Yes, Blaming one Group of Muslims for the Actions of Others is, by Definition, Scapegoating
Yes, when you blame one group of people for the actions of other, especially irrationally so, that qualifies as scapegoating.
The other day, Stacy McCain* took issue with my characterization of several examples of anti-Islamism as “scapegoating” (although he focused solely on the Park51/Cordoba House issue). He charged me with being “mislead[ing]” and took issue with the usage of the word scapegoating, inclucing the non sequitur “Nobody is blaming Muslims for the recession.”**
Indeed.
However, some people certainly appear to be blaming Islam for 9/11 and think that, therefore, all Muslims deserve at least a little bit of said blame.
As such, I would counter The Other McCain and say that the word scapegoating is precisely the right one to use.
From Merriam-Webster’s we have the following
Main Entry: 1scape·goat
Pronunciation: ˈskāp-ˌgōt
Function: noun
Etymology: 1scape; intended as translation of Hebrew ʽazāzēl (probably name of a demon), as if ʽēz ‘ōzēlgoat that departs—Lev 16:8(Authorized Version)
Date: 1530
1 : a goat upon whose head are symbolically placed the sins of the people after which he is sent into the wilderness in the biblical ceremony for Yom Kippur
2 a : one that bears the blame for others b : one that is the object of irrational hostility.
It strikes me that definitions 2a and 2b both perfectly fit what is happening with Cordoba House and in protests against other proposed mosques (amongst other issues) around the country.
First, the whole notion that Muslims in general, and therefore the Cordoba House people and other American Muslims in specific, are tainted by the actions of the 9/11 hijackers is asking the former to bear at least some of the blame of the latter. And make no mistake, the only reason that some people think that Park51 would be offensive or taint hallowed ground is because it would contain a mosque, i.e., a place where Muslims could pray. As such, this fits definition 2a. Even if they are not being asked to bear all of the responsibility for 9/11, they are clearly being asked to bear some on a strained version of guilt by association.
Second, the reason for all of this is, in my view, irrational, as it is born not of reason, but of emotion. This fits definition 2b.
As such, the term “scapegoating” fits perfectly.
McCain also goes on to say
Many of those who have scoffed at opponents of Cordoba House are doing so based on a certain error of logic: “If Fox News is covering it, and Republican politicians are talking about it, the story must therefore be illegitimate.”
If you think Newt Gingrich is demagoging the Ground Zero Mosque story, or that Fox News is exploiting it, then by all means denounce the demagoguery and exploitation. But do not make the mistake of assuming that an issue is illegitimate, simply because it is being promoted by people you don’t like.
First, he may not be referring to me (but the paragraphs in question come after the portion in which he quotes me), so at least stylistically it appears aimed at me, so I figured I would answer.
Second, I don’t know if I have even mentioned Fox News in any of my posts on this subject (of which there have been several). However, I will note that that my position has nothing to do with who is talking about it, let another because Fox News has been talking a lot about it.
Third, I will gladly denounce Gingrich’s demagoguery, because he is, in fact, demagoguing the issue. See, for example, here.
*Update: I unintentionally left the link back to The Other McCain out of the original post. That has now been corrected.
**His full treatment of the subject:
No, this isn’t scapegoating. It would be scapegoating if Muslims were being blamed for widespread social or economic woes, the way Hitler made Jews the convenient explanation for all of Germany’s ills after World War I.
While that is perhaps one of the more famous examples of scapegoating that one might can conjure (even if his treatment is a bit simplistic), it is not the only way that scapegoating can exist. Again, I would refer the reader to the provided definition.
And whenever somebody on the right does something wrong it is invariably the actions of “a few bad apples.”
Honest.
“Mistakes were made.”
http://www.thereligionofpeace.com/
It would be more dramatic if that site, GAP, were to be shown in abbreviated form here. Yes, let us absorb the worldwide record, before we elect to welcome all Muslims into the fold. I still have not had any response to my request as to how to separate the good Muslims from the bad Muslims in a practical way here in America.
From the site Religion of peace:
List of Islamic Terror Attacks For the Past 2 Months
Date Country City Killed Injured Description
2010.08.21 Pakistan Baghlia 6 5 Six members of a peace committee are blow to bits by Mujahid bombers.
2010.08.20 Pakistan Sanghar 1 0 A leader of the peaceful Ahmadi sect is shot in the head by orthodox Sunni.
2010.08.20 Afghanistan Kandahar 1 0 A civilian is brutally executed and tied between two roadside bombs by the Taliban.
2010.08.20 Afghanistan Helmand 30 17 Some thirty workers and guards are massacred when Islamic fundamentalists assault a construction company.
2010.08.20 Iraq Baghdad 3 6 Jihadis shoot an electrical worker to death and take out two other civilians with a bomb.
2010.08.20 Thailand Yala 1 0 A 63-year-old civilian is shot to death by Muslim terrorists.
2010.08.20 Pakistan Dera Ismail Khan 2 1 Islamic militants are suspected of gunning down two cops.
2010.08.19 Afghanistan Nangarhar 2 14 Two civilians are killed when the Taliban blow up a fuel truck.
2010.08.19 China Xinjiang 7 14 An explosives-laden vehicle is plowed into a crowd and detonated, leaving seven dead.
2010.08.19 Yemen Abyan 2 1 al-Qaeda militants machine-gun two cops to death at point-blank range.
2010.08.19 Afghanistan Logar 2 0 The bodies of two men are discovered after they were kidnapped and murdered in captivity.
2010.08.19 Algeria Baghlia 3 4 Fundamentalists ambush a group of soldiers, killing three.
2010.08.19 Iraq Mosul 3 4 A kidnapped civilian is among three Iraqis murdered in separate attacks.
2010.08.18 Iraq Mosul 4 2 Four Iraqis are taken down in separate terror attacks.
2010.08.18 Afghanistan Kandahar 1 0 A suicide bomber takes out an Afghan cop.
2010.08.18 India Kulgam 2 0 Two civilians grazing cattle are abducted and murdered by Religion of Peace radicals.
2010.08.18 India Sopore 1 2 Islamic militants attack a lawmaker’s home, killing a guard.
2010.08.18 Iraq Diyala 3 0 Three brothers are brutally murdered on their own farm by Mujahideen.
2010.08.18 Iraq Tikrit 2 3 Two civilians are blown to bits by a Jihadi bomb.
2010.08.18 Pal. Auth. Gaza 1 0 A 62-year-old woman is murdered outside her own home by Islamic fundamentalists.
2010.08.18 Pakistan Nazimabad 1 0 A children’s doctor is shot to death by sectarian rivals.
2010.08.17 Somalia Mogadishu 1 2 A civilian is killed when Mujahideen toss a grenade at a police station.
2010.08.17 Iraq Baghdad 10 46 Sunni militants detonate a fuel tanker in a Shia neighborhood, incinerating ten innocents.
2010.08.17 Afghanistan Zabul 2 0 A man and his wife are shot to death in their home by religious extremists.
2010.08.17 Pakistan Peshawar 2 0 Two civilians are murdered at a mosque by Taliban gunmen.
2010.08.17 Pakistan Karachi 1 0 A leader of a minority religious sect is gunned down by mainstream rivals.
2010.08.17 Iraq Diyala 3 0 An auditor and two judges are assassinated by Islamic terrorists in separate attacks.
2010.08.17 Iraq Baghdad 61 129 Over sixty young Iraqis lining up for work are senselessly cut to shreds by a Shahid suicide nail-bomber.
