Posted on 02/09/2006 5:55:38 AM PST by LesbianThespianGymnasticMidget
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran, second from left, was among the Middle East leaders at a meeting in December in Mecca, where Danish cartoons satirizing the Prophet Muhammad were discussed.
BEIRUT, Lebanon, Feb. 8 — As leaders of the world's 57 Muslim nations gathered for a summit meeting in Mecca in December, issues like religious extremism dominated the official agenda. But much of the talk in the hallways was of a wholly different issue: Danish cartoons satirizing the Prophet Muhammad. The closing communiqué took note of the issue when it expressed "concern at rising hatred against Islam and Muslims and condemned the recent incident of desecration of the image of the Holy Prophet Muhammad in the media of certain countries" as well as over "using the freedom of expression as a pretext to defame religions."
The meeting in Mecca, a Saudi city from which non-Muslims are barred, drew minimal international press coverage even though such leaders as President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran were in attendance. But on the road from quiet outrage in a small Muslim community in northern Europe to a set of international brush fires, the summit meeting of the Organization of the Islamic Conference — and the role its member governments played in the outrage — was something of a turning point.
After that meeting, anger at the Danish caricatures, especially at an official government level, became more public. In some countries, like Syria and Iran, that meant heavy press coverage in official news media and virtual government approval of demonstrations that ended with Danish embassies in flames. In recent days, some governments in Muslim countries have tried to calm the rage, worried by the increasing level of violence and deaths in some cases.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
It pisses me off that Bush sucks up to the grand poobah of these crazies, holding his hand and flattering his religion. And what do we get for it? Really, what do we get? I agree with Bush on a lot of issues but the weird family connection he has with the Saudis almost nixes those good qualities. Our leader CANNOT have a blindspot here of all places.
STINK FEST 'O6
Gee, I wonder why anyone would hate Islam and Muslims...
So they meet in a city where no non-Muslim is allowed to set foot to discuss the lack of tolerance by infidels. Hypocrisy thy name is the Islamic world!
Gas prices went down for a few weeks after this meeting. Texas oilmen and Saudi royalty have long maintained a symbiotic retlationship.
This doesn't excuse it though. Saudi Arabia is the largest financial supporter for terrorism, paid for by and large from America's addiction to cheap gas.
President Bush is a nice fellow if somewhat naive.
You complain of his relationship with the Saudi's, but just the other day he referred to Bill Clinton as a brother .
The Presidnet seems to have a penchant for people who stab him in the back, Just the other day he went to the fuberla on Coretta King and sure enough they stabbed him in the back.
He stated when he was elected that he would work to bring the nation together, but at every turn when he tries to work with the Democrats they turn on him like rabid dogs.He even tried to make friends with the most rabid dog of them all Teddy Kennedy. He tries to work with Vincente Fox and the enxt thing you know Fox has the Mexican Army escorting drug deliveries.
His back must look like a worn out bulletin board , so filled with holes it wont hold a pin any more. He has taken more backstabbing wounds than enough , It is time he wised up. Jimmy Carter kifes him at his leisure. Damn how many times do you have to get nailed before you start to realise you have to stick with your friends and let your enemies go to hell.
expressed "concern at rising hatred against Islam and Muslims and condemned the recent incident of desecration of the image of the Holy Prophet Muhammad
Man, if I was into satire..LOL! These "people" are really demented to believe that the free world wouldn't find out the truth. Gig's up! islam is a lie.
I really don't think it should be about "friends" and "enemies". It should be about policies that are good for our country and those that aren't. Bush should take a hard line on terror-funding and border-jumping. Other leaders can be our "friends" if they are on the right side of these things. Otherwise....For a while I thought Bush got it.
Another opportunity missed!
All a lie to keep the people down. And their walls are tumbling down!
Well, it certainly smoked out an unsavory side of MooseLimb politics. (As if there were any savory ones.)
Very true.
Now don't flame me for this thought, but if you could just for one nano sec conjure up a picture of just what kind of approach and what kind of reaction these situations might elicit were the future President might act/reach were it to be.... John McCain (ala-Obama mode).
Great days ahead of us!
Islam is difficult to escape. I know a Christian mission to Muslimes in America that finds Muslims almost univerally cold to the idea that they might be something else, in spite of an offer that Allah can't match.
I hardly think President Bush is Naive, President Bush is being diplomatic, but you need not think he is Naive.
President Bush has more strength than you and I , or his critics Jimmy Carter, Ted Kennedy.
"So they meet in a city where no non-Muslim is allowed to set foot to discuss the lack of tolerance by infidels. Hypocrisy thy name is the Islamic world!"
Yeah, I found that striking as well. The doublespeak and denial these guys engage in is simply stunning. Is it any wonder that outside of oil (utilizing western expertise) nothing of value has been produced in Muslim dominated regions for centuries.
He gets it. There are massive changes going on in the middle east. Just because a decades old problem hasn't been solved overnight doesn't mean that things aren't happening. In SA they are working on the problem a lot harder than you realize because those who are funding terror also want to depose the new king. Fighting the WOT in SA is as hard as trying to fight the WOT with the democrats stabbing you in the back at every turn.
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