A Must Read: DFW's Khomeini Fest

National Review Online contributor Rod Dreher is on top of a festival in Dallas featuring a controversial (and perhaps dangerous) D.C. imam that is paying "tribute" to the memory of our old pal, the Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran. Dreher is rightfully complaining that coverage of this event ought to be a national priority for the MSM (fat chance). This may have something to do with our failing ability as a nation to remember anything longer than six months. Our run-in with Khomeini took place 25 years ago.

So that a new generation can appreciate "the Great Islamic Visionary" who became the model for so many radical Islamic clerics (and even Osama bin Laden), Dreher has linked to an article by Robert Spencer, director of Jihad Watch, at FrontPageMag.com but includes the following text for the perpetually lazy (you know who you are ... please read this much):

As Khomeini himself put it: "Islam makes it incumbent on all adult males, provided they are not disabled or incapacitated, to prepare themselves for the conquest of countries so that the writ of Islam is obeyed in every country in the world....But those who study Islamic Holy War will understand why Islam wants to conquer the whole world." The goal of this conquest would be to establish the hegemony of Islamic law. As Khomeini put it: "What is the good of us [i.e., the mullahs] asking for the hand of a thief to be severed or an adulteress to be stoned to death when all we can do is recommend such punishments, having no power to implement them?"

What good, indeed? As horrible as it sounds, you have to admire the straightforward logic of such thinking. There isn't much westernized "nuance" to get in the way. The new Islam does not want to be an advisory body to modern governments. It seeks real political power to reshape societies and eliminate those pesky infidels (i.e., us). But wait, there's more:

Khomeini accordingly delivered notorious rebuke to the Islam-is-a-religion-of-peace crowd: "Those who know nothing of Islam pretend that Islam counsels against war. Those [who say this] are witless. Islam says: Kill all the unbelievers just as they would kill you all! Does this mean that
Muslims should sit back until they are devoured by [the unbelievers]? Islam says: Kill them, put them to the sword and scatter [their armies].... Islam says: Whatever good there is exists thanks to the sword and in the shadow of the sword! People cannot be made obedient except with the sword! The sword is the key to Paradise, which can be opened only for the Holy Warriors! There are hundreds of other [Qur'anic] psalms and Hadiths [sayings of the Prophet] urging Muslims to value war and to fight. Does all this mean that Islam is a religion that prevents men from waging war? I spit upon those foolish souls who make such a claim."

True, old AK isn't doing much spitting these days, but there are plenty of followers in his blood-thirsty footsteps who don't mind spitting for him, so in a sense the projectile saliva of the late great Ayatollah still flows. Sad to say, much of it is directed at foolish Americans who fit the description: There are none so blind as those who will not see.

Take the log out of your own eyes by reading both articles, please.