2010.08.17 Afghanistan Spin Boldak 8 0 Eight civilians are murdered by a Taliban bomb attack on a home.
2010.08.17 Russia North Ossetia 2 23 Two people are dead and twenty-three others injured in a suicide attack and separate cafe bombing.
2010.08.16 Somalia Elasha Biyaha 1 0 A cleric who advocated peace is assassinated by Islamists.
2010.08.16 Iraq Muqdadiya 4 9 Four Iranian pilgrims on a bus are targeted and killed by Sunni bombers. Women and children are among the victims.
2010.08.16 Afghanistan Farah 2 0 Two people are killed when Taliban gunmen fire into a bazaar.
2010.08.16 Afghanistan Ghazni 2 5 A remote-controlled bomb on a bridge takes out two civilians.
2010.08.16 Somalia Mogadishu 9 53 Nine refugees are killed when al-Shabaab Islamists attack a displaced persons camp.
2010.08.16 Afghanistan Heart 5 2 Three women and a child are among five civilians killed by a Taliban bomb attack on their car.
2010.08.16 Afghanistan Kunduz 2 0 A couple in their 20’s is stoned by Islamic fundamentalists for having sex. The man has to be finished off with a gunshot.
2010.08.16 Pakistan Karachi 4 0 Sunnis shoot four Shia to death in separate attacks.
2010.08.15 Iraq Numaniya 1 0 Muslim gunmen murder an Iraqi pharmacist who had returned from studies in the U.S.
2010.08.15 Iraq Jurf al-Sakhar 3 2 Three worshippers are shot to death outside a mosque by sectarian rivals.
2010.08.14 Thailand Pattani 1 0 A local cop is shot to death by Islamic militants while traveling to work.
2010.08.14 Afghanistan Kunduz 1 0 A local cop is shot to death by Uzbeki Islamists.
2010.08.14 Afghanistan Dam Abad 3 1 Three children are torn apart by a rocket fired into their home by Islamic hardliners.
2010.08.14 Egypt Shimi 0 11 Eleven Christians are injured in assaults by Muslims stirred to anger by a local cleric.
2010.08.14 Iraq Baghdad 6 15 Islamic terrorists take down six Iraqis in a series of attacks, including policemen who were set on fire.
2010.08.14 Thailand Yala 2 0 A Buddhist man and wife are brutally murdered by Muslim gunmen while riding to their plantation.
2010.08.14 Pakistan Sindh 2 8 A woman and boy are left dead when Muslim rivals attack each other over where to build a madrasah.
2010.08.14 India Sopore 1 0 Islamic terrorists kidnap and murder a civilian.
2010.08.13 Afghanistan Herat 4 12 The Taliban ambush a convoy of security guards, killing four.
2010.08.13 Yemen Lahj 1 0 A man is gunned down in an al-Qaeda drive-by outside a mosque.
2010.08.13 Pakistan Quetta 1 0 Sunni fundamentalists are suspected of firing into a barbershop, killing the owner.
2010.08.12 Iraq Baaj 4 0 A bomb placed by Jihadis kills four disposal workers.
2010.08.11 Pakistan Mohmand 1 3 A woman is killed, and her three sons injured, when militants fire a rocket into their home.
2010.08.11 India Rajouri 2 21 Lashkar e-Toiba terrorists fire on a bus, murdering two civilians, including a woman.
2010.08.11 Iraq Baghdad 1 1 Jihadis gun down two cops and kill a civilian with a bomb.
2010.08.11 Iraq Sadiya 11 4 Islamists lure eight police to their deaths by first killing three members of a family and then booby-trapping the house.
2010.08.11 Pakistan Karachi 2 0 Two Shias are shot to death by Sunnis in separate drive-by attacks.
2010.08.10 Iraq Baghdad 5 16 Terrorists take down five Iraqis with two bombs.
2010.08.10 India Baramulla 3 0 Islamic radicals machine-gun three cops to death.
2010.08.10 Pakistan Mohmand 3 0 Three members of a security patrol are killed in an ambush by Islamic militants.
2010.08.10 Afghanistan Kabul 5 1 Blood and body parts are scattered about following a double suicide attack that leaves five Afghans dead.
2010.08.10 Afghanistan Helmand 5 0 Five local security personnel are killed when Islamic fundamentalists fire a rocket through their vehicle.
2010.08.09 Thailand Narathiwat 1 0 Muslim terrorists stab and partially behead a young plantation worker.
2010.08.09 Iraq Baghdad 3 10 Three traffic cops are taken down by Jihadi bombers.
2010.08.09 Afghanistan Badghis 1 0 A pregnant woman accused of adultery is whipped 200 times and then shot three times in the head by Islamic fundamentalists.
2010.08.08 Iraq Fallujah 4 14 Four civilians lose their lives in two car bombings.
2010.08.08 Indonesia Bekasi 0 12 A mob of hundreds of Muslims chase and beat Christian worshippers after disrupting their service.
2010.08.08 Iraq Ramadi 8 50 Eight Iraqis are pasted by Jihadi bombers.
2010.08.07 Afghanistan Helmand 1 0 A British father of four is shot to death by a Taliban prisoner who seizes a weapon on his way to a prayer session.
2010.08.07 Iraq Basra 43 185 Over forty people are massacred by Islamic terrorists at a market. Most burn to death in a fire caused by bombs.
2010.08.07 Iraq Garma 3 15 al-Qaeda militants detonate a bomb outside a home, killing three residents.
2010.08.07 Afghanistan Nuristan 10 0 Ten members of a medical team, including Christian doctors, are pulled out of their cars and executed by devout Muslim fundamentalists, who spare an Afghan able to recite the Quran.
2010.08.07 Thailand Pattani 2 1 A Buddhist husband and wife are murdered by Muslim gunmen in their motorcycle shop. Their 4-year-old nephew is wounded.
