Why the Muslims Misjudged Us

Opinion Journal ^ | 02/25/2002 | VICTOR DAVIS HANSON

[eclectic]

The Muslims might have misjudged America, but America has yet a long way to go to prove how wrong they are indeed.

[umgud]

Even though our governemnt may have peaceful relations with most Muslim nations, too many Muslims in those countries hate America. I've spent time in the middle east and it is my view that westerners are merely tolerated. Forget open display of Christianity. For this, there is no tolerance.

[FITZ]

Excellent article. They've overestimated themselves too. The Saudis like to believe we're soft and yet they're a country which has to import most of their labor because they don't know what it means to work.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

Millions in the Middle East are obsessed with Israel, whether they live in sight of Tel Aviv or thousands of miles away. Their fury doesn't spring solely from genuine dismay over the hundreds of Muslims Israel has killed on the West Bank; after all, Saddam Hussein butchered hundreds of thousands of Shiites, Kurds and Iranians, while few in Cairo or Damascus said a word. Syria's Hafez Assad liquidated perhaps 20,000 in sight of Israel, without a single demonstration in any Arab capital. The murder of some 100,000 Muslims in Algeria and 40,000 in Chechnya in the last decade provoked few intellectuals in the Middle East to call for a pan-Islamic protest.

The above events happened and little or nothing was said by the Muslim leaders. But notice that whenever it is suggested that the USA take military action against a Muslim state, the American Muslims immediately scream and cry about how wrong it is hurt a Muslim brother in another nations. If the American president hurts one little hair on one little head of a Muslim, he is the great satan while the Muslims themselves continue to slaughter each other like there's no tomorrow.

[Jmouse007]

8 years of Clintoon

[Utah Girl]

Ping

[EternalHope]

America has been a friend more often than not to you. But now you are on the verge of turning its people--who create, not follow, government--into an enemy: a very angry and powerful enemy that may be yours for a long, long time to come.

Extremely well said.

[blam]

"The above events happened and little or nothing was said by the Muslim leaders. But notice that whenever it is suggested that the USA take military action against a Muslim state, the American Muslims immediately scream and cry about how wrong it is hurt a Muslim brother in another nations. If the American president hurts one little hair on one little head of a Muslim, he is the great satan while the Muslims themselves continue to slaughter each other like there's no tomorrow."

This sounds exactly like the racial situation in our inner-cities, huh?

[Dubya]

Thanks for this post.

[Bush2000]

It's the same old, tired "the sands will run red with the blood of infidels" crap. They seem to think that it scares the Hell out of us whenever they say it. They have no idea who they're f-ing with...

[Hugin]

Excellent article.

[Mariner]

Just about sums it up......

[Hugin]

The difference between pre 9/11 and now is when these Muslim a-holes say they want "Death to America" Americans will take them seriously. If anybody doesn't like that, too bad.

[HockeyPop]

Victor Hanson is an American hero.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

Sure does. Sounds like a bunch of LA gang members complaining about a hate-crime against one of their members. Meanwhile, they continue to blast each other over drug turf wars or some Tupac-dispute.

[Draco]

Thanks again, Pokey, for posting this jem. You da man! This article says what I think has bothered a lot of us. There is no self-reflection/self-analysis by the Muslim world, but a reaction of indignant anger mixed with claims of victimhood. The irony is, we in the U.S. are over-run with the opposite: worrying about Gitmo prisoners as if they were in some gulag. Mr. Pearle (sp?) never had it so good. Bumping this as a keeper.

[Pokey78]

Ping.