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Frustrated Muslims fight "ignorance"
The Denver Post ^ | July 24, 2005 | Diane Carmen

Posted on 07/24/2005 4:30:19 PM PDT by CO Gal

When U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., suggested that bombing Mecca might be an appropriate response to the terrorist threat, he sent shock waves around the world.

And he thrilled many of his supporters.

I heard from dozens of nuke-happy Tancredo fans, though not all of them had the courage to sign their names.

From Don MacEwan: "Islam was and is the religion of terror. ... Putting forth a warning to Islam that mutually assured destruction means their holy city of Medina is nuked if they do not curb their terrorist urges seems to be a prudent step."

From Cynthia J. Starks: "The problem is with the religion of Islam. ... These people are EVIL!!"

From John M. Conway: "I think Mr. Tancredo is right. ... These people are barbarians and it's bed-wetting cowards such as yourself who somehow think they can be reasoned with."

From Margaret Wilmott: "Tancredo hit a nerve. Good for him. I'd prefer a first strike. Why wait?"

The State Department, meanwhile, was in full-on damage control. "These remarks are offensive and unacceptable and do not reflect U.S. policy," it said in a statement. "We unequivocally reject the idea of targeting Mecca or any other civilian or religious site by anyone. The U.S. respects and honors all the great religions of the world, including Islam."

News organizations from Australia to Russia responded with their own criticisms of Tancredo's remarks.

"The lack of understanding for Islam in the United States is disturbing," said Spiegel Online of Germany. "One gets the impression that, were the Constitution not clear about the separation between church and state, the country might rapidly turn into a Christian theocracy. And Muslims would be the first to go. ... Is it any wonder that many Muslims are skeptical of the United States?"

As the controversy roiled, Muslims in Colorado became increasingly frustrated and frightened.

Rafaat Ludin, president of the Colorado Muslim Society, said he has received hate-filled, threatening calls and e-mails at the Muslim Society and on his private phone and private e-mail account in the wake of Tancredo's remarks.

On Tuesday, a car raced through the grounds of the Colorado Muslim Society, endangering people who were there to study and pray. "The schoolchildren were very frightened," he said.

Muslims here and around the world have been vocal and forthright in their condemnation of terrorists for years, Ludin said, but the message seldom is heard. "We had a huge demonstration in Washington, D.C., against terrorism a year and a half ago and even that didn't get any media coverage," he said.

That's why the Muslim Society has hung five banners outside the mosque along Parker Road to try to communicate directly with people who don't understand Islam. They say: "Islam = peacemaking," "Muslims condemn terrorism," "Islam values life," and other messages.

"The position of the Koran is very clear about this," Ludin explained. "The taking of life of innocent people is not only condemned, it is a major sin. For a Muslim person who does this, there is no chance of going to heaven."

All religions have extremists who ration alize violent behavior through some distorted interpretation of their faith, he said. "Eric Rudolph is one of those radicals who went out and started bombing places because he thought he had a religious duty to do that. You don't go out and bomb the Vatican to stop that."

He said the misunderstanding of Islam among Americans - especially people in positions of power - is appalling.

"That someone in Congress on the International Relations Committee is able to make such statements ... and have no shame whatsoever, no understanding whatsoever of the emotions of the more than 7 million Muslims in the U.S., that's what shocks us, that's what angers us and scares us," he said.

"It's such a high level of ignorance of our beliefs," he said. "It's such a message of hate


TOPICS: Culture/Society; US: Colorado; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: islam; muslim; nukemecca; tancredo; votetancredo2008; whiningwahabbists
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To: Valin
Don't anger the bully? That's your plan? In case you haven't noticed, your plan is a humiliating bust.

Like all appeasers, you consider Tancredo's statement "aid and comfort to the enemy." I consider it a warning and wakeup call to Muslims to clean up their own mess.

The time for being mealymouthed and reticent about this is long past. Repressing the gag reflex and calling Islam a "religion of peace" has purchased us no peace, just more terrorism.