2010.08.07 Thailand Yala 1 0 Muslim terrorists kill an off-duty soldier on his motorcycle.
2010.08.07 Afghanistan Maiwand 1 1 A child is murdered by Sunni bombers.
2010.08.07 Afghanistan Helmand 5 13 A bomb hidden in a wheelbarrow leaves five innocents dead.
2010.08.07 Thailand Narathiwat 1 0 A 43-year-old Buddhist woman is brutally machine-gunned to death by Muslim radicals on her farm.
2010.08.06 Iraq Kirkuk 1 0 Muslim radicals shoot a woman to death.
2010.08.06 Iraq Baghdad 2 13 Two civilians are blown to bits by Jihadi bombers.
2010.08.05 Pakistan Quetta 1 1 Islamic militants open fire on an oil tanker, killing the driver.
2010.08.05 Iraq Baghdad 6 8 Two shootings by terrorists take down six Iraqis.
2010.08.05 Ingushetia Nazran 2 0 Two cops are gunned down by suspected Islamic separatists.
2010.08.05 India Baramulla 1 2 Islamic militants fire on a security patrol, killing one member.
2010.08.05 Yemen Abyan 3 1 al-Qaeda terrorists ambush and kill three members of a patrol.
2010.08.05 Iraq Abu Ghraib 3 0 A woman is among three people shot to death in their home by Muslim radicals.
2010.08.05 Iraq Tikrit 3 0 An al-Qaeda attack leaves three people dead.
2010.08.05 Philippines Zamboanga 5 24 A suicide bomber at an airport murders five other people.
2010.08.05 Afghanistan Kunduz 7 13 A Fedayeen suicide bomber murders seven local police.
2010.08.04 Thailand Pattani 1 0 A Buddhist is gunned down in an Islamist drive-by.
2010.08.04 Afghanistan Helmand 1 0 A young child is killed in a fundamentalist IED attack.
2010.08.04 Somalia Bondhere 3 12 Three cleaning women are exterminated by an al-Shabaab bomb blast.
2010.08.04 Pakistan Peshawar 4 11 A hero cop is among four blown apart by a Shahid suicide car bomber.
2010.08.04 Afghanistan Uruzgan 1 1 Terrorists detonate a bomb at a bazaar, killing one civilian.
2010.08.03 Iraq Kut 12 55 Two car bombs at a market leave a dozen people dead and fifty others wounded.
2010.08.03 Iraq Baghdad 5 0 The Islamic State of Iraq machine-guns five soldiers to death at point-blank range.
2010.08.03 Iraq Mosul 9 15 Two vicious bombings leave nine Iraqis dead.
2010.08.03 Dagestan Makhachkala 2 0 Two police officers are assassinated by Islamic separatists at a market.
2010.08.02 Iraq Fallujah 3 7 A 4-year-old girl is among three sleeping family members murdered by Islamic bombers.
2010.08.02 Afghanistan Kandahar 5 1 Five children are blown apart by a suicide car bomber.
2010.08.02 Jordan Aqaba 1 5 A Palestinian rocket attack on an Israeli resort overshoots its mark and kills a taxi driver in Jordan.
2010.08.02 Afghanistan Faryab 4 3 Four civilians are cut to pieces by Taliban gunmen.
2010.08.02 Iraq Baghdad 10 22 A coffee shop and a residential neighborhood are among a series of bomb blast sites that leave ten dead.
2010.08.01 Pakistan South Waziristan 2 0 Religious extremists kill two local soldiers with a roadside bomb.
2010.07.31 Pakistan North Waziristan 2 0 Two Afghan refugees are abducted and shot to death by Islamic fundamentalists.
2010.07.31 Iraq Tarmiya 3 8 Three civilians on a minibus are taken out by Jihadi bombers.
2010.07.31 Iraq Yusufiya 4 11 Four rescue workers are lured to the scene of an earlier bombing and then blasted in a second attack.
2010.07.30 Pakistan Karachi 1 0 A young pregnant woman is tortured and murdered in a suspected honor killing.
2010.07.30 Iraq Buhriz 4 0 Four members of a family are blasted to death by al-Qaeda bombers.
2010.07.30 Afghanistan Kandahar 2 1 A mother and child are exterminated by Jihadi bombers.
2010.07.30 Afghanistan Kunduz 3 19 Children are among the casualites when a suicide bomber detonates at a soccer game.
2010.07.29 Afghanistan Ghazni 8 3 Eight security guards are ambushed and murdered by religious extremists.
2010.07.29 Pakistan Kurram 10 0 Shia terrorists pull ten Sunnis from their homes and shoot them to death, then torch the houses.
2010.07.29 Iraq Adhamiya 16 14 al-Qaeda terrorists stage a brutal attack on a neighborhood, killing sixteen people and burning their bodies.
2010.07.29 Iraq Shurqat 4 11 A Fedayeen suicide bomber takes down four Iraqis.
2010.07.28 Afghanistan Nimroz 25 20 Twenty-five bus passengers are murdered in a bloody bombing by Sunni fundamentalists.
2010.07.28 Iraq Mosul 5 6 A young girl is among five Iraqis murdered in a series of Mujahideen attacks.
2010.07.28 Iraq Baghdad 6 15 Six people waiting in line at a bank lose their place in life, courtesy of Muslim bombers.
2010.07.28 Iraq Karbala 16 37 Jihadis take down sixteen innocents in a rocket attack.
2010.07.28 Afghanistan Heart 2 0 Two Italian soldiers are killed by a Taliban roadside bomb while guarding a highway.
2010.07.28 Iraq Fallujah 2 8 Children are among the casualties of an Islamic bombing outside a rival mosque.
2010.07.28 Afghanistan Zabul 6 3 Six civilians are killed in two Taliban roadside bombings.
2010.07.27 Iraq Baghdad 1 4 A civilian is taken out by a roadside bomb.
2010.07.27 Nigeria Maiduguri 32 0 At least thirty-two policemen are assassinated and ‘roasted like animals’ by Boko Haram Islamists.
2010.07.27 Iraq Mosul 2 0 Suspected Islamists storm a home and kill a woman and her son.
2010.07.27 Thailand Narathiwat 1 0 A 50-year-old villager is murdered outside his hom by Muslim gunmen.
2010.07.27 Thailand Yala 1 0 A 26-year-old man is gunned down by Islamic insurgents.
2010.07.27 Thailand Pattani 2 0 Two civilians are shot to death by Muslim militants in separate drive-bys.
2010.07.27 Somalia Mogadishu 13 40 At least thirteen civilians are killed when Hizbul Islam terrorists attack a government building.
