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| Europe |
| Two German States vs. Islamism |
| 2006-01-03 |
| By Daniel Pipes, through Jewish World Review The interior ministers of two German states have recently advanced important measures for containing radical Islam. They bear close attention across the West. In Baden-Wurtenberg, Heribert Rech (of the ruling Christian Democratic Union party) has overseen the administering of a 30-topic loyalty test for applicants to become naturalized citizens. Following an intensive and sophisticated study by the Baden-Wurtenberg government of Muslim life, it developed a manual for the naturalization authorities explaining that applicants for citizenship must concur with the "free, democratic, constitutional structure" of Germany. So they are asking would be citizens if they agree with the basic tenants of the government that they will live under for the rest of their lives. Novel idea for Western bureaucrats. Mark this one on the calendar. Because survey research finds that 21 percent of Muslims living in Germany believe the German constitution irreconcilable with the Koran, the written yes-no questions of yesteryear are history for Muslim applicants for citizenship. As of January 1, 2006, immigration officers who suspect Islamist leanings are instructed to probe further. Personal interviews will now last an hour or two and will be given to an estimated half of naturalization applicants. That is EXACTLY what governments should be doing, instead of bringing in potential welfare *ahem* clients and jihadi nutbags. If the immigrants don't like the culture, they can immigrate to say, Pakistan, or Yemen, Sudan, or Somalia, where there is plenty of entropy to go around. The questions amount to a summary of Western values. What do you think of democracy, political parties, religious freedom? What would you do if you learned about a terrorist operation underway? Views of 9/11 are a "key issue," says Dieter Biller, director of the alien registration office in Stuttgart: Were Jews responsible for it? Were the 19 hijackers terrorists or freedom fighters? Finally, nearly two-thirds of the questions concern gender issues such as women's rights, husbands beating wives, "honor killings," female attire, arranged marriages, polygyny, and homosexuality. The only fly in the ointment is that the would-be immigrants might get a crib card to fake the answers to the questions, thereby getting a passing grad from a clerk in the government dealing with the case. The government will have to think that one through, IMHO. Responding to critics, the interior ministry denies discrimination against Muslims, insisting on the need to find out whether the applicants' expressed views on the German constitution correspond to their real views. Applicants who pass the test and are granted citizenship could later lose that citizenship if they act inconsistently with their "correct" answers. Should apply to any immigrants. Same with the US. Condi, please take notes. Expect the ACLU to have a heart murmor, but no biggie. Extra requirements of Muslim applicants for citizenship is not unique to Germany; in Ireland for example, male candidates are made to swear that they will not marry more than one wife. But when it's OK to lie to Infidels, then swearing a statement like that is a comedian's throwaway line. The second initiative originates in Lower Saxony, where the interior minister, Uwe SchÃŒnemann (also a CDU member), has stated he would consider making radical Islamists wear electronic foot tags. Doing so, he says, would allow the authorities "to monitor the approximately 3,000 violence-prone Islamists in Germany, the hate preachers [i.e., Islamist imams], and the fighters trained in foreign terrorist camps." Electronic tags, he suggested, are practical "for violence-prone Islamists who can't be expelled to their home countries because of the threat of torture" there. LOL! You be bad, so you gotta wear a toe tag. Don't worry, though, we won't send you back to the sh*thole you came from because we do not want you to be humiliated or sold for spare parts. The electronic tagging of terror suspects is also not unprecedented. In the United Kingdom, the method has been used since March 2005 and, other than a glitch-plagued start, it has been applied to ten suspects with reasonable success. In Australia, counterterrorism measures implemented last month permit tagging for up to a year. Booting them out would also get the attention of the rest. Civilization cannot win the war against radical Islam by being PC. But SchÃŒnemann's proposal goes well beyond these applications, tagging not just potential terrorists but also "hate preachers" who break the law not