81 posted on 07/24/2005 6:30:00 PM PDT by JCEccles
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To: CO Gal

And more from the Blogshere

http://www.captainsquartersblog.com/mt/archives/004989.php
Tancredo Fouls The Water (Updated)
We have enough problems fighting the war on terror in the measured, strategic method used by the Bush and Blair administrations without Republican Congressmen recommending the bombing of sites held sacred by Muslims across the political spectrum. Yet today, Tom Tancredo (R-CO) suggested that a nuclear attack on an American city could result in a bombing run on Mecca:
(snip)




http://www.rovingtheologian.com/index.php/weblog/tom_tancredo_in_the_lead_for_stupidest_thing_said_this_year/
Tom Tancredo - In the lead for Stupidest thing said this year?
In case you didn’ hear, one of our Colorado Congressmen, Tom Tancredo (R) implied, in a “hypotetical scenario” that maybe we should have plans to bomb Mecca should a U.S. city be nuked. No, really…

I didn’t get clued into this today until I checked Hugh Hewitt’s website and found out what Rep. Tancredo said. Beyond dumb. Just plain stupidly silly. Tom, here are a few major things to consider:

1) Mecca is a holy site to Muslims in a way that no Christian city can be or should be. The closest connection is the orthodox Jewish appoach to Jerusalem and the land of Palestine. But that is a tiny minority within worldwide Judaism. The Haj to Mecca is one of the five pillars of Isalm to all of the world’s 1 Billion Muslims.

2) The United States military includes thousands of Muslims soldiers. Are you seriously suggesting they should be ordered to bomb one of their two most holy sites?



http://michellemalkin.com/archives/003046.htm
WHAT TOM TANCREDO SHOULD HAVE SAID
By Michelle Malkin · July 18, 2005 06:48 PM
My friend Rep. Tom Tancredo is in hot water for his remarks about how we should react in response to an Islamist nuclear attack. Jack Kelly, Captain Ed and Hugh Hewitt respond. Hugh says Tancredo's statement "is the most irresponsible statement any American official can make."
-------

http://markdaniels.blogspot.com/2005/07/what-was-this-congressman-thinking.html

What Was This Congressman Thinking?

Hugh Hewitt rightly says that everyone who got exercised over Dick Durbin's comments comparing the treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo to the actions of the Nazis under Hitler or Pol Pot's Cambodia, should also be upset with Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo. He's right! During a radio interview, Tacredo allowed himself to be enticed into speculation about bombing Muslim holy sites, such as those in Mecca.

What on earth was the congressman thinking?

No matter how hypothetical Tancredo thought his outrageous comments were, in the eyes of the world, he's an official of the US government, even if he's not in the executive branch.

If the sophisticates who lead the government in China can't understand the distinction between the branches of our government and therefore feel compelled to lecture Congress to lay off the proposed UnoCal deal, how do you suppose young Muslims who have never experienced democracy are likely to interpret Tancredo's remarks?

Like most people in the world, they'll see it as an American threatening them. It's therefore an unnecessarily provocative statement.

As Hewitt writes:


Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo's speculation about using nukes on Mecca following an act of nuclear terrorism in the United States is the most irresponsible statement any American official can make. It will be on al-Jazeera within the hour, and it will be used by jihadists against us. Such speculations send the message that we are at war with all of Islam. We are not. We are at war with a slice of Islam that is radical and violent. Statements like Tancredo's invite all of Islam to think they are our enemy.
-----

http://www.lifelikepundits.com/archives/001132.php
Tancredo's Wrong
And so is Aaron, below. Tancredo's comment:

Talk show host Pat Campbell (search) asked the Littleton Republican how the country should respond if terrorists struck several U.S. cities with nuclear weapons.

"Well, what if you said something like — if this happens in the United States, and we determine that it is the result of extremist, fundamentalist Muslims, you know, you could take out their holy sites," Tancredo answered.

"You're talking about bombing Mecca," Campbell said.

"Yeah," Tancredo responded.

That's wrong on so many levels that it boggles the imagination. First, obviously, you don't respond indiscriminately. None of us here have a problem if the bad guys get killed, especially not after the fact. Few of us here have a problem if some innocents get caught in the crossfire. But to intentionally target people who aren't responsible in any way for an atrocity? Un-uh.

It's wrong on a political level, too, because it plays into the hands of the Left who would portray us as killing the innocents in Iraq (when it is pretty obvious that the other side is doing that with their car bombs). Look, I hate to say this, but we already have most of the kooks who say "Turn Mecca to glass if they nuke us" voting Republican, and the ones who aren't are not worth chasing. The scary thing about this is that it really turns off the middle, which is why Tancredo's getting hammered. Oh, I imagine Joe Sobran or Pat Buchanan will write a column commending him, but politically this is incredibly stupid.