2010.07.26 Paksitan Swat 4 4 Islamic gunmen ambush a family vehicle, leaving four dead, including two children.
2010.07.26 Pakistan Darra Adamkhel 5 0 Three children are killed when Islamic terrorists fire a rocket into a family home.
2010.07.26 Iraq Baghdad 4 16 A suicide bomber targets a news channel staff, killing four members.
2010.07.26 Pakistan Peshawar 8 23 Two children are among eight people murdered when a suicide bomber detonates outside the home of a family mourning an earlier killing.
2010.07.26 Thailand Pattani 1 0 A 55-year-old Buddhist teacher is shot to death by Islamic militants while driving home.
2010.07.26 Iraq Karbalah 40 68 Sunni bombers take out about forty Shia pilgrims in twin bombings.
2010.07.26 Yemen Lahej 4 9 al-Qaeda gunmen take down four local soldiers in an ambush.
2010.07.25 Yemen Shabwa 6 0 Six soldiers sitting in a car are machine-gunned to death by al-Qaeda at point-blank range.
2010.07.25 Pakistan Khyber 2 0 Mujahideen pull two occupants out of a vehicle and shoot them in the back of the head.
2010.07.25 Iraq Mosul 7 2 A child is among seven Iraqis killed in a Jihad bombing and separate shooting attack.
2010.07.25 Mali Baskno 1 0 al-Qaeda beheads a 78-year-old French hostage.
2010.07.25 Algeria Kabylie 1 8 A suicide bomber murders a night watchman.
2010.07.24 Iraq Basra 1 4 An innocent civilian is murdered by a Jihad bomber.
2010.07.24 Pakistan Naushehra 1 1 A young man is gunned down by the Taliban while standing outside his home.
2010.07.24 Afghanistan Khost 1 20 Muslim radicals plant a bomb in a mosque that kills one person.
2010.07.24 Iraq Mosul 2 18 A shooting and a bombing at a store, leave two people dead.
2010.07.24 Dagestan Kizlyarsky 3 0 Muslim militants shoot three local soldiers to death in their vehicle.
2010.07.23 India Poonch 1 1 An army officer is killed by a terrorist landmine.
2010.07.23 Pakistan Bajaur 3 0 The Taliban blow three members of a peace committee to kingdom come.
2010.07.23 Afghanistan Kandahar 2 2 Two local cops are blown to bits by Sunni bombers.
2010.07.23 Pakistan Lahore 1 5 A police officer is taken down in an Islamist bombing.
2010.07.23 Jordan Deir Alla 1 0 A man machine-guns his 16-year-old niece after she loses her virginity from a sexual assault.
2010.07.23 Afghanistan Logar 1 1 The Taliban ambush a vehicle carrying two US sailors, killing one and kidnapping the other.
2010.07.23 Dagestan Chernyaevka 2 4 Children are among the casualties when Muslim gunmen open up on a school bus in one of two separate attacks.
2010.07.22 Pakistan Rawalpindi 0 2 Two Christian girls are gang-raped by Muslims.
2010.07.22 Yemen Ataq 6 1 Six local soldiers are taken down in an al-Qaeda ambush.
2010.07.22 India Kishtwar 1 0 A 42-year-old contractor is abducted, tied up, tortured and then beheaded by Holy Warriors.
2010.07.22 Iraq Mosul 9 10 An imam and a baker are among nine people murdered in various ways in several Mujahid attacks.
2010.07.22 Iraq Baghdad 3 15 Muslim terrorists send rockets into a commercial district, killing three people.
2010.07.21 India Kishtwar 1 0 Mujahideen beat a shopkeeper in his home in front of his family, then pull him out and shoot him.
2010.07.21 Russia Baksanskaya 2 0 Islamic militants murder two guards at a power plant.
2010.07.21 Iraq Mosul 1 1 A woman is killed, and her child injured, by Jihadi bombers.
2010.07.21 Thailand Pattani 1 0 A civilian is gunned down by Muslim militants while on his way home from a tea shop.
2010.07.21 Iraq Abu Saida 15 44 At least fifteen innocents are blown to bits in a bombing outside a mosque.
2010.07.20 Iraq Qsaireen 6 8 Six Iranian pilgrims are sent straight to Allah by a Sunni suicide bomber at a restaurant.
2010.07.20 Afghanistan Baghlan 6 0 Six police officers are beheaded by Islamic fundamentalists.
2010.07.20 Pakistan Khar 1 0 A local soldiers is shot to death in a terrorist ambush.
2010.07.20 Afghanistan Mazar-i-Sharif 3 2 Two NATO civilians and an Afghan soldier are gunned down by a rogue Afghan soldier.
2010.07.20 Yemen Harf Sufyan 34 12 Thirty-four people are killed when two Shiite groups clash over ‘ideological differences.’
2010.07.20 Kenya Liboi 1 1 al-Shabaab snipers attack a Kenyan military patrol across the border, killing one officer.
2010.07.20 Iraq Qurat Tabba 8 22 Jihadis blow up a market, killing at least eight patrons.
2010.07.19 Pakistan Faislabad 2 1 Two Christian brothers who were pastors, are accused of blasphemy and then brutally gunned down outside a courthouse while in chains.
2010.07.19 Iraq Fallujah 1 0 al-Qaeda members kill a local leader with a car bomb.
2010.07.19 Afghanistan Kandahar 6 4 Religious extremists assassinate six local police with a roadside bomb.
2010.07.19 Iraq Mosul 4 5 A Fedayeen suicide bomber plows into another vehicle and detonates, leaving at least four dead.
2010.07.19 Iraq Baqubah 4 15 Holy warriors bomb a cafe killing four Iraqis.
2010.07.18 Pakistan Sargodha 6 20 Six Shia worshippers lose their lives, and several others are dismembered when a Sunni suicide bomber visits their mosque.
2010.07.18 Afghanistan Kabul 3 42 Sunni fundamentalists take out three civilians in a bomb attack.
2010.07.18 Iraq Balasim 48 50 Nearly fifty people are shredded into pieces by suicide bombers striking two crowds.
2010.07.18 Somalia Lasanod 1 0 Islamic militants assassinate a court official.
2010.07.18 Thailand Pattani 2 0 A middle-aged Buddhist man is among two people shot to death by Islamists in separate attacks.
2010.07.18 Thailand Narathiwat 1 0 A Malaysian karaoke bar owner is shot to death by Muslim extremists.
2010.07.18 Somalia Mogadishu 12 43 A dozen people are left dead after a reported al-Shabaab attack.
2010.07.17 Pakistan Kurram 18 2 A brutal ambush on Shia civilians by Sunni radicals leaves eighteen dead.
2010.07.17 Iraq Tuz Khormato 2 3 Two boys are murdered in what is thought to be a sectarian bombing.
2010.07.17 Nigeria Jos 10 14 Young children are among ten Christians hacked to death in their homes by Muslims, who also burn a church.
