MAY 3, 2015 |
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Islamic
Extremism |
Our guest
hour 1:
Ambassador
Francis Rooney |
hour 2:
Kristen
Ruell |
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www.FRANCISROONEY.COM
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Francis
Rooney served as United States
Ambassador to the Holy See under George
W. Bush from 2005–2008. He is Chief
Executive Officer of Rooney Holdings,
Inc.
In his new book, THE GLOBAL VATICAN,
Ambassador Rooney provides an
unprecedented inside look at the
Catholic Church, its role in world
politics and diplomacy, and the
extraordinary relationship between the
United States and the Holy See.
Ambassador Rooney serves as a member of
the Advisory Board of the Panama Canal
Authority, a member of the Council of
American Ambassadors, and a Trustee of
the Center for the Study of the
Presidency and Congress. He is a
graduate of Georgetown University and
Georgetown University Law Center. He
also has Honorary Degrees from the
University of Notre Dame and the
University of Dallas. |
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Book: |
From
the centuries-long prejudices against Catholics in
America, to the efforts of Fascism, Communism and
modern terrorist organizations to “break the cross
and spill the wine,” this book brings to life the
Catholic Church’s role in world history,
particularly in the realm of diplomacy. Former U.S.
ambassador to the Holy See Francis Rooney provides a
comprehensive guide to the remarkable path the
Vatican has navigated to the present day, and a
first-person account of what that path looks and
feels like from an American diplomat whose
experience lent him the ultimate insider’s
perspective. Part memoir, part historical lesson,
The Global Vatican captures the braided nature of
religious and political power and the complexities,
battles, and future prospects for the relationship
between the Holy See and the United States as both
face challenges old and new. |
Click to purchase book |
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SHOW INFORMATION: |
ISIS, Islamic Extremism, and
the Long War
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By Ambassador Francis Rooney |
Regardless of various opinions about the United
States’ military engagements in Iraq and Afghanistan
since 2001, I would argue that President Bush’s
words to a joint session of Congress on 20 September
of that year ring just as true and valuable now: “We
are a country awakened to danger and called to
defend freedom” against an onslaught by terrorists
practicing “a fringe form of Islamic extremism”.
Recent unconscionable acts of violence by Islamic
militants, including beheadings and burnings alive
not heard of for hundreds of years, demand broad and
possibly unique means of response and concerted
action by the modern world. Certainly the “overseas
contingency operation” with which the Obama
Administration replaced the “Global War on Terror”
in May 2009 has failed to accomplish the task. Now
ISIS leaders openly threaten to “conquer your Rome,
break your crosses and enslave your women.”
Not since the Communist state of Stalin, or perhaps
the Third Reich, have we faced such a potential, or
at least self-proclaimed, existential threat to the
modern world. It required a half century of
containment to mutate the former and a brutal world
war to eradicate the latter.
The religious inspiration behind ISIS, Taliban,
Al-Qaeda, and affiliated groups add a different face
to the movements which call for responses broader
than purely military activity. Recalling President
Truman’s unsuccessful effort to draw the world’s
religions into the fight against communism, we need
to draw religious leaders from all
traditions—especially the vast majority of Muslims
who do not align themselves with the medieval
barbarism of the terrorists—into open and concerted
action in opposition to the threat posed here.
In the early 1950s, Truman found only one group, the
Catholic Church, willing to broadly and openly
attack communism. In 2006, it was Pope Benedict XVI
who spoke out more clearly and aggressively against
the evil of using religion to inspire hatred and
violence—and of the fundamental incompatibility of
the Prophet’s command to “spread the word by the
sword” with the way of life in the modern 21st
century. He urged the Islamic world to reconcile the
Koran with modernity, to bring reason to its
interpretations just as the Enlightenment did for
theocratic monarchies in the 18th century. He made
it clear that moderate Muslims must take
responsibility for their own religion.
And while there have been some encouraging comments,
inter-religious dialogues, and op-eds to this
effect, we are still in the early stages of a
protracted struggle for the minds of heretofore not
radicalized muslims. The “soft power” of religious
opinion makers is an important factor. In fact, some
have argued as Ambassador Charles Freeman (USFS,
Ret.) has that “only a coalition with a strong
Muslim identity can hope to contain” the terrorists.
He argues that the doctrines of ISIS cannot be
successfully refuted by non-Muslims because the U.S.
“lacks the religious credentials to refute” Islamic
terrorist groups as “a moral perversion of Islam.”
The lack of cultural integration in different
nations’ societies also presents a major challenge.
Whether it is European “multiculturalism,” or an
affirmative prejudice, the lack of alignment of many
Muslim groups with the national identities and
cultures of their countries has created a breeding
ground for radicalization. Here is where our unique
American “exceptionalism” can show the light. Our
“melting pot” tradition of assimilation of diverse
peoples has created—despite some bumps in the road—a
uniquely broad and culturally tolerant society. And
the related concept of citizenship based on
residence and personal actions rather than blood and
lineage can serve as a powerful model.
As the world gropes for solutions, it has become
clear that concerted action by the modern world,
akin to the Allied Powers’ collaborative actions to
confront the Axis, is absolutely necessary. Spain
and France recently passed bi-partisan laws granting
expansive powers to the authorities to monitor and
interdict internet connectivity with radical Islamic
sites, to isolate and track down “lone wolf”
terrorists, and to restrict and contain travel to
and from places of known terrorist activities.
Modifying the Schengen visa program and putting in
place tightened border security are issues to
consider as means of improving tracking of known
terrorist suspects.
Lastly, we should consider a “containment” and
isolation program to ring fence the terrorist
geographies, turn them onto themselves and limit
their capacity to export murder beyond their
borders. In so doing, perhaps we can help assure
that their neighbors who are our allies in all this
(especially Jordan) are reinforced and protected.
Turkey has a powerful role to play both because of
their long land border with Syria and Iraq, and due
to the complexities presented by the PKK in Turkey
and the evolution of Kurdistan and its Peshmerga,
which are capable fighters and allies of the West.
Only a comprehensive strategy can turn the tide and
lead us to ultimate victory in the Long War.
—Francis Rooney served as U.S. Ambassador to the
Holy See under George W. Bush from 2005 to 2008, and
is author of the book, The Global Vatican.
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Our guest hour 2:
Kristen
Ruell |
APPEARANCES:
MAY 3, 2015
MAY
10, 2015
AUG 9,
2015
FEB
14, 2016 |
Philadelphia VA Whistleblower
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