by personally engaging in violence but by articulating beliefs that encourage others to terrorism. Tagging them breaks new conceptual ground by aggressively going to the ideological source of violence. Tagging or bagging the hate preachers. Works for me. It has potentially large implications. If hate preachers are tagged, why not the many other non-violent Islamists who also help create an environment promoting terrorism? Their ranks would include activists, artists , computer gamers, couriers, funders, intellectuals, journalists, lawyers, lobbyists, organizers, researchers, shopkeepers and teachers. In short, SchÃŒnemann's initiative could lead ultimately to the electronic tagging of all Islamists. Sounds logical to me, could be abused. Have to watch for that. Booting them out sounds like a more viable and economic solution, otherwise they will be a lifetime drain on society. Paying for your enemies to hang around, ya know, is kinda stupid. But electronic tags reveal only a person's geographic location, not his words or actions, which matter more when dealing with imams and other non-violent cadres. With due allowances for personal privacy, their speech could be recorded, their actions videoed, their mail and electronic communications monitored. Such controls could be done discreetly or overtly. If overt, the tagging would serve as a modern scarlet letter, shaming the wearer and alerting potential dupes. The SchÃŒnemann proposal points to the urgent need to develop a working definition of Islamism and Islamists, plus the imperative for the authorities to explain how even non-violent Islamists are the enemy. That should not be hard to do. Hire the Rantburg Consulting group. Dan Darling, are you available? [***snip the rest***] |
| Posted by:Alaska Paul |
| #13 ...which in turn makes it easier to deport the shit disturbers. |
| Posted by: Rafael 2006-01-03 23:39 |
| #12 Applicants who pass the test and are granted citizenship could later lose that citizenship if they act inconsistently with their "correct" answers. Something isn't right here. If you accept German citizenship, you automatically lose any other you may have. It's one or the other and not both. But there's also a law that says you can't make a person "stateless", meaning you can't take away a person's citizenship if he has no other. Most countries subscribe to this idea. So... this is probably meant more as a disincentive for undesirables applying for citizenship, and obtaining the protections this implies. |
| Posted by: Rafael 2006-01-03 23:38 |
| #11 JFM is French, Bobby. TGA (True German Ally) hasn't been around since Angela Merkel was elected. He's a nice Jewish German, survived first the Nazi concentration camps, then the Soviet ones, and has been know to advise government figures on stuff. He was the one who told Sec. Rumsfeld about Rantburg. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2006-01-03 21:01 |
| #10 Waitaminute, Seafarious! Are you suggesting JFM is one of those German politicians? As I live and breathe! Es tut mir leid, JFM! Bon Chance. (I ferget the German.....) |
| Posted by: Bobby 2006-01-03 20:23 |
| #9 Shineng, those fucks are so burt they will probably jump at the chance to tell the interviewer all about how fucked up the Germ constitution is. They think people believe that shit that spews out of their mouths. |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2006-01-03 19:04 |
| #8 All interviews should be conducted by women in short skirts. |
| Posted by: Jake-the-Peg 2006-01-03 18:21 |
| #7 Actually many, possibly most, Muslims do not know very much about Kitman and Takiyya and will probably freak out during the citizen tests. |
| Posted by: mhw 2006-01-03 15:48 |
| #6 Nobody expects muslims to tell the truth. Instead it sets up a grounds for fast track revocation of citizenship and deportation when they engage in behavior contrary to what they claimed in the citizenship interview. |
| Posted by: ed 2006-01-03 15:12 |
| #5 Machts nicht. Since Islam says it's OK to lie to further the aim of Islam, why does anyone think they'd get true answers? |
| Posted by: Shineng Wheatch7345 2006-01-03 15:08 |
| #4 I suggest also a tatoo of the letter F be made on their foreheads. F for fools. |
| Posted by: Mahou Sensei Negi-bozu 2006-01-03 15:04 |
| #3 We miss you here, TGA. But at least your time away from RB is being used wisely. |
| Posted by: Seafarious 2006-01-03 14:24 |
| #2 Recommend our entry plan be contingent upon honorable discharge from the US Military, any branch. No further questions asked. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2006-01-03 14:18 |
| #1 A toe tag sends a very subtle, very powerful message. |
| Posted by: BH 2006-01-03 14:04 |