Fitna follow-up: The usual suspects do the usual thing
By Michelle Malkin
March 28, 2008 12:44 PM
In the wake of “Fitna’s” release, the usual suspects are doing their usual things.
Tick, tick, tick: Muslim nations condemn Dutch Koran film.
Diana West surveyed the preemptive rage.
Lawhawk responds to the EU’s condemnation of the film: “It’s rare to hear them denouncing ongoing terrorism done in the name of Islam by jihadis, whether it is in Afghanistan, Thailand, Philippines, or Israel. Where are the calls for tolerance when the jihadis are busy blowing up schools, businesses, rioting, and otherwise seeking to kill non Muslims and those who are not strict adherents to their brand of Islam?”
Robert Spencer: “Mind you, the European Union has never, ever said anything like that regarding attacks on Christianity. The point is not just the double standard; it is that they are allowing violent intimidation to succeed, and that will only lead to more violent intimidation.”
Britain is in the crosshairs because Liveleak is based in Manchester:
<<< Britain was dragged into the controversy over an anti-Islam film made by a far-Right Dutch MP after Iran condemned its appearance on a UK-based video-sharing website today.
“This heinous measure by a Dutch lawmaker and a British establishment… is indicative of the continuation of the evilness and deep vengeance such Western nationals have against Islam and Muslims,” Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman said.
Mohammad Ali Hosseini, called on the Dutch, British and other EU governments to block any further showing of “this blasphemous, anti-Islamic and anti-cultural film”.
…Mr Wilders’s film, which intersperses images of the September 11 attacks and other Islamist bombings with quotations from the Koran, was first posted on the website of his small right-wing Freedom Party on Thursday night.
It disappeared after a few minutes because of “technical difficulties” before becoming available in Dutch and English on LiveLeak, a Manchester-based website, raising fears that extremists could also target British interests. Some 4,000 British troops are serving in Iraq and a further 7,800 in Afghanistan.
The company running LiveLeak defended its decision to host the film. “Liveleak.com has a strict stance on remaining unbiased and allowing freedom of speech so far as the law and our rules allow,” it said in a statement posted online.
David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, said “we hold fast and firm to European values of freedom of speech”. However, speaking in Slovenia where he was attending talks with his EU counterparts, he added that “in each of our countries there are legal and judicial systems to ensure that freedom is not used to incite religious or racial hatred”. >>>
And Kurt Westergaard doesn’t want his cartoon in the film:
<<< SPIEGEL ONLINE: Mr. Westergaard, the anti-Koran movie made by right-wing Dutch politician Geert Wilders begins with your drawing of the Prophet Muhammad showing him with a time bomb in his turban. You are taking legal action against Wilders as a result. Why?
Westergaard: The Danish Union of Journalists will file for an injunction today to force Wilders to take my cartoon out of the film. I don’t want my cartoon taken out of its original context. It was a cartoon aiming at fanatic Islamist terrorists — a small part of Islam. The cartoon must not be used against Muslim society as a whole. That was not my intention.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: And this is what you think Wilders is doing with his film?
Westergaard: Wilders has a overly generalized perception of Muslims as potential terrorists. But it’s not like that at all — I know a lot of Muslims living here in Denmark who accept democracy completely and who live their religion as a very private matter. I hope that all Muslims will adapt to secular society. There is currently friction between Muslim and Christian culture. But I am quite sure, that our Western democratic culture will prevail over the darker version of Islam. We must have Islam-light. >>>
That was “Fitna’s” message, too.
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