And, not to put too fine a point on it, it sucks as far as overseas reputation of the country, sucks as far as it helps the Left continue to sell their hatred of the USA, and sucks as far as making it easier for the Islamofascists to come up with another Johnny Jihadi in Pakistan and Leeds and Detroit.

Posted by pat at July 19, 2005 12:24 AM





82 posted on 07/24/2005 6:32:42 PM PDT by Valin (The right to do something does not mean that doing it is right.)
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To: JCEccles

Go back to the rightwing feverswamp.
Leave fighting and winning this war to the adults


83 posted on 07/24/2005 6:34:58 PM PDT by Valin (The right to do something does not mean that doing it is right.)
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To: Valin
So you found some bloggers who would rather be politically correct and die, than to name an enemy by its true name and have a fighting chance to live?

History proves that appeasement and half-measures never work. Santayana had something to say about failing to learn from history.

84 posted on 07/24/2005 6:37:25 PM PDT by JCEccles
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To: America's Resolve

It is the UNDERSTANDING of Islam- at last- that the Muslims find disturbing. They shrink from truth like bugs shrink from light when you turn a rock over.
We DO understand Islam now- that's what scares them.
Honestly- are these people all related to the Wizard of Oz?
"Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain..." Actually EXPECTING us not to believe our eyes and ears?
I'm beginning to think Islam should be approached as a psychological aberration-mass cultural delusional hypnosis maybe.


85 posted on 07/24/2005 6:38:03 PM PDT by ClearBlueSky (Whenever someone says it's not about Islam-it's about Islam. Jesus loves you, Allah wants you dead!)
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To: CO Gal
"It's such a high level of ignorance of our beliefs,"

Hey, some of us are GETTING educated!

THIS IS NOT FROM AL-QAEDA!

THIS IS JUST A BIT OF WHAT ALL MUSLIMS, INCLUDING SO-CALLED MODERATES SIGN UP FOR WHEN THEY SAY THE BISMALLAH "THERE IS NO GOD BUT ALLAH AND MUHAMMAD IS HIS PROPHET"!

KORAN [3.28] Let not the believers take the unbelievers for friends rather than believers; and whoever does this, he shall have nothing of (the guardianship of) Allah, but you should guard yourselves against them, guarding carefully; and Allah makes you cautious of (retribution from) Himself; and to Allah is the eventual coming.

KORAN [4.34] Men are the maintainers of women because Allah has made some of them to excel others and because they spend out of their property; the good women are therefore obedient, guarding the unseen as Allah has guarded; and (as to) those on whose part you fear desertion, admonish them, and leave them alone in the sleeping-places and beat them; then if they obey you, do not seek a way against them; surely Allah is High, Great.

KORAN [4.89] They desire that you should disbelieve as they have disbelieved, so that you might be (all) alike; therefore take not from among them friends until they fly (their homes) in Allah's way; but if they turn back, then seize them and kill them wherever you find them, and take not from among them a friend or a helper.

KORAN [9.28] O you who believe! the idolaters are nothing but unclean, so they shall not approach the Sacred Mosque [Mecca] after this year; and if you fear poverty then Allah will enrich you out of His grace if He please; surely Allah is Knowing Wise. (NOTE: Tancredo option would make Muhammad a liar.)
KORAN [9.29] Fight those who do not believe in Allah, nor in the latter day, nor do they prohibit what Allah and His Apostle have prohibited, nor follow the religion of truth, out of those who have been given the Book, until they pay the tax in acknowledgment of superiority and they are in a state of subjection.
KORAN [9.30] And the Jews say: Uzair [Ezra] is the son of Allah; and the Christians say: The Messiah is the son of Allah; these are the words of their mouths; they imitate the saying of those who disbelieved before; may Allah destroy them; how they are turned away!

HADITH Sahih Bukhari [4:52:176] Narrated 'Abdullah bin 'Umar:
Allah's Apostle said, "You (i.e. Muslims) will fight with the Jews till some of them will hide behind stones. The stones will (betray them) saying, 'O 'Abdullah (i.e. slave of Allah)! There is a Jew hiding behind me; so kill him.' "

HADITH Sahih Bukhari [4:52:177] Narrated Abu Huraira:
Allah's Apostle said, "The Hour will not be established until you fight with the Jews, and the stone behind which a Jew will be hiding will say. "O Muslim! There is a Jew hiding behind me, so kill him."

