the beginning and encites Muslims to behave treacherously? Could it be that Muslims in America who supposedly support America sit on their hands and keep mum instead of voicing their support for America and castigating their own ne'er-do-wells? Could it be that the ones who do speak and write and have the fawning attention of the media are universally anti-American?

What's missing in Muslim communities is fortitude and integrity, if they want to shed the widely held opinion that Muslims are either overt jihadists or covert jihadists. They are like black communities terrorized by young thug blacks and too lacking in moral certainty to kick these thugs into the oblivion they deserve, so they suffer in self-sacrificial silence, just as Islam teaches them.

IJAZ: Political leadership is needed to put an end to this senseless cycle of mistrust. Some suggestions that can help:

• Invite Muslims into government. Appoint Muslims to sensitive defense,intelligence and foreign affairs postings. If threats are emanating from people who claim Islam as their religious guidance, who better to help gather and assess raw intelligence and formulate prudent policies than Muslim citizens?

• Improve community outreach. Mothers need to be asked to form local Muslim equivalents of the Rotary Clubs of America; teenagers and teachers need to work more closely with civic groups populated by other, non-Muslim, citizens to improve communication and integration. Imams need to be vetted by moderate Muslims to ensure they don't spew violence and hatred at prayer gatherings.

• Start Neighborhood Watch programs in Muslim areas run by willing community articipants. Muslim community leaders need to spend time with law enforcement officials, inviting them into mosques, homes, schools and businesses to gain a better understanding of Islam and its practices. Similarly, law enforcement needs to bring Muslims into its ranks and explain, in culturally and religiously sensitive terms, what help is being sought and what assistance can be offered.

All of these suggestions imply that it is up to us to do the changing. As a very typical American, I would care nothing about whether Abdullah is Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, or atheist--as long as Abdullah respected my RIGHTS! Rights come from the nature of man, not some vile collection of alleged revelations called a Koran. Rights come from reality. Islam comes from evil epistemology and psychoepistemology of arch-conservative power-mad fiends. Islam is not reality.

So, I am to change? NO! I won't. If these Muslims want to live in MY country, they can assimilate and become Americans. They can adopt our principles and follow our laws. If they want to kiss a rug five times a day, I could care less. I will not become them for hosts of very valid reasons. Nor will other Americans be willing to change. Change in this case means doing and becoming something we are not, and that something is wrong.

Until these Muslims show they can be trusted, they have no business in government, military, or any positions of trust.

For me to trust them, they must start by forsaking Islam. There can be no "moderate Islam" or "moderate Muslims" because of the completely philosophy of Islam.

I am not a Christian, I hasten to add, but I do not feel this way about Christians because their Christianity poses no existential threat to my values. Islam does.

IJAZ: Islam's lunatic fringe, embodied by Al Qaeda's message of hate and fear, has never respected state boundaries or the duties imposed by citizenship in free and democratic societies. It is time for European and American political leaders to redress this disconcerting trend by inspiring their Muslim citizens to join the fight against terror and extremism before more of our youth fall into the abyss of fanaticism.

It is time for the Mansoor Ijazs to do this. Political leaders are worthless. Muslims will listen to Muslims. Those who allege that they are "moderate" should get very public, very often. We should see Muslims getting off their dead prayer rugs and taking part in America properly. We must see Muslims declare publicly, often and individually, that they take responsbility for changing themselves. Their welfare is their responsibility. That is the way it is for us, and that is the way it must be for them.