2010.07.17 Algeria Tebessa 4 0 Four people are killed in a suspected al-Qaeda bombing.
2010.07.16 Dagestan Makhachkala 1 0 A Pentacostal pastor and father of five is shot in the head by Muslim extremists.
2010.07.16 Iraq Fallujah 2 0 A teacher is among two civilians shot to death by Islamic terrorists.
2010.07.16 Iraq Abu Ghraib 3 2 Jihadis take down three Iraqis with a roadside bomb.
2010.07.16 Pakistan Tirah Valley 10 14 Three children are among ten innocents blown to bits at a marketplace by Religion of Peace advocates.
2010.07.16 Pakistan North Waziristan 2 0 The Taliban execute two men by strapping dynamite to their bodies.
2010.07.16 Turkey Diyarbakir 1 0 A young member of an Islamist organization is arrested for strangling his 17-year-old sister in an honor killing a month earlier.
2010.07.16 Thailand Yala 2 1 A 53-year-old Buddhist woman bleeds to death after Islamists set off two bombs, killing two people.
2010.07.15 Iraq Tikrit 9 15 A Mujahid car bomb along a city street takes down nine Iraqis.
2010.07.15 Pakistan Sukkur 5 6 Five members of a church, including the pastor are brutally shot to death outside the building by Religion of Peace advocates.
2010.07.15 Pakistan Mingora 6 45 Six innocents are taken down by a suicide bomber, including women and children.
2010.07.15 Iran Zahedan 27 80 At least twenty-seven people are killed when a Sunni suicide bomber takes out a mosque full of Shia worshippers.
2010.07.15 Iraq Mahmoudiya 2 10 Two people are killed by a bomb planted on a motorcycle.
2010.07.14 Iraq Baghdad 1 0 A university professor is assassinated by suspected fundamentalists.
2010.07.14 Pakistan Bostikhel 2 0 Two brothers are abducted and beheaded by religious extremists.
2010.07.14 Thailand Yala 1 0 A villager is gunned down by Islamic terrorists.
2010.07.14 Iraq Amiriya 4 7 Three women and a child are brutally slaughtered in the home of a Sufi cleric by sectarian Jihadis.
2010.07.14 Iraq Baghdad 2 4 Jihadis take down two civilians with a roadside bomb.
2010.07.14 Yemen Zijibar 3 10 Hooded al-Qaeda militants assault a government building. At least three defenders are killed.
2010.07.13 Afghanistan Kandahar 9 9 A suicide bomb attack on an Afghan security headquarters leaves nine dead, including five civilians.
2010.07.13 Afghanistan Paktika 2 0 Two security guards are sent to Allah by Taliban roadside bombers.
2010.07.13 Pakistan Karachi 1 0 A woman is shot to death by her son in an honor killing.
2010.07.13 Iraq Khalis 3 7 Three people are killed by a terrorist bombing while protesting terrorist bombings.
2010.07.13 Iraq Yusufiya 5 0 Five members of a family are brutally slaughtered in their own home by al-Qaeda.
2010.07.13 Afghanistan Helmand 9 0 Sunni hardliners manage to take down nine Afghan civilians by bombing their minibus.
2010.07.13 Iraq Baghdad 2 5 Two local cops are taken down by Jihad bombers.
2010.07.13 Afghanistan Helmand 3 4 A ‘renegade’ Afghan soldier shoots three British (Gurkha) troops to death in their sleep.
2010.07.13 Dagestan Derbent 1 3 Terrorists fire on a group of youth, killing one.
2010.07.13 Pakistan Karachi 0 1 A Christian woman is raped and then thrown from a roof by a Muslim doctor.
2010.07.13 Afghanistan Uruzgan 1 0 Fundamentalists set up a fake roadblock and then shoot a motorist to death.
2010.07.12 Thailand Narathiwat 1 1 Islamic insurgents ambush and murder a 55-year-old cop.
2010.07.12 Pakistan Orakzai 1 4 Islamists blow up a primary school and kill a security official.
2010.07.12 India Nadia 0 3 Three Hindu girls are gang-raped and tortured by a group of Muslims. The youngest two are 13-years-old.
2010.07.12 Pakistan Karachi 1 1 A seminary teacher’s driver is killed during an assassination attempt by disgruntled fundamentalists.
2010.07.12 Afghanistan Helmand 0 21 Twenty-one civilians are wounded by a Taliban blast at a crowded bazaar.
2010.07.11 Pakistan Quetta 1 0 A man is kidnapped and tortured to death by sectarian rivals.
2010.07.11 Uganda Kampala 76 65 Over seventy innocent people watching the World Cup are blown to bits in two separate bombings by Islamic extremists.
2010.07.11 Iraq Dania 1 2 A civilian is killed in a Jihad bombing.
2010.07.11 India Doda 1 0 A civilian is cut down outside his home by Mujahideen gunmen.
2010.07.10 India Gari Madhiya 2 0 A 16-year-old girl and her lover are honor killed execution style by her family.
2010.07.10 Afghanistan Kabul 11 0 Eleven policemen are killed in two Taliban terror attacks.
2010.07.10 Pakistan Makeen 3 5 Tehreek-e-Taliban ambush a police post, killing three officers.
2010.07.10 Afghanistan Paktia 11 0 Eleven Shia men are shot to death by Sunni rivals in a sectarian attack.
2010.07.10 Dagestan Makhachkala 1 0 A senior judge is assassinated by Islamic terrorists.
2010.07.10 Afghanistan Kandahar 1 5 Islamists use a remote-controlled bomb on a motorcycle to take down a civilian.
2010.07.09 Jordan Naur 1 0 A married woman suspected of having an extra-marital affair is stabbed to death by her brothers.
2010.07.09 Pakistan Mohmand 105 75 Children are among over one hundred innocents blown apart by a suicide bomber while they are waiting in line for humanitarian aid, including wheelchairs.
2010.07.09 Iraq Baghdad 6 20 A Shahid suicide successfully takes out six Iraqis in a neighborhood.
2010.07.08 Afghanistan Paktia 6 0 Six civilians are crushed by debris when hardliners fire a rocket into a bazaar.
2010.07.08 Iraq Baghdad 28 98 Twenty-eight more Shia pilgrims are massacred in at least four separate Sunni bomb attacks.
