Posted on 07/23/2005 6:13:24 PM PDT by 4.1O dana super trac pak
Congressman John D. Dingell (MI-15), the Dean of the House of Representatives, condemned the recent comments made by Representative Tom Tancredo (CO-06) as “ignorant” and “inexcusable” for a Member of Congress. During a recent interview on Tampa radio station WFLA-AM, Mr. Tancredo said that the US might “take out (Muslim) holy sites” in response to another terrorist attack on the US. When asked if he meant Mecca, Congressman Tancredo responded “yeah.”
Said Dingell, “First of all, suggesting the bombing of a holy site of any religion is simply inexcusable for an elected official in the United States Congress and an anathema to the millions of people of faith across our nation. To even suggest an attack on Mecca shows Congressman Tancredo has no understanding of the true nature of Islam and the peaceful Muslims living in the Arab world. The holy sites of all religions – Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism and all others – are the most sacred and hallowed places for their respective followers and to suggest that any one of these sites be bombed is clearly an attack on that religion and its followers. Mr. Tancredo’s reprehensible attack on Islam is ignorant and offensive.
“We must stand united and strong against terrorism, but these are exactly the kind of careless comments that Muslim extremists feed off of and use to recruit new terrorists. To suggest that we hold an entire religion responsible for the actions of a minority of religious extremists - in effect declare a holy war against Islam - is outrageous and plays right into the hands of those very radicals. There is no better motivation to get someone to fight an apparent enemy than to threaten what they love most and are willing to defend at any cost – whether it is their family, homeland, or their holy land. I only hope that his statement won’t be used on extremist websites as justification for a ‘holy war’ against the United States and our allies.
“America was founded by people who believed strongly both in God and in the free expression of religion; that solid foundation remains and is part of what makes us the greatest nation in the world. Mr. Tancredo’s comments --while he has the absolute right to make such remarks-- are contradictory to freedom and the values of this nation. I call on the Republican Leadership in Congress and the President to condemn these comments and make clear that this is an action that the United States would never lower itself to.”
Most followers of any religion follow only parts of the teachings. I'd bet if you took a sample set of any members of any faith, you'd find wildly varrying levels of faith. I've known a few Muslims fairly well, none of them pray five times a day, most of them drink, eat meat on ocassion, and shave.
Be careful, you actually know something about Islam, unlike most of the Tancredo-bashers here.
Conversion to Islam. "There is no god but allah, and mad mo is is prophet."
Just say it three times in front of witnesses, and presto, you are a muslim, forever.
How do you think our soldiers in Iraq would react to seeing your statements while at the same time they've got tens of thousands of Muslims putting their "arses" on the line to fight along side of us to build a stable, free, and propserous Iraq?
AND, dingell is telling the islamists that there would be no reprisal to the murder of millions of Americans by nukes. That makes him an encourager of megadeath.
Islamic terrorists would NEVER do that!
So you bomb Mecca and piss off a billion muslims.
So it's better that millions of Amercans die than
to piss of a billion muslims??
Those billions of muslims are ALREADY pissed off
because all of mankind is not in the house of Allah.
What is it about world domination you don't understand?
What is it about Islamic threats to destroy us you don't
understand?
Comparting St. Peters or the Vatican to Mecca exposes your total ignorance of Islam. Catholics do not base their entire faith upon praying to a magical black stone in the center of St. Peters. 2 of the 5 pillars of Islam demand prayer directly to that black stone. If that black stone is gone, the religion is gone.
I'd be a bit cranky too. But feelgood solutions are supposed to be the province of the liberals, not us.
I'll tell you what my reaction would be. First, if we found the country that either supplied the weapons, or sheltered/aided the group that pulled it off, we take out their capital.
Regardless of what we find out, the next thing is to take off the gloves on every government in the ME. There are governments we know aren't doig everything they could for various reasons that we tolerate right now because at least they're doing something. That would no longer be enough.
Instead, they'd all have to crackdown on everything. Immediately, and completely. Any government that didn't do so would find itself subject to a declaration of war, and taken down. If that means war with the whole region, that's what it means.
I'm not afraid for us to get our hands dirty. I just want us to be smart about it.
I drew one single parallel, merely to demonstrate my opinion of the previous statement re the (muslim) Iraqi army.......so I accept your point, in fact I have been visceral about it myself.....I simply put little faith (but some HOPE) in the idea that the aforementioned muslims in Iraq will be motivated, competent, or secure enough in their well-being after our departure.
Beyond that, this is no Vietnam to me.
It's the ones that know Islam (and its requirement to kill non-believers or make them pay tribute) and believe it that are the threat, not the non-believers or the lukewarm who just want to live a decent life.
They are not Islamic threats, they are Islamic promises and articles of faith (death to non-believers).
By your description, the "Muslims" you know are bad Muslims, backsliders, sinners. The "good Muslims" do indeed whip out the prayer rug and pray to Mecca's black stone 5X a day. And it is among that group we find our Islamofascist enemies.
I agree with you that most Islamic countries are not good places for Christians, Jews, minorities, and women to be. But, many people who claim to be followers of Islam are not, in fact, violent people.
I know, that to say true Islam at its core is essentially a peaceful religion, is illogical; but many such followers, of what they themselves call Islam, do not ascribe to the terrorist tradition of its founding rapist, pedophile prophet. Yes these blind followers are basing their faith on the most unworthy and unholy of prophets, and yes, America's politicians do not say anything to discredit the irrationalities of Islam. However, these people who call themselves Muslims and who are in reality not Muslim, are not the people we are martially fighting.
The only way to combat irrationality is to use educated reasoning. Using militant irrationality to fight irrationality will only produce more of the same from both sides. Needless bloodshed, sir. Nobody who is anybody wants that.
Islam calls for the death of lukewarm Muslims just as it does the infidel, which is part of the reason Al-Qaeda and its symps can live with bombing hotels of Muslims who like to catch waves at the beach and have fun.
Well, I've seen plenty of taxi stands in NYC where the Muslim drivers are "whipping out the prayer rug", somehow I don't find them all that threatening.
But I agree with your premise, and that's why I'm uncomfortable with the efforts to group all Muslims as one and the same.
Talk like that is what I'd expect from the dems. I suggest you take some time to peruse some of the threads on this site about our successes in Iraq.
LOL Why not send him a tour pamphlet from a mortuary?
Congressman John D. Dingell , as well as a lot of other people are idiots.
Tancredo was asked a "what if" question and he gave a good answer.
If muslims nuke one of our cities and we don't strike back hard,I think a lot of "Dingells" will be in trouble.
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