The problem with making fun of Muslims is that they lack the ability to reform.
Which muslims are you referring to Keith? There are over a billion of them, and not all of them are militants, or even fundamentalists.
Used to be a time when Lebanon was quite secular, and few women would wear veils, let alone a Burkha.. They were very modern, yet still were proud of their Muslim religion.
The inherent problem here is little different than if militant Christians like Eric Rudolph (the abortion clinic, and Atlanta Olympic stadium bomber) were able to intimidate, or even recruit fundamentalist Christians to believe that violence against non-Christians was authorized. It would require moderate and tolerant Christians to step forward and condemn these factions.
But if the majority of their violent attacks were being committed in the name of some violent Christian Crusade to wipe out Islam, fewer people would be willing to step forward because inwardly they might think to themselves "so what if these wackos eliminate all the Muslims.. would that be so bad"?
But it's only when the militant Christians start attacking moderate Christians that these "fence-sitters" would stand up and say.. "wait a minute.. what the heck are you targeting and killing us for?? Where does it say in the bible that I can't play music, or dance, or have a drink once in awhile. And what?? You mean I can't even take my kid out to fly his kite?"
This is the analogy I make with the muslims. Until the threat becomes real enough to THEM, and convinces them that they, and the current freedoms they enjoy, are just as much a target as the West is, this Islamo-Fascist trend will continue.
But man.. I agree with just about everything else you wrote.
Btw, found an article in the Washington Post this afternoon that seems to be a bit of encouragement related to the situation in Iraq (Now bear in mind that the Amiriyah section of Baghdad has almost always been a hot-bed of Sunni/Salafist insurgency):
washingtonpost.com
As we entered Amiriyah in the late afternoon of a 115-degree August day, the streets were almost deserted. When the cleanup began, the area was cordoned off and then searched house to house by U.S. and Iraqi troops. People live behind their gates; through the metal fences, you can see well-tended gardens, despite the trash in the alleys. Surprisingly, perhaps, there was little resistance. People were fed up. In the two weeks since the crackdown began, there has been a 44 percent decline in violent attacks compared with the previous month and an 83 percent drop in murders.
As our convoy of armored Humvees rumbled down Amal al-Shaabi Street, we approached a little store selling toys and knickknacks. Abizaid, a Lebanese American who speaks Arabic well, bounded out of his vehicle and began conversing with the owner, a man named Firas. The shopkeeper seemed amused to meet an American general who asked in Arabic, "How's it going?" His message to Abizaid was repeated many times by others during the afternoon: Sunnis here are glad to see the Americans restore order; they tolerate the Iraqi army, but they distrust the Iraqi police; they want basic services such as water and electricity. As for Maliki's government, "It doesn't do anything," the owner of an ice cream parlor called Afna told Abizaid.
We stopped a few minutes later at Abbas Mosque, a small Sunni shrine. Sheik Khaled Mohammed al-Ubaidi, dressed in a knitted white prayer cap and a long white robe, came out to greet Abizaid. The general asked if security had improved and the sheik answered: "Thank God, yes!" Now that U.S. forces are going after Shiite death squads, he said, Sunnis here "understand the Americans are serious about the rule of law." (In the past three weeks, the U.S. military has killed about 25 death squad leaders and captured more than 200, according to Thurman.)
You might want to keep an extra bullet to shoot the neighbor of the guy that sits back and watches young women get beaten every day by their "husbands".
With you all the way on that!!
Of course, that neighbor would probably be someone like Sly or Geode..
Hawk |