HADITH Sahih Bukhari [4:56:791] Narrated 'Abdullah bin 'Umar:
I heard Allah's Apostle saying, "The Jews will fight with you, and you will be given victory over them so that a stone will say, 'O Muslim! There is a Jew behind me; kill him!' "

HADITH Sahih Muslim [41:6981] Ibn 'Umar reported Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying:
You will fight against the Jews and you will kill them until even a stone would say: Come here, Muslim, there is a Jew (hiding himself behind me); kill him.

HADITH Sahih Muslim [41:6982] Ubaidullah has reported this hadith with this chain of transmitters (and the Words are):
"There is a Jew behind me."

HADITH Sahih Muslim [41:6983] Abdullah b. 'Umar reported Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying:
You and the Jews would fight against one another until a stone would say: Muslim, here is a Jew behind me; come and kill him.

HADITH Sahih Muslim [41:6984] Abdullah b. 'Umar reported that Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) said:
The Jews will fight against you and you will gain victory over them until the stone would say: Muslim, here is a Jew behind me; kill him.

HADITH Sahih Muslim [41:6985] Abu Huraira reported Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying:
The last hour would not come unless the Muslims will fight against the Jews and the Muslims would kill them until the Jews would hide themselves behind a stone or a tree and a stone or a tree would say: Muslim, or the servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me; come and kill him; but the tree Gharqad would not say, for it is the tree of the Jews.

HADITH Sahih Bukhari [4:52:283] Narrated Abu Juhaifa:
I asked Ali, "Do you have the knowledge of any Divine Inspiration besides what is in Allah's Book?" 'Ali replied, "No, by Him Who splits the grain of corn and creates the soul. I don't think we have such knowledge, but we have the ability of understanding which Allah may endow a person with, so that he may understand the Qur'an, and we have what is written in this paper as well." I asked, "What is written in this paper?" He replied, "(The regulations of) blood-money, the freeing of captives, ******** and the judgment that no Muslim should be killed for killing an infidel." *********

HADITH Sunan Abu Dawud [14:2526] Narrated Anas ibn Malik:
The Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) said: Three things are the roots of faith: to refrain from (killing) a person who utters, "There is no god but Allah" and not to declare him unbeliever whatever sin he commits, and not to excommunicate him from Islam for his any action; and jihad will be performed continuously since the day Allah sent me as a prophet until the day the last member of my community will fight with the Dajjal (Antichrist). The tyranny of any tyrant and the justice of any just (ruler) will not invalidate it. One must have faith in Divine decree.

KORAN: http://www.hti.umich.edu/k/koran/
HADITH: http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/reference/searchhadith.html
86 posted on 07/24/2005 6:47:40 PM PDT by UnbelievingScumOnTheOtherSide (Give Them Liberty Or Give Them Death! - IT'S ISLAM, STUPID! - Islam Delenda Est! - Rumble thee forth)
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To: ClearBlueSky
I'll tell you something for free.

I'm plenty tired of the appeasers, apologists, condemners and the "It's not EVERY muslim!" voices that turn out from under rocks everytime a bomb goes off.

It may not be EVERY muslim, but by God, it's majorities, and big majorities, in each country that support these people on the order of 50-60%!

Until the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia, Mahmoud Abbas and the PLO, Bashar Assad, Hosni Mubarak, Musharaf and other leaders, both religious and political start issuing fatwas that these people are apostates who should be killed and that they will NOT go to paradise and get their 72 virgins and 28 little boys to ravish for eternity, I won't ever believe one of their condemnations. Not ever.

87 posted on 07/24/2005 6:52:50 PM PDT by America's Resolve (Liberal Democrats are liars, cheats and thieves with no morals, scruples, ethics or honor!)
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To: GatorPaul

Oh really? What do you call democracy in Muslim Iraq and Afghanistan?


88 posted on 07/24/2005 6:57:10 PM PDT by freedom44
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To: scannell

I have read that 99.9% of people elected me as President of FR.


89 posted on 07/24/2005 6:58:14 PM PDT by freedom44
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To: Mr. Mojo
When U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., suggested that bombing Mecca might be an appropriate response to the terrorist threat...

Incorrect. He suggested that nuking Mecca might be an an appropriate response to a terrorist nuclear attack on American soil.

