The Rev. Shahram Hadian introduced Christopher Holton, vice president of the Center for Security Policy, who told tonight’s audience in the Lincoln Auditorium it was his first trip to Idaho. “I wish that I was here for a more pleasant reason,” Holton said. “I go around the country and I talk about the threat from Jihad. People have a headache” after they hear his talks, he said.

“Fifteen years now, we’ve made an effort to not understand the enemy … and it’s a doggone shame, because the enemy tells us ... what he’s going to do,” Holton said. “If you researched what they say to each other and what they write to each other, it’s plain as day.”

He quoted from what he said was an Islamic State communiqué from 2014, saying, “’Kill the disbeliever whether he is civilian or military.’ … So they make no distinction between civilian and military. … ‘Smash his head with a rock or slaughter him with a knife, or run him over with your car.’ That has happened in Canada and it has happened in France.”

Holton said, “We act as if we have no idea why they’re doing what they’re doing. All you’ve got to do is read what they say and it’s there in plain English. … I’m not here to debate whether Islam is a religion of peace or any of that stuff. The fact is in warfare, the enemy’s reality becomes your reality. … What any American thinks about the enemy’s motivations is really not relevant. What is relevant is what the enemy thinks about his motivation.”

The audience in the auditorium has now grown to more than 150, including about 16 state lawmakers.

Holton said Europe is “the canary in the coal mine, and we have to be cognizant of that.” He said, “One of the reasons that we don’t recognize the threat that we face, one of the reasons we’re in denial about it, is that the Muslim Brotherhood has been active in this country for so long. … They’ve even influenced law enforcement and our intelligence apparatus, so it’s impossible to understand the threat.”

Holton said, “Somebody told them that jihad doesn’t mean to war against non-Muslims. Yeah it does. … The Muslim Brotherhood … has influenced our media, our elected officials, and our law enforcement and intelligence officials. These are the same people who are now telling us there is nothing to worry about from our refugee resettlement program. I’m not going to sit here and tell you we should not allow refugees into this country, we’ve always done that in this country. But I’m not going to sign a suicide pact to do that.” There were some supportive murmurs from the audience at that.

“We’d better wake up as a nation,” Holton declared. “We’re allowing ourselves to be defeated because we’re in denial about the nature of our enemy.”

He said, “I think any sane person would agree that we need a method to make sure that we’re not bringing jihadis into this country, just as we need a method to combat jihad in this country.”

Hadian returned to the podium at that point. “That’s a lot to take in, isn’t it?” he asked.