OK, for years, people who claim to be my intellectual betters on foreign policy (and pretty much everything else), and particularly about the Middle East, have been telling me that the root cause of the problems in the Middle East is the “occupation” of disputed territories in the West Bank and Gaza, and that we won’t be able to make any progress without solving that issue. It is what motivates Arab anger, and animates their protests.
Well, surely if this is the case, with all of the apparent anger and ongoing revolt in Cairo, we should be seeing many reports on the ground of protesters with angry signs against the Zionist entity, right? Or have I just missed them somehow?
An article that the WaPo spiked because it describes the difference between Christianity and Islam. Hiding or ignoring the truth doesn’t make it go away.
For years, we’ve heard how the peaceful religion of Islam has been hijacked by extremists.
What if it’s the other way around? Worse, what if the peaceful hijackers are losing their bid to take over the religion?
We need to nurture the apostates, but we can’t pretend they aren’t apostates. We are at war with Islam, whether we like it or not. Or to put it another way, we may not be interested in Islam, but Islam is definitely interested in us. And Israel has absolutely nothing to do with it, other than being on the front lines in the war.
Even so-called moderate Muslim scholars praised 26-year-old Mumtaz Qadri for allegedly killing Punjab province Gov. Salman Taseer on Tuesday in a hail of gunfire while he was supposed to be protecting him as a bodyguard. Qadri later told authorities he acted because of Taseer’s vocal opposition to blasphemy laws that order death for those who insult Islam.
As Qadri was escorted into court in Islamabad, a rowdy crowd patted his back and kissed his cheek as lawyers at the scene threw flowers. On the way out, some 200 sympathizers chanted slogans in his favor, and the suspect stood at the back door of an armored police van and repeatedly yelled “God is great.”
Many other Pakistanis were appalled.
“Extremist thought has become so mainstream that what we need to question in Pakistan is what people think constitutes extremism now,” said Fasi Zaka, a 34-year-old radio host and columnist.
Well, I’m glad that many other Pakistanis were appalled, but how would they be categorized? I wonder what “moderate” Imam Rauf thinks?
The political establishment in Washington continues to fail to take Mexico seriously. We are literally being invaded from the south, and the federal government is issuing rubber bullets and beanbags. And of course, this lawlessness and corruption is inevitable as long as we continue the futile War On (Some) Drugs.
Now that DADT has passed, the mindless pacifists have to come up with a new excuse to keep ROTC off campus. Colman McCarthy has a very pathetic attempt. Victor Davis Hanson isn’t very impressed, either.
Five reasons, the least of which is that it is cruel and discriminatory. And the fact that Imam Rauf promotes it is why he should not be considered a “moderate.”
As long as Mayor Mike is in the dock, let us also note that when it comes to building a mosque near Ground Zero, he has from the start stood behind the First Amendment — sort of.
That is, he likes the part that gives Muslims the right to build a house of worship just about anywhere they want.
But the part guaranteeing a separation between religion and government?
Not so much.
That much became obvious last week with the release of e-mails demonstrating that City Hall did much more than offer the mosque’s organizers routine help.
In fact, it turns out that Team Bloomberg was heavily involved in operating the political machinery needed to ensure that various regulatory agencies approved the controversial project — which has rightly drawn the ire of many 9/11 survivors and victims’ families.
It’s OK. I mean, it’s not like it was a Christian church or something. That would be wrong.
You would think the liberal intelligentsia would, with a record of so many misses on so many consequential matters, become chastened. But no. They are filled with certainty: Obama is back, the recovery is around the corner, Russian “reset” is a success, ObamaCare can’t be repealed, there are no electable Republican 2012 contenders, and more, they tell us. We’ll see if the left’s crystal ball is any more accurate in 2011.