Quite a distinction, but one evidently lost on the author.

It's not lost on them, they need to leave that part out because the criticism is ineffective if the audience who the criticism is supposed to influence has the visual of their city destroyed and their family dead. And also because it begs the question of Tancredo's critics: "If Tancredo's response was extreme, what would the appropriate response be?" Democrats and other Tancredo critics will run from that question like they are on fire.

90 posted on 07/24/2005 6:58:35 PM PDT by Jim_Curtis
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Comment #91 Removed by Moderator

To: skimbell
Tancredo certainly wasn't the first...


92 posted on 07/24/2005 7:03:30 PM PDT by TXnMA (Iraq & Afghanistan: Bush's "Bug-Zappers"...)
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To: JCEccles

No I found some blogger who want to win this war and understand just who the enemy is and how to fight this war.
(Hint: it not screaming Nuke Mecca, and giving our enemies more ammo)


93 posted on 07/24/2005 7:04:24 PM PDT by Valin (The right to do something does not mean that doing it is right.)
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To: CO Gal
"The position of the Koran is very clear about this," Ludin explained. "The taking of life of innocent people is not only condemned, it is a major sin. For a Muslim person who does this, there is no chance of going to heaven."
Sura 9:5 of the “Koran,” “[S]lay the idolaters wherever you find them, and take them captives and besiege them and lie in wait for them in every ambush.”
Unless you believe the words of an murderous illiterate child molester are the words of god, you are an infidel and charged with death by islime.

The queeran is very specific about this!

KIll A Commie For Mommie

Seven Dead Monkeys Page O Tunes

94 posted on 07/24/2005 7:07:50 PM PDT by rawcatslyentist ("If it's brown, drink it down. If it's black send it back." Homer's guide to drinking in Springfield)
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To: freedom44

Yeah correct, I've read much of the Koran and it is a book of peace and Islam is a religion of peace and the perps are only a very small miniority. Thats why the peaceful Muslims don't have much to say about all this terrorist activity and Imams by the 100's preach violence. You may recall that all 400 of the leading Islamic clerics in Afghanistan voted in favor of NOT turning bin Laden over to the US. Sounds like a peaceful bunch to me. Get real.


95 posted on 07/24/2005 7:09:21 PM PDT by scannell
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To: Jim_Curtis
Right you are.

If forced to answer the same question that was posed to TT they know full well they can't just repeat the same tired old "we'd bring the terrorists responsible to justice." That won't wash after a nuke attack on American soil that racks up casualty figures in the hundreds of thousands (at least).

It's easy to say we'd sniff out the nation(s) responsible for helping out the terrorist org in question and then annihilate them (although many would still be reluctant to publicly say it), but there's a distinct possibility that the nuke(s) wouldn't have a return address. Then what?

The answer: Adios Mecca.

96 posted on 07/24/2005 7:12:18 PM PDT by Mr. Mojo
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To: CO Gal
"The U.S. respects and honors all the great religions of the world, including Islam."

And we do so at the risk of being annhilated.

97 posted on 07/24/2005 7:12:54 PM PDT by nightdriver
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To: scannell

If majority of muslims weren't peaceful with millions of American muslims you'd be seeing suicide bombings on a daily basis.

If the majority weren't peaceful you wouldn't be seeing the mass crackdown on extremists throughout the mid-east.

If the majority weren't peaceful you wouldn't be seeing the radicals attacking the moderates more vehemently than they're even attacking us.


98 posted on 07/24/2005 7:14:02 PM PDT by freedom44
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To: Rodney King
From the article:
I heard from dozens of nuke-happy Tancredo fans, though not all of them had the courage to sign their names.

Where do I sign?

99 posted on 07/24/2005 7:17:26 PM PDT by Sir Francis Dashwood (LET'S ROLL!)
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To: FreePaul

I agree with you 100 per cent. Islam is NOT a religion of peace. The Koran dictates that the Islamists should kill the infidels, those that do not follow the faith of Islam.
The quote by the 'esteemed' Muslim:
"The taking of life of innocent people is not only condemned, it is a major sin. For a Muslim person who does this, there is no chance of going to heaven."

Only problem is that infidels (Americans, materialists, capitalists) are NOT innocent in the Islamic belief system...


100 posted on 07/24/2005 7:19:38 PM PDT by thinkingman129 (questioning clears the way to understanding.)
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