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Mecca, We Have a Problem
Cornell Sun ^ | September 21, 2004 | Sara Townsley

Posted on 09/21/2004 11:33:05 AM PDT by SJackson

Mecca, We Have a Problem Behind Liberal Lines

Over the weekend, three Kurdish truck drivers were beheaded and dumped north of Baghdad. Last week, terrorists kidnapped two Americans and a Briton, and a car bomb killed 47 and injured 114. At a madrassah in Bangladesh, a teacher cut off the ears of 17 children with a pair of scissors because they were not reading their textbooks loudly enough. On Sept. 9, the Australian embassy in Indonesia was car-bombed, killing nine and injuring 180. The same day, major Swedish newspapers reported that Malmø, Sweden's third largest city, has been overrun by gangs of Muslim immigrants. The police can no longer maintain order, ambulance personnel are attacked with stones and weapons, gang rapes of Swedish girls have skyrocketed, and the number of people fleeing Malmø is reaching record levels.

A week earlier, terrorists in Kashmir dragged three informants out of their homes and beheaded them. Two Italian humanitarian aid workers were abducted in Baghdad. Ansar al-Sunna captured 12 Nepalese laborers in Iraq; one was beheaded, the other 11 were shot. Three Turks taken hostage in Iraq were executed and found dead on a roadside. A Turkish truck driver was taken hostage and threatened with beheading. Seven grenades exploded outside a cinema in northeastern Bangladesh, killing two and wounding 10.

At the end of August, suicide bombers destroyed two buses in Beersheba, Israel, killing 16 and wounding 100. A captured Italian journalist was slaughtered in Iraq, and two French journalists were kidnapped. In an attempt to gain their release, French diplomats openly sought the support of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. The Islamic Army of Iraq responded by blasting France as an "enemy of Muslims." The fate of the two remains unknown.

On Aug. 24, two Russian airliners were hijacked and downed by explosives in the lavatories, killing all 90 souls on board. A week later, a Moscow subway station was car-bombed, killing nine and wounding 51. The next day, a Russian school was overrun, leaving over 300 dead and 700 wounded, mainly children. The butchers of Khartoum continue the genocide in Sudan -- with the help of Syrians armed with chemical weapons -- leaving an estimated 50,000 dead, thousands more enslaved, and over a million refugees displaced.

And yet we all dutifully repeat: "Islam is a religion of peace."

With tiring predictability, academics and the press have taken up their role as apologists for the carnage. Universities cheerfully create Saudi-funded chairs in Whitewashing Jihad, and intellectuals manufacture reasons why we deserve to be slaughtered. Multiculturalists anesthetize us with fanciful "root causes," and students learn that "tolerance" means never pointing out the nexus between terror and Islamist supremacism. Muslim "civil rights" groups play the McCarthyism card, issue apologies for terror that sound more like justifications for it, and all the while their leaders keep pleading guilty to terrorism charges.

And in that bizarre wormhole where the universes of the extreme left and right collide, conspiracy theories proliferate, while the most horrifying actual "conspiracy" of our time is minimized or denied. The good news is, I'm not the only one who's fed up with tiptoeing around the problem.

Kamal Nawash of The Free Muslim Coalition Against Terrorism (www.freemuslims.org) wrote a heartfelt apology for Sept. 11 and issued a call to action. "We should not be afraid to admit that so many of our religious leaders belong behind bars and not behind a pulpit. ... Only moderate Muslims can challenge and defeat extremist Muslims. We can no longer afford to be silent. If we remain silent to the extremism within our community then we should not expect anyone to listen to us when we complain of stereotyping and discrimination by non-Muslims. ... Simply put, not only do Muslims need to join the war against terror, we need to take the lead in this war."

Nonie Darwish, an Egyptian raised in the Gaza Strip (www.mesaspeakers.com), writes: "The very few courageous Arab writers who think and speak independently are often attacked and terrorized for their views, accused of being puppets of the Zionists. Apparently, standing strong against terrorism and for reformation in the Muslim world is viewed as a 'Zionist' conspiracy no matter how heinous the murders carried out by militant Islamists." She points out that the U.N. Commission on Human Rights has never -- not once -- passed a resolution condemning an Arab country for human rights violations. As the surviving black Christians in Sudan could tell you, don't expect the U.N. to help.

Irshad Manji, author of The Trouble With Islam (www.muslimrefusenik.com), also condemns Islamist atrocities and advocates an Islamic reformation. A lesbian living in Canada, Manji terms herself a Muslim refusenik, meaning that she "refuses to join an army of automatons in the name of God." She asks non-Muslims: "Will you succumb to the intimidation of being called 'racists,' or will you finally challenge us Muslims to take responsibility for our role in what ails Islam?"

These free thinkers are Islam's Bonhoeffers, Niemoellers, and Solzhenitsyns. They highlight how Kerry's proposed "more sensitive" war on terror demonstrates a fundamental ignorance of the threat rather than any diplomatic skill. Ayatollah Khomeini agrees: "those who know nothing of Islam pretend that Islam counsels against war. Those [who say this] are witless." Keep in mind, Kerry wants to solve the Iranian nuclear crisis by giving the mullahs uranium. Clinton tried that with North Korea in 1994, and gee, that worked out great. It's been said that trusting liberals with national security is like trusting a teenager with a fifth of whiskey and the keys to the car. We are fighting nothing less than World War IV -- the Cold War being number III -- and it's time we start acting like it.

