Posted on 11/25/2002 8:16:10 AM PST by The_Victor
More than 200 people have died in riots that erupted last week, forcing the relocation of the contest from Abuja, the Nigerian capital, to London.
Miss World President Julia Morley said the contest had been used as a "political football" and blamed the violence on a Nigerian newspaper article suggesting Islam's founding prophet would have approved of the pageant.
Though Nigeria has a long history of Muslim-Christian hostility, she said it was not a mistake to choose the country as a site for the contest.
"What was a mistake was a journalist making a remark he shouldn't have made," Morley told a news conference at a hotel near Heathrow Airport after her return from the west African nation.
The article deeply offended Muslims who had objected to the contest as promoting promiscuity. Though the newspaper, ThisDay, published an apology, riots broke out, first in the northern city of Kaduna, then in Abuja.
Asked if the organizers bore any responsibility for the violence, she replied: "I think everyone does if they are holding something on a worldwide scale. But if you are asking me 'did we do it?' the answer is no, we didn't. It isn't the fault of the girls or any of us."
Some commentators said the pageant could not detach itself from the violence and called for the event to be canceled.
"It is completely despicable that we have agreed to host this travesty," the writer Muriel Gray was quoted as saying by The Guardian newspaper Monday.
"These girls will be wearing swim wear dripping with blood," she added.
But Morley said while it was "unfortunate" people were killed, it would be "absolutely unreasonable" to cancel the Dec. 7 pageant.
More than 80 women are competing to become Miss World. Morley said she was still looking for a London venue but had received several offers.
"I will put up a tent in Hyde Park and do it from there if I have to."
Even before the violence, at least four contestants had decided to boycott the pageant to protest rulings by Islamic courts in Nigeria sentencing women to death by stoning for having sex outside of marriage.
Miss England, Daniella Luan, said she had no regrets about going to Nigeria. "Apart from the final two days, it was such a great experience and I had a wonderful time," she said in an interview Monday with GMTV.
"It is a shame a small minority of people spoiled it for everyone," Miss Wales, Michelle Bush, said on the same program. "There were a lot of people crying as we were leaving because they did not want us to go."
But Miss Canada, Lynsey Bennett, said she decided to leave Nigeria after she found out people were dying.
"I said, `You know what? This is not why I'm here. This isn't right. I'm going home,'" she said on her return to Ottawa late Sunday.
Spoiled? Umm hundreds are dead....your idiot pageant person chose a hostile area....
What a pathetic choice of words...
In Kaduna, Nigeria, Islamic terrorists use ANY OPPORTUNITY TO KILL.
Here they used the pretense of journalism and the Miss World Contest.
For three days, Islamic murderers torched houses and churches and murdered
more than 100 souls and almost a thousand hurt
before the Christians began defending themselves.
Immediately the Western Press (again) ignored the Islamic terrorists (as usual)
and blamed the Miss World Contest, journalists and the murdered Christians, as is their way.
And if the contestents were between 10 and 13 years old, Mohammed not only would've approved, but would've probably taken the winner as one of his wives.
I daresay that in most non-Muslim countries, an insensitive press article could cause a stir. Perhaps the pageant would be criticized, maybe even picketed. I do not believe mass murder would be the result.
These Muslim nations need to be held to the same civilized standards as the rest of the world. If that offends their religious or cultural sensitivites, that is just too bad. They can wallow in their own poverty and isolation.
Oh, sure. Lets not dare hold ignorant, murdering, fanatical thugs responsible for their crimes. Why, that might be connsidered downright insensitive.
Arab Moslems have been oppressing Christians and Jews for hundreds of years. They have no tolerance of others, and they are incited by their clergies to kill or convert the non-Moslems.
Our political leaders disregard that there are built in motive for Moslem hostilities. Therefore, I forecast that the war on terrorism, Afghanistan, or Iraq will fail miserably if we did not attempt to address the religion issue itself.. We must have wise approach, which takes into consideration the root cause; and work toward eliminating it. In other words, negotiate with the Moslem leaders to demand from their clerics to tone down the hate preaching. That is so simple; however, the politicians would not touch it for fear of being considered as interfering in other people religion! We must understand that respecting other people religion is one thing, but if a religion is teaching its followers to kill us, that religion, or at least the part that teaches killing others should not be respected.
It is just like clock work, Friday prayers in all mosques around the world is infused with venoms and hate, which incite people to violence after the prayer service. That happens in all Moslem capitals, after prayer violence!
Our military approach to this phenomenon is misguided. Instead of using violence that is typically hardens people position, we could have exposed Islam, and its barbaric teachings at the UN. That could have made us a world of supporters, and strengthen our moral point if force was needed as a last resort.
Obviously the Moslem nations are not fools, and if the world got together and insisted that “NO RELIGION IS ALLOWED TO INCITE KILLING OF NON-BELIEVERS”; then they must accept that or face persecution worldwide.
I keep remind people that this mess is very similar to a fire ants infestation. As you see a few ants you go kill them, that is what the current Bush policy is trying to do. My idea is to find the nest, and kill the queen. In addition, remove any food or moisture that can attract another colony in the future. We should never shy away from examining the "religion" itself as a source of the violent behaviors of Moslems. If the world through the UN had passed a resolution forbidding clerics from inciting hate and violence, the two hundred killings would not have happened.
As an Orthodox Christian, I was offended very much with the Clinton private war against the Christian Serbs in defence of the Moslem terrorists of Kosovo. Our churches, never made one single political comment on the unjust war, or even asked us to write to our congressmen to register our opposition. The official position of the church was, we are here to pray for peace in the world. Inaddition, part of the traditional Orthodox prayers is to pray for our leaders, even if we don't like Clinton, we still prayed for him.
The Moslem leaders have no backbone to tackle this subject; however, the UN can open that taboo subject, and force reforms on these cowards.
Typical pacifist attitude.
If they're dead, they have no position.
"the UN can open that taboo subject, and force reforms on these cowards."
Let's get real.
The US is the fist of the UN, and we alone have the power to make things happen.
The UN as an entity is as impotent as a ninety year old eunuch.
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