Saturday, July 23, 2005

What Islam?

 
A quote in this morning’s CNN story about the Sharm el-Sheik bombings draws the eye:
    “We are trying to find out who committed these crimes,” [Egypt’s interior minister] Habib al-Adli told reporters while viewing the extensive damage at the Ghazala Garden Hotel in Naama Bay, a popular tourism area of the city on the Sinai Peninsula. “It is likely that they have some relationship to the Taba operation.”
[…]
Al-Adli said it was not yet known who was behind the Saturday attacks, “but whoever it is, or whatever groups they belong to, this is ugly terrorism, and there’s no humanity or values or feel of belonging in these acts.”
Asked whether he thought the blasts might be related to Islam, he replied, “What Islam? This terrorism has nothing to do with any religion, because all religions do not allow aggression and do not allow killing civilians in innocence. Those don’t belong to Muslims. They are a gang of criminals.” [emphasis added]
Islam??

Me no see no Islam. Me no hear no Islam. Me no speak no Islam.

Nothing to see here folks. Just move along...

14 comments:

Doug said...

All your terrorists DON'T belong to us!
Honest.
Honest Monkeys Inc.

Doug said...

Above Statement certified by Robert Scheer and the LA Times Editorial Board.

niall said...

The bombs continue to speak much louder than any 'moderate' muslims. That will always be the case. Actions not words are required.

People who hack off heads and blow up trains aren't going to be put off by some silly protest marches or press releases about how their actions haven't got anything to do with Islam. To those people the protests and denials are just a confirmation of their righteousness and of the corruption of those around them.

Only one way to fix that problem and with every new atrocity we get closer to the point at which that fix and all of its collateral damage will be unleashed upon innocent and guilty alike. As Ward Churchill likes to say, "Some people push back."

truepeers said...

Well Niall, I'm not sure this kind of denial will always be the case. The human instinct for self-preservation is our strongest drive, probably stronger for most people than any idea or religion. Most Moslems and their states may not turn against the terrorists unless they have to, but when they are left no uncertain message that it is either them or all of you, I think it will be them, not us, the mass of Moslems will choose to fight. And so it is up to us to decide when we are fed up with what the Canadian security minister recently called "the new normal". She wants us to be prepared, but it really sounds to me like she is getting ready to accept a campaign of responding, with only police, to an age of monthly bombings. Not until events change that kind of attitude need the Moslem leaders say anything more than not in my name. Until then, some are quite right to think that they can play both sides against all they dislike in a western culture that, for obvious reasons, does not want to live with the guilt that a genocide would leave. Again, only the instinct of self preservation will overcome that one, and we're just not there, yet. What a horrible game.

Always On Watch said...

I heard el-Sheik's comment on the news and laughed like a lunatic at his patently-false denial. Has el-Sheik read his precious Koran?

How long before el-Sheik, or some other "Honest Monkey," blames the bombing in Egypt on the Mossad?

Baron Bodissey said...

AOW -- I wouldn't take any bets against the bombing being blamed on the Jews. It's only a matter of time. Every single previous bombing -- 9/11, Bali, 3/11, 7/7 -- was eventually credited to Mossad.

The Israelis apparently have the most effective secret service the world has ever seen.

niall said...

Truepeers wrote
"human instinct for self-preservation is our strongest drive, probably stronger for most people than any idea or religion"

While I agree with the statement I don't agree with where you think that will lead. My bet is that without a forceful incentive to do otherwise, they will side with the Islamists just because of inertia. Maybe you'll be right in the very long term. God knows I wish it were the short term too but I think the impression we've given that we (the West in general, with the obvious exceptions) will not take the sort of decisive actions necessary is going to drag this out and enable the muslims to sit on the fence even longer.

If the attacks in London don't soon result in some Imams losing their jobs with resounding public approval then it becomes harder to argue that moderates really have any authority in their community, or at least any serious problem with the immoderates. And I can only imagine how the shooting of the guy who ran from the cops is going to be used to beat the British police over the head in the media.

Baron Bodissey said...

Bigdaddy -- not at all. I grabbed it from someplace else, anyway. ;)

Although I did edit it...

Always On Watch said...

Baron,
Here it is!
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1122085380681

Good thing you didn't take any bets!

Baron Bodissey said...

AOW -- Boy, you sure called that one. Money quote: Several Egyptian "security experts" and "political analysts" interviewed by Arab TV stations after the Sharm e-Sheikh bombings on Saturday claimed that Israel and Jews were behind the carnage.

The accusations were made despite a claim of responsibility by a group citing ties to al-Qaida, according to a statement posted on an Islamic Web site.

Baron Bodissey said...

DP111/PD111 -- Thanks for coming over.

Doies blogger have dyslexia? Or was "DP111" already taken?

Always On Watch said...

Baron,
Over the past week, I've been listening to the audio version of Kenneth Timmerman's book "Preachers of Hate: Islam and the War on America." I applied some of Timmerman's principles, specifically the one about Muslims blaming Jews for Islamic woes.

Funny how things keep repeating themselves, huh?

Always On Watch said...

DP 111/PD 111,
Radicals and moderates work in concert? In my heart of hearts, that's what I've started to believe. Furthering the cause of Islam is what links them.

God help us!

Pofarmer said...

PD111

"Actually the Jihadis and the moderates work in concert."

That is probably the scariest thing I've read in a long time. And it's so simple it's nearly undeniable. How do you combat a "religion" that has world domination as it's foundation? It's a tough problem, there are answers, Slobodon Milosovek tried one, and look where it got him.