2010.07.08 Pakistan Karachi 0 7 Seven Hindus are badly beaten after one of them (a boy) drinks water from a mosque.
2010.07.08 Philippines Talipao 3 0 Three men are hacked to death by Abu Sayyaf ambushers.
2010.07.07 Iraq Fallujah 5 4 A Fedayeen suicide bomber takes out five Iraqis.
2010.07.07 Somalia Elasha 2 3 A teenager is among two people slain when Islamic fundamentalists toss a grenade into a house where people are watching the World Cup.
2010.07.07 Iraq Abu Ghraib 5 6 al-Qaeda gunmen target the homes of policemen and other officials, leaving several family members dead.
2010.07.07 Afghanistan Kabul 1 0 Talibanis gun down a cop.
2010.07.07 Iraq Baghdad 54 265 Women and children are among the dead as three suicide bombers target Shia pilgrims in separate and horrific attacks.
2010.07.06 Pakistan Karachi 1 0 A Shia civilian is killed by Sunni gunmen.
2010.07.06 Iraq Baghdad 6 37 Six Shiite pilgrims are dismembered by Sunni bombers in three attacks.
2010.07.06 Iraq Mosul 2 0 Two women are brutally shot to death by Jihadis passing by in a car.
2010.07.06 Afghanistan Ghazni 6 0 Six construction workers are kidnapped by Sunni hardliners and then murdered in captivity.
2010.07.05 Pakistan Peshawar 1 0 A tribal elder is gunned down by Islamic militants.
2010.07.05 Pakistan Lower Dir 1 14 One person is killed by a suicide car bomber.
2010.07.05 Nigeria Jos 3 0 Three Christian farmers are brutally slain in a ‘mindless’ attack by militant Muslims.
2010.07.05 Yemen Hadramout 2 3 An al-Qaeda ambush leaves two locals soldiers dead.
2010.07.05 Somalia Labadhagah 8 0 Rival Islamic groups clash, leaving eight dead in drive-by assassinations.
2010.07.05 Iraq Kirkuk 1 0 A Sunni is handcuffed and murdered by suspected al-Qaeda.
2010.07.05 Chechnya Vedensky 1 2 A Russian serviceman is assassinated by Mujahideen gunmen.
2010.07.05 Iraq Mosul 1 0 A 54-year-old Christian father of three bleeds to death after Islamists bomb his car in a targeted attack.
2010.07.05 Egypt Cairo 0 1 A Christian convert survives an attempt by Muslim radicals to behead him for leaving the faith.
2010.07.04 Ingushetia Magas 2 4 Islamists murder two Russian soldiers in a brutal ambush.
2010.07.04 Iraq Ramadi 4 23 Women and children are among the casualties when a female suicide bomber blows herself outside a building entrance.
2010.07.04 Pakistan Kalat 4 7 Sectarian Jihadis open fire on a vehicle carrying day laborers, taking down four.
2010.07.04 Afghanistan Helmand 5 8 Four children are among five innocents blown to bits by Taliban bombers at a market.
2010.07.04 Thailand Yala 2 3 Two people are killed when Islamic insurgents detonate a bomb outside a school.
2010.07.04 Iraq Baqubah 2 0 Two brothers are gunned down by Muslim terrorists.
2010.07.04 Iraq Mosul 2 4 A Shahid suicide bomber takes out two Iraqis.
2010.07.04 Iraq Mosul 1 0 Suspected Mujahid shoot a young child in the head and chest.
2010.07.04 India Kerala 0 1 A Christian professor has his forearm and hand hacked off by Muslims for the alleged crime of insulting Muhammad.
2010.07.04 Nigeria Ganawuri 3 0 Muslims hack three Christians to death.
2010.07.03 Pakistan Gurguri 4 7 Four security personnel are murdered by Taliban roadside bombers.
2010.07.03 Yemen Batis 1 0 al-Qaeda kidnap and execute a local intelligence officer.
2010.07.03 Nigeria Kizachi 7 5 A school teacher and mother of six are among seven Christians brutally executed in their homes by Muslim raiders.
2010.07.03 Pakistan Khyber 2 5 Islamic militants kill two locals with a bomb.
2010.07.02 Pakistan Quetta 1 0 Sunnis fire from a moving car on a Shia scholar, killing him on the spot.
2010.07.02 Iraq Mandali 1 0 A pregnant woman is found dead from a suspected honor killing.
2010.07.02 Thailand Pattani 1 0 A 46-year-old man is gunned down by Muslim radicals while riding home.
2010.07.02 Kosovo Mitrovica 1 10 Muslims throw a grenade into a pro-Serb rally, killing one participant.
2010.07.02 Thailand Yala 3 0 Jihadis take out three school guards with a roadside blast on their vehicle.
2010.07.02 Afghanistan Kunduz 5 20 Six Shahid suicide bombers target a humanitarian agency, murdering five innocents.
2010.07.02 Pakistan Khyber 3 2 Islamic hardliners execute three local soldiers and keep two others in captivity.
2010.07.02 Iraq Ramadi 1 0 A Sunni scholar is murdered by sectarian rivals.
2010.07.01 Pakistan Quetta 2 1 Two young girls die from splinter injuries suffered in a grenade attack on their home.
2010.07.01 Iraq Samarrah 1 2 One person is killed in their own home by sectarian bombers.
2010.07.01 India Kupwara 2 0 Islamic militants shoot two Indian soldiers to death during an infiltration attempt from Pakistan.
2010.07.01 India Udhampur 1 0 Hizb-ul-Mujahideen abduct a civilian, then shoot him as he is trying to escape.
2010.07.01 Thailand Narathiwat 5 0 Civilians are among five shot to pieces at point-blank range by Muslim radicals while riding in a truck.
2010.07.01 Ethiopia Shabelle 6 8 A Muslim ‘commando’ murders six Ehiopian soldiers.
2010.07.01 Pakistan Lahore 44 175 Over forty Sufi worshippers are blown to bits in their own mosque by Sunni bombers.
2010.07.01 Iraq Baghdad 1 9 A Sunni leader is killed by a bomb planted by suspected a Shia militia.
2010.07.01 Yemen Zinjibar 1 0 al-Qaeda gunmen assassinate a local official.
2010.07.01 Somalia Hudur 1 0 A Christian convert from Islam is publicly executed in a soccer stadium by Islamists.
2010.06.30 Chechnya Grozny 0 7 A suicide bomber near a concert hall injures seven people.
2010.06.30 Pakistan Hub 4 5 Four factory workers are killed when sectarian Jihadis toss a grenade under their car.
2010.06.30 Iraq Baghdad 2 1 Mujahid shoot two policemen to death at a checkpoint.
2010.06.30 Pakistan Tumair 1 0 A 17-year-old girl is shot in the head by her uncle after a jirga determines that she deserves to die for marrying for love.
