Posted by
Bert Chapman on Wednesday, June 06, 2007 11:29:26 AM
One of the most remarkable developments in the ongoing intellectual and moral struggle against Islamist terror is the emergence of Ayaan Hirsi Ali. She was born in Somalia and later emigrated to the Netherlands where she became a member of the Dutch Parliament becoming an advocate for greater rights for Muslim women and promoting the assimilation of Muslims into Dutch culture. She achieved notoriety for collaborating with the late Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh in making the documentary film Submission about how repressive Islamic cultures degrade and oppress women. This film incurred the wrath of the Dutch Tabliban School of Cinematography resulting in Van Gogh's murder and Hirsi being placed under police guard. In an all to familiar show of spineless appeasement of Islamist extortion, the Dutch government eventually decided it would be easier on them if Ayaan Hirsi Ali left the Netherlands.
The Dutch loss is America's gain. Ali is a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute where she researches the relationship between Islam and the West, women's rights in Islam, Islam's role in Europe, and violence against women stemming from religious and cultural arguments. She is the author of two books Infidel and The Caged Virgin: An Emancipation Proclamation for Women and Islam.
She is justifably critical of the role of Islam in promoting terrorism, suppressing women, and seeking to intimidate opponents. An unfortunate by product of this belief is her secularism. Nevertheless, she is a force of courage, passion, and reason freedom loving countries and individuals should look at with appreciation in the years to come. She could drive her Islamist enemies even more crazy by converting to Christianity. That would be the ultimate intellectual and moral coupe de grace against her critics.
You can learn more about Ayaan Hirsi Ali and read some of her work at
http://www.aei.org/scholars/filter.all,scholarID.117/scholar.aspIn a world where far to many people have naive and ignorant beliefs about the true nature of the Islamist enemy, Ayaan Hirsi Ali is a welcome breath of fresh air and uncompromising realism.