Sara Townsley is a graduate student in BMCB. She can be contacted at set28@cornell.edu. Behind Liberal Lines apppears Tuesdays this semester.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Foreign Affairs
KEYWORDS: mecca; napalminthemorning; religionofpeace
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1 posted on 09/21/2004 11:33:05 AM PDT by SJackson
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To: dennisw; Cachelot; Yehuda; Nix 2; veronica; Catspaw; knighthawk; Alouette; Optimist; weikel; ...

If you'd like to be on or off this middle east/political ping list, please FR mail me.


2 posted on 09/21/2004 11:33:43 AM PDT by SJackson (Wars are caused by undefended wealth, Gen Douglas MacArthur)
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To: SJackson
At a madrassah in Bangladesh, a teacher cut off the ears of 17 children with a pair of scissors because they were not reading their textbooks loudly enough.

You'd think that, like the 15th student would start to get the message.

3 posted on 09/21/2004 11:34:34 AM PDT by VisualizeSmallerGovernment (Question Liberal Authority)
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To: F15Eagle; FITZ; dennisw; Yehuda; knighthawk; Grampa Dave
We're going to find out, sooner or later,

If Abdul will pray, to a glowing crater.

4 posted on 09/21/2004 11:35:17 AM PDT by Travis McGee (----- www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com -----)
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To: SJackson

Still advocate an international hit squad to take this murdering POS out in a merciless way. Please!


5 posted on 09/21/2004 11:35:37 AM PDT by lilylangtree (Veni, Vidi, Vici)
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To: SJackson

This piece is like a splash of co' water. Good post.


6 posted on 09/21/2004 11:36:34 AM PDT by stainlessbanner
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To: All

7 posted on 09/21/2004 11:37:31 AM PDT by Prime Choice (The Religion of Peace ISN'T.)
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To: SJackson
She points out that the U.N. Commission on Human Rights has never -- not once -- passed a resolution condemning an Arab country for human rights violations. As the surviving black Christians in Sudan could tell you, don't expect the U.N. to help.

I am coming to really, really, Really, REALLY, REALLY HATE the UN!!!
Thanks, I needed to vent.

8 posted on 09/21/2004 11:37:55 AM PDT by najida (Sometimes I feel like a nut, sometimes I am.)
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To: SJackson

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/09/19/MNG1B8QA361.DTL


9 posted on 09/21/2004 11:38:12 AM PDT by happygrl
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To: SJackson
Yesterday they sawed his head off while he was still alive.

I say we take out Mecca and all the peaceniks who give them aid and succor.

I've had more than enough.


10 posted on 09/21/2004 11:38:13 AM PDT by JoJo Gunn (Help control the Leftist population - have them spayed or neutered.©)
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To: SJackson

A cogent voice on the Big Red Campus. Thanks for posting her weekly column. Any letters seeking her removal or contesting her columns?


11 posted on 09/21/2004 11:38:21 AM PDT by Jimmy Valentine's brother (Crush your enemies; see them driven before you and hear the lamentation of their women-Conan)
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To: SJackson

bttt


12 posted on 09/21/2004 11:41:00 AM PDT by prognostigaator
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To: JoJo Gunn

13 posted on 09/21/2004 11:41:02 AM PDT by Dead Corpse (Not all treasure is silver and gold mate...)
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To: SJackson

I'm still wondering how anyone can confuse a religion whose holy book calls for the slaughter of innocents "a religion of peace".


14 posted on 09/21/2004 11:42:32 AM PDT by Stonedog (Mr. Blather... tear down this STONEWALL!!)
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To: JoJo Gunn
 

15 posted on 09/21/2004 11:43:08 AM PDT by Tolik
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To: Prime Choice
Great pic. Good message. Right between the goalposts.

I like it.

Click the Gadsden flag for pro-gun resources!

16 posted on 09/21/2004 11:43:36 AM PDT by Joe Brower (The Constitution defines Conservatism.)
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To: SJackson
With tiring predictability, academics and the press have taken up their role as apologists for the carnage. Universities cheerfully create Saudi-funded chairs in Whitewashing Jihad

Now that we've exposed and disposed of the MSM, let's take on the academics and universities.

17 posted on 09/21/2004 11:43:51 AM PDT by happygrl
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To: SJackson

BTTT


18 posted on 09/21/2004 11:46:58 AM PDT by Fiddlstix (This Tagline for sale. (Presented by TagLines R US))
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To: JoJo Gunn

BOMB Mecca!


19 posted on 09/21/2004 11:50:33 AM PDT by missyme (<imgsrc=http://www.cat-domain.com/cats_long/yoni-rmans.jpg>)
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To: SJackson

The problem is a thirst for blood and gore, and sadism as the master.


20 posted on 09/21/2004 11:51:21 AM PDT by MarMema (next year in constantinople!)
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