2010.06.30 Algeria Tinzaouatine 11 0 Eleven local security personnel are shot to pieces at point-blank range by Islamic fundamentalists.
2010.06.30 Iraq Kirkuk 1 0 A woman is tortured and killed by Sunni insurgents.
2010.06.30 Iraq Mosul 1 0 A 13-year-old girl is murdered by an Islamist bomb blast near her home.
2010.06.30 Ethiopia Nogob 9 11 Ogaden Fedayeen stage a nightime raid and kill eleven local soldiers
2010.06.29 Somalia Mogadishu 4 15 Four civilians are killed during an al-Shabaab attack on a government building.
2010.06.29 Afghanistan Kabul 1 0 A UN staffer is gunned down in a brutal Islamic ambush at an intersection.
2010.06.29 Iraq Baiji 3 13 A Jihadi car bomb leaves three people dead.
2010.06.29 Afghanistan Farah 4 0 Four local soldiers are dismembered by a roadside bomb.
2010.06.29 Iraq Baghdad 1 0 An 18-year-old girl is taken down by Mujahid gunmen.
2010.06.29 Iraq Mosul 0 0 A woman shot to death in her home is among three people killed in separate attacks.
2010.06.29 Iraq Khalis 4 0 Suspected insurgents murder four members of the same family outside their home, including a 9-year-old girl.
2010.06.28 Afghanistan Ghazni 8 0 Sunni hardliners use a roadside bomb to kill eight civilians.
2010.06.28 Pakistan Karachi 4 0 Four civilians are murdered in separate sectarian attacks.
2010.06.28 Iraq Baghdad 2 4 Muslim terrorists attack a family inside their home, leaving two women dead.
2010.06.28 Iraq Baghdad 2 4 Mujahid bombers take down two local cops.
2010.06.28 Afghanistan Zabul 6 5 Religious extremists bomb a vehicle from a private security firm, killing six occupants.
2010.06.28 Ethiopia Jarar 7 6 Seven soldiers are killed in a raid by Ogaden Jihadis.
2010.06.28 DRC (Congo) Mutwanga 16 0 ADF Islamic rebels attack a village and murder sixteen civilians.
2010.06.28 Pakistan Bajaur 4 0 Four local soldiers are murdered in a Taliban ambush.
2010.06.27 Afghanistan Meymaneh 4 0 Four Norwegian soldiers riding along a highway are killed by a Taliban bomb blast.
2010.06.27 India Jolly 1 0 A 21-year-old Muslim girl dies from being thrown down the stairs by her family for having sex.
2010.06.27 Bosnia Bugojno 1 6 Wahhabis bomb a police station, killing one officer.
2010.06.26 Afghanistan Panjwaii 2 0 Two Canadian medics are murdered by Taliban ambushers while traveling to defuse a bomb.
2010.06.26 Iraq Fallujah 4 0 al-Qaeda gunmen murder four jewelry shop owners.
2010.06.26 Dagestan Kizilyurt 2 0 A local businessman is among two people shot to death by suspected Islamic militia.
2010.06.25 Dagestan Nazran 2 0 Two local cops are gunned down in their vehicle by passing Jihadis.
2010.06.25 Algeria Tebessa 0 5 Two children, including a baby, are injured when Islamic fundamentalists open up on their car with automatic weapons.
2010.06.25 Algeria Stah Guenter 5 1 Five members of a wedding party are cut to pieces by Islamic gunmen.
2010.06.25 Afghanistan Uruzgan 11 0 Eleven civilians are murdered by the Taliban, six of whom are beheaded.
2010.06.25 Iraq Samarrah 11 0 Eleven victims of Islamic terrorists are pulled from a well.
2010.06.24 Iraq Mosul 8 19 Dedicated Fedayeen suicide bombers take out eight Iraqis in two attacks.
2010.06.24 Iraq Khalis 7 0 A woman and two brothers are among seven Sunnis shot to death by suspected al-Qaeda in three attacks.
2010.06.23 Philippines Basilan 4 2 Four mini-bus passengers are machine-gunned to death by Religion of Peace advocates.
2010.06.23 Afghanistan Uruzgan 7 0 Seven construction workers are blown to bits by Taliban bombers.
2010.06.23 Pakistan Karachi 2 0 Two lovers are gunned down in an honor killing.
Steven: Did it occur to you that your argument is essentially a red herring? Sure, scapegoating takes place. And while I’m more on the side of McCain on the issues you raise, the fact is THERE IS NO scapegoating here if one understands that Imam Rauf and Daisy Khan are not “moderate” Muslims. I wrote about this today: ‘Daisy Khan: Moving Islamic Center ‘Not’ On the Table for Now’. Imam Rauf blamed the U.S. for 9/11. When Christiane Amanpour showed the clip and asked Ms. Khan, she said the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency was to blame for 9/11, for building up Osama bin Laden through our support for the Mujahideen. Khan also has refused to discussed even the possibility of relocation of the mosque, which flies in the face of the developers repeated claims to want “interfaith dialog.” Moreover, she attacked critics, saying their arguments were “beyond Islamophobia. It’s hate of Muslims.” But opponents have repeatedly stressed they are not against Islam. They are genuinely upset by this mosque, its proximity to Ground Zero, and especially by the subterranean intentions of the developers, who first called it the Cordoba Initiative, classic code language to Muslims of Islam’s history of conquest. Personally, I don’t like the heated debate. And see Muslims of good faith as honest and forthright when they condemn jihad. But the Mega Mosque developers are not people like this, and your repeated posts are enabling them. Shame on you, frankly.
Just curious, but what parts regarding the CIA, US funding, the Mujahideen, and bin Laden are factually accurate?
I can see “caused” as a hurtful word in this context, but let’s start less loaded words. Was bin Laden supported at one point?
Prof. Taylor, this building is being built near ground zero for the purpose of demonstrating something positive about Islam against the context of 9/11. The primary selling point for this location was that it was a crash site and it would thus be a good vehicle for a countermessage. It strains credibility to keep reading posts about how religion is not an issue.
The Imam has argued that it was “Christians in World War II who bombed civilians in Dresden and Hiroshima.” Is that scapegoating Christians?
To take the analogy seriously, would it have been a good idea for the U.S. back in the 50s to open up an American outreach center near ground zero of Hiroshima to demonstrate the positive values of American culture?
“And see Muslims of good faith as honest and forthright when they condemn jihad. But the Mega Mosque developers…”
And you are just clearly, awesomely full of good faith when you use a term like “Mega Mosque”. What, “9/11 al Qaeda Mega Mosque of Terror!” was a bit over the line?
So blowback wasn’t partially one of the reasons for 9/11? But to cite that is an example of an “extremist” view, I suppose…and “interfaith dialogue” now means bowing down to pressure partially inspired by Islamophobia…
“But opponents have repeatedly stressed they are not against Islam.”
