-- Amil Imani

Just recently two tickets and invitation had arrived for me to attend an important event on Sunday, May 3, 2015, an occurrence with major repercussions that few would have imagined but that underscored the occasion’s significance. The tickets came in an envelope from fellow counter-jihadist and friend Pamela Geller of the American Freedom Defense Initiative.

Risking the violation of political correctness, decades of closely and carefully studying Islam, has led me to the following observation: Islam is a socio-cultural viral disease that invades any vulnerable host with its malignancy, while simultaneously devouring its own adherents.

From Northern Iraq to Northeastern Syria, from Nairobi, Kenya to Benghazi, Libya, from Lahore, Pakistan to the rugged mountains of Mali and Afghanistan, militant Muslims have executed tens of thousands of their fellow Muslims and are on a killing rampage against Christians. The world is shocked and distressed.

For decades, I have been sounding the alarm about the ever-increasing menace Islam is posing to America and our way of life. Apathy, political correctness, and massive Islamic lobbying have successfully prevented the public from truly grasping the all-pervasive Islamic assault.

Freedom of speech, a right greatly cherished by a free people, is an area where Islamic forces are attacking with great effectiveness.

Individuals who dare to voice the truth about Islam, its barbaric Sharia laws and savage practices are subjected to harassment, threatened with and subjected to ruinous lawsuits. Businesses and organizations with the slightest deviation from the Islamic dictates face boycotts and the loss of media advertising sponsors.

Some keep calling Obama weak, particularly in dealing with foreign policy. He is seen as a vacillating and indecisive person who always opts to run away from problems rather than take a stand and solve them. Now, these are all perceptions. In the interest of fairness, we should go with facts. A good case that clearly refutes these allegations about Obama is the way he is handling the Crimea crisis.

Once again Nowruz--the ancient Persian Festival of the New Year--is here. Nowruz is the celebration of renewal and regeneration of life. Nowruz is the bearer of glad tidings for a better year ahead for all of humankind. It is in the spirit of Nowruz that Persians, as well as many other ethnic co-celebrators, greet one another with good wishes and extend a hand of friendship to all. It is in the spirit of Nowruz that I offer my sincere best wishes to everyone, with particular humility to those magnificent prisoners of conscience who are languishing in the dungeons of the Islamic Republic of Iran instead of celebrating the occasion in the bosom of their families and their loved-ones.