…in Libya.
Probably caused by an Internet video. Hillary and Susan Rice were unavailable for comment.
[Update a while later]
Denmark’s turn, and looking back at the Rushdie fatwa:
It’s not at all difficult to see the roots of now in what happened then. It’s not that Westerners weren’t already alarmed back then, though; they were. They just didn’t see the depth and breadth of what this phenomenon represented, and they didn’t quite know what to do. Nor do they now. And although political correctness was much weaker back then it already very much existed, and probably helped to hamper recognition of the dangers of this strain of Islam to the West itself. Those dangers are still not fully recognized by the governments of the West, in part for the very same reason.
Yes, Glenn is right. We should have nipped this in the bud in 1979, but we had the wrong president.
But it’s not in fact too late. We shouldn’t be droning Al Qaeda/ISIS leaders, we should be capturing and interrogating them. The people we should be droning are mullahs who issue fatwas (like the ones who stirred up all the rage over the cartoons). It would probably discourage them, at least somewhat. And dead mullahs don’t issue fatwas.
If Bush hadn’t acted unilaterally to leave Libya without a functioning government, this wouldn’t have happened.
What was Bush thinking putting Qaddafi in power in the first place? You’d think he’d have learned from Castro and the Shah of Iran.
Leland, WTF? Over.
Just saving the Obama Administration surrogates time.
1979? This situation could have been nipped in the seed, never mind the bud, in 1956 if the anti-British faction in the USA had allowed the British, French and Israelis to deal with Nasser despite their dislike of Britain and France.
I’m sure Obama has someone working on a speech for when his 747 returns from his California golf outing. It will probably go something like this:
****
Denmark has been grappling with the question of free thought, terror, and religion throughout its history. And lest they get on their high horse and think of themselves as innocent victims, remember that during the Viking era they had no qualms about sacking monasteries, killing priests, and taking women as slaves. They committed terrible deeds in the name of their pagan gods. Some feel their conversion to the true God, whether called Yahweh or Allah, was enough to absolve them of their past deeds, but obviously some newer arrivals in those formerly Viking lands don’t agree, and seek payback for past Danish injustice, terror, bloody raids, and conquest.
The things some of the right-wing Danish extremists say about Islam, Danes once said about Christianity, as they so gleefully beheaded innocent priests, nuns, and simple farmers who just wanted to be left alone in peace. We cannot allow the cycle of violence to continue, but nor can we ignore who was doing it first. Until both sides sit down together and agree not to insult or criticize each other, progress won’t be made, and both sides will remain stuck in the past as the rest of us move into the future.
Only through mutual respect and understanding can Denmark come together as one, Christian and Muslim, Jew and pagan, gay and straight, no longer stoking the fires of intolerance and religious hatred through cartoons designed to provoke, but recognizing that every minority has the right to equal respect, recognizing the wise words of leaders like Martin Luther, Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, and myself.
Excellent. However, I would like to offer my edits to make it somewhat more Obamaesqu.
“Folks in Denmark have been grappling with the question of free thought, terror, and religion throughout their history. And lest they get on their high horse and think of themselves as innocent victims, remember that during the Viking era they had no qualms about sacking monasteries, killing priests, and taking women as slaves. They committed terrible deeds in the name of their pagan gods. Some feel their conversion to the true God, whether called Yahweh or Allah, was enough to absolve them of their past deeds, but obviously some of the folks who recently arrived in those formerly Viking lands don’t agree, and seek payback for past Danish injustice, terror, bloody raids, and conquest.
“The things some of the right-wing Danish extremists say about Islam, Danes once said about Christianity, as they so gleefully beheaded innocent priests, nuns, and simple farmers and other folks who just wanted to be left alone in peace. We cannot allow the cycle of violence to continue, but nor can we ignore who was doing it first. Until both sides sit down together and agree not to insult or criticize each other, progress won’t be made, and both sides will remain stuck in the past as the rest of us move into the future.
“Only through mutual respect and understanding can folks in Denmark come together as one, Christian and Muslim, Jew and pagan, gay and straight, no longer stoking the fires of intolerance and religious hatred through cartoons designed to provoke, but recognizing that every minority has the right to equal respect. Folks need to heed the wise words of leaders like Martin Luther, Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, and myself.
“That’s all, folks!”
Rand, I was going to say that capturing enemies vice killing them leaves one subject to criminal investigation these days, but maybe the progs would leave one of their own alone.
Oh we still take some prisoners, although maybe not as before. They don’t get shipped to gitmo though, Obama likes to use black site prisons on the high seas or renditions captives to other countries to do the dirty work.
dead mullahs don’t issue fatwas.
They just inspire ten more mullahs to issue fatwas and a hundred more foot soldiers to volunteer. There exist problems for which drone strikes are not the solution.
They just inspire ten more mullahs to issue fatwas and a hundred more foot soldiers to volunteer.
That’s ridiculous. Mullahs don’t mind seeing their minions die, but they sure don’t like to have to sacrifice themselves.
Jim wrote: “There exist problems for which drone strikes are not the solution.”
BlueMoon says: Do you think there’s any chance the Ivy League braniacs in the White House will figure that out within the next 23+ months, Jim?
“They just inspire ten more mullahs to issue fatwas and a hundred more foot soldiers to volunteer. ”
And if they live they inspire hundreds of thousands.
I am going to explain something to you and hopefully you will understand it. (Although I think you understand it all to well and are actually using this strategy in conjunction with the Islamic militants because Democrats share many ideological positions with them)
You know how Democrats always claim Republicans are racists? You know this is just a political game and that Republicans aren’t really racists. Its a game. Its a tactic. No matter what Republicans do or don’t do, they will always be called racists by Democrats because the whole point is to make the accusation of being racist not deal with any real racism.
Now apply this to our actions regarding ISIS and other groups. Oh, wait you already did! No matter what we do or don’t do it will always be used as a claim of the USA being responsible for the actions of ISIS.
It is interesting that both ISIS and the Democrats always say that no matter what we do or don’t do that it will lead to more ISIS.
You know its BS right? I know you know it is BS when it comes to attacks of racism against Republicans but do you recognize that the claims that everything we do or don’t do in response to ISIS only leads to more ISIS is also BS?
Maybe, just maybe, we should take the approach where they should be worried about how we react and we shouldn’t worry so much about how they react because their reaction is guaranteed no matter what actions we do or don’t take.
Jim: “We shouldn’t do anything, it may piss them off.”
The World: “They can get more pissed off?”
Actually, the Left’s constant claim that the Islamists are responding to our actions is intrinsically racist (as the Left is). It totally denies them any moral agency.
“There exist problems for which drone strikes are not the solution.”
Yes but President Diplomacy sucks at things that take an understanding of other cultures, actual hard work, and take longer than his millisecond attention span. People are fine with diplomatic solutions but you actually have to do the diplomacy, not just talk about it.
you actually have to do the diplomacy
Dude, waffle. Can’t eat and diplomacy at same time.
BTW, remember as Jim prattles on about national priority, when ISIS beheaded the first American hostage, Obama’s priority was to return to the golf course to get one more round in before heading to a party with Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn.