The Extremist Agenda

We were last attacked on our home soil over 5 years ago and it is easy for people to get into their day to day life and forget we are at war with Muslim extremists. Well, last night talk radio host Glenn Beck aired a show on CNN titled The Extremist Agenda to remind us (the link goes to a transcript if video becomes available I'll update).

I won't attempt to summarize Beck's program, but his main purpose was to let people see what we are up against and how the extremism is passed on to the youth. Here in the introduction to the show he explains how he decided to do this tv special.

BECK: A few months ago my producers showed me a video of Islamic extremists leading a massive rally against Israel and the U.S. in the Middle East. It shocked me to my core. Not just because of the size of the crowds and the depth of their hatred, but it was beyond that. Here I am. I`m a guy who`s in the U.S. media, and I had never seen that video before. That is when I made the decision to create this hour- long special devoted to exposing everything that I had seen, and everything that you are not seeing.

In just a minute, we`re going to start by airing some unbelievable propaganda used by extremists. But first, I want to make a couple of very important points about what you are going to see in the next hour.

No. 1, and you`ve heard me say this over and over again: I am not a journalist. More importantly, I don`t pretend to be one. I have also been extremely honest with you every step of the way if you watch this program every night.

I am a conservative, so when you hear me talk about anything from politics to religion to, yes, Islamic extremists, you have to understand that I express my opinions fully, no matter what anybody else thinks, like it or not, right through that prism.

I also want to make it clear that this next hour is not a balanced perspective on Islam or the Middle East, but it is an important part of the story. It has to be understood and seen if we`re ever truly going to accomplish balanced coverage.

Finally, the video you are going to see tonight is from all over the Middle East, people that are involved in many different conflicts. But there is one common thread: they all use religion to justify their hatred. And it all starts with one of most important weapons that they have in their arsenal: the weapon of propaganda.

Many of us have rightly criticized CNN for being confused about whose side they are on in the war. However, I have to give them credit for airing this special. I don't know how many people watched the show but no one could watch it and not understand the nature of the enemy we face. I laughed at people who said after 911 that we need to understand why they hate us, but now I agree people need to understand why they hate us. They hate us because they are taught from childhood on by their religious leaders that they should.