Category Archives: Islam

Calling Bin Laden's Bluff

Islam

“Many factors have combined to mythologize Osama bin Laden. The ineptness of his enemies, for one: that we Americans have been incapable of capturing him does wonders for the fugitive’s status. The pulp-press bin Laden gets helps too. The title of CNN correspondent Christiane Amanpour’s documentary about the man—’In the Footsteps of Bin Laden’—is a play on an idiom that suggests reverence.

For her production, Amanpour even managed to dredge, among many other character witnesses, a swaddled female fan, who went into raptures over the arch-terrorist. Amanpour also labored bin Laden’s Scarlet-Pimpernel qualities—the manner in which he would materialize and dematerialize mysteriously for his spectacular cameos. This enhanced his elusive aura (although in reality, I’m sure perfectly prosaic things such as cars and camels were involved in schlepping him here and there).

But bin Laden is not what he is made out to be. A clue to his limitations came when Abu Musab al-Zarqawi ignored his request, via Ayman al-Zawahiri, to quit killing so many Shia in Iraq. And now two books, published earlier this year, and reviewed by Max Rodenbeck in the New York Review of Books, expose yet more frailties in bin Laden’s façade…”

Here’s the complete WorldNetDaily.com column, “Calling Bin Laden’s Bluff.”

Axis of Illogic

Bush, Iran, Iraq, Islam, Politics

Don’t forget that at the time Bush was preparing to invade Iraq, he was giving North Korea room to maneuver freely on the axis of evil. While Iraqi palm dates were being subjected to strict trade embargoes, North Korean Scud missiles were allowed to safely reach their destinations: the jammed-with-Jihadist nations of Pakistan, Syria, Egypt, Iran, Libya and Yemen.

In 2002, a North Korean vessel was not allegedly—but actually—apprehended in the Arabian Sea, carrying 15 well-concealed Scud missiles. At the time of its invasion, Iraq was suspected of hiding a total of 60 Scud-variant missiles. While Bush was revving up for war with Iraq, North Koreans were sailing the seas in search for markets for the equivalent of a fourth of the entire Iraqi arsenal.

You see, North Korea didn’t and apparently doesn’t sell missiles to Al-Qaida. While Iraq might have. That’s an important distinction.

The weapons inspectors, who were criss-crossing Iraq before the invasion, were not allowed to finish their uneventful task (Bush threw them out so he could invade). At the same time, Bush exempted North Korea’s Yongbyon research base from inspections, but not before bribing the North Koreans with $95m.

So long as you understand that North Korea’s belligerence is ultimately all Clinton’s fault.

Updated: Pacifist Protest à la Islam

Britain, Islam, Media

Fox News is even more politically correct than the Guardian. The latter at least described the hijackers of a Turkish passenger plane today as “two Turks.”

Fox’s Martha MacCallum left it at “two men,” also leaving viewers to puzzle over questions a news lead is supposed to answer upfront: What, Where, Who, Why, and How.

According to the Guardian:

“Two Turkish men who hijacked a Turkish Airlines flight from Tirana to Istanbul tonight surrendered to Italian police.
…The aircraft, carrying 113 passengers and six crew, was forced to land at Brindisi airport in southern Italy after it was intercepted by Greek and then Italian fighter jets.”
…it appeared that the hijackers did not have any weapons”

As I say, commandeering a passenger plane, weaponless, is a Muslim’s version of a Gandhian protest.

“Early reports said the men were protesting against the Pope’s plans to visit Turkey.” But Turkey, itching to enter the EU (the Pontiff is definitely uneager for Turkey to enter), spun the heist thus: “the Turkish transport minister told Associated Press that the hijackers’ aim was to seek political asylum.”

At least the faithful are looking for peaceful ways with which to respond to the Pope’s pacifist speech about the irrationality of Islam.

Update: According to CNN, via Jihad Watch, the Turkish hijackers were indeed asylum seekers; they had no designs on the Pope. The AP has, so far, stuck with the story the Guardian reported.

Timbuktu, Literally

Africa, Islam

In “Benedict the Brave,” I mentioned that “only one of the 98 Islamic countries in the world has religious freedom.” Readers inferred that it was Turkey.

Since when?

With an Islamist government itching to restore Islamic law, the army is entrusted to uphold secularism. Buddha! Religious freedom is a very fragile thing if it depends for its maintenance on a tug of war between these two arms of the state.

No, Turkey is not the religiously free, mystery Muslim country. It’s in fact quite an oppressive place—for the fanatics especially. According to Father Joseph D. Fessio, whom I mention in the piece, the honorific “religiously free” goes to Mali, “where Timbuktu is.” It’s in a desert, so you can hardly count it,” father Fessio added, with apologies to Malians.