No, no, of course not…they just don’t want a mosque to be built anywhere near Ground Zero…
And using terms like “Mega Mosque” really displays such honest and forthriht good faith…
PD Shaw: That’s really not an apt analogy. Have to watch those analogies, they sound so good at first….
John Persona, The quote I’m more familiar with is that U.S. policy was an “accessory” in the 9/11 attacks. That suggests to me a direct supporting role, like the guy guarding the door or driving the get-away car in a heist. Not the guy who bought you a cup of coffee once, or you worked with on an unrelated matter.
My main concern with this is that you have a guy wanted to be a high-profile bridge between communities on a sensitive topic who doesn’t choose his words well.
reid, which analogy, the one I didn’t make, but the Imam made?
As with most heated topics, it seems like neither side will convince anyone on the other that they’re wrong. It’s pretty clear to me which side represents logic and decency here, but no one’s really listening. The same ground is repeatedly covered. I wonder if anyone anywhere has changed their mind on the matter? Any commenters here, either way? Probably just another sad reflection on our partisan culture.
PD, your last paragraph about Hiroshima. That’s not yours?
If bin Laden’s hot button was US troops on the ground supporting Saudi Arabia against Iraq, that does seem like blowback, but not from a bad move. We were right to support Saudi Arabia. It was just unfortunate that a militant partially made by the Mujahideen effort was there and ready to turn against us.
So if “accessory” was used, that was a wrong word. I think the real example from this kind of unforeseen blowback is that violent men, once created, tend to say violent.
FWIW, I think “scapegoating” isn’t quite the right word for Steven’s argument. It’s a good argument, but I’d go with “improper generalization”
fallacies
I think PD’s comment about Christians and Hiroshima was kind of typical of the irrational non-arguments made about the mosque/prayer-center.
The thoughts don’t really connect.
They certainly don’t build a case that somehow traditional American values of religious tolerance and free speech some how flip and in this case mean the opposite.
No, opponents just string together other things from other times and other value systems to say … basically “why should we be so good?” Or “why do we need these American values?”
Well PD, if you’d been there in the late 18th century, would you have actually believed religious freedom was a good thing? Or would you have argued that America needed a State Church?
This quote is often used, as it should be, to remind us how far we’ve come from those open 18th century times:
“It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no God.”
Thomas Jefferson quotes (American 3rd US President (1801-09). Author of the Declaration of Independence. 1762-1826)
Interesting how a poorly-chosen word like “accessory” can lead to all sorts of extrapolations about a person’s intent, things that fit into a desired narrative. In the blog age, one person writes about it, then others refer to it, paraphrase it, and spin it further, then the next thing you know “accessory” becomes “was to blame” and worse. Americaneocon calls the imam “not moderate”, which of course suggests extreme, a toxic word when associated with a muslim. What’s the truth here? (Yes, I should go read that Times article or other credible sources all ready….)
Well, using single words to divine the meaning of a person for whom English is presumably a second language … pretty lame. I didn’t follow the “in their own words” link from earlier today, but I think I’d go for the theme, rather than you know, hang everything on a wrong word thrown here or there.
jp: Exactly my take. Makes me wonder how these people sleep at night.
“It was just unfortunate that a militant partially made by the Mujahideen effort was there and ready to turn against us.”
Not quite as bad as when we armed and trained the Viet Minh to kick the Japanese out of Vietnam during WWII.
It’s almost as if the militant groups the Pentagon trains to solve one problem turn around and cause America problems.
@PD
“To take the analogy seriously, would it have been a good idea for the U.S. back in the 50s to open up an American outreach center near ground zero of Hiroshima to demonstrate the positive values of American culture?”
PD, we occupied the entire country and forced a democratic constitution on it. The whole occupation was an “outreach center”.
In my view whether Muslims, generally, bear responsibility for the acts of a few Muslims is irrelevant and the discussion unproductive and unhelpful.
Strategically, it will be an enormous handicap in dealing with the genuine problems posed by radical Islamist terrorism if we must do so without any cooperation from other Muslims whatever, some of whom don’t necessarily agree with the radicals and some of whom may even be favorably disposed towards us, and going out of our way to antagonize them doesn’t serve our interests.
Imam Rauf said, “I wouldn’t say that the United States deserved what happened, but the United States policies were an accessory to the crime that happened.”
That makes him a radical, anti-American cleric in the eyes of some people.
Ron Paul said, “Continuing to deny that the attacks against us are related to our overall policy of foreign meddling through many years and many administrations, makes a victory over our enemies nearly impossible.”
I suppose he’s radical and anti-American as well. Maybe he’s a secret Muslim, like Obama. Just say “Taqiyya” three times and it’s magically true.
One of the major problems with the Federal response to the War on Terror is the reliance upon Muslim groups in the USA with links to radical organizations.
“This brand of Islam is designed to create parallel Muslim enclaves, resistant to America’s freedom culture and to Western civilization, just as it created the liberty-killing “no-go zones” now sprouting up throughout Europe. It is designed to snuff out religious freedom, pressuring American Muslims to adopt the Islamists’ social mores, financial practices, and anti-Western outlook. And the authoritarian device it uses to establish and control these enclaves is sharia, Islam’s legal and political framework, which aspires to control of all aspects of life — not just spiritual life, but all of life.
It is the Brotherhood’s objective to thread sharia through American law and culture. This mission drives imam Feisal Rauf’s work, as documented by the Center for Security Policy’s Christine Brim in an eye-popping report at Andrew Breitbart’s Big Peace website.
Since 2006, Rauf has been developing the “Sharia Index Project.” His partners in this venture include longtime Muslim Brotherhood honcho Jamal Barzinji, a top official at the International Institute of Islamic Thought. The IIIT, a major backer of the convicted terrorist Sami al-Arian, is one of the Brotherhood satellites that republished Rauf’s book, What’s Right with Islam Is What’s Right with America, the book that was released in Malaysia under the more telling title, A Call to Prayer from the World Trade Center Rubble: Islamic Dawa in the Heart of America Post-9/11. (The other Brotherhood organization behind the republication of Rauf’s book was the aforementioned ISNA.) As Ms. Brim explains, the purpose of Rauf’s Sharia Index Project is “to benchmark” every country’s compliance with sharia, with an eye toward pressuring them to adopt and enforce more.
The United States is not going to become a sharia state anytime soon. That obvious fact has commentators pooh-poohing the encroaching peril, even as we watch Europe succumb before our eyes, as if no-go zones, honor killings, the Balkanizing of society, and the strangulation of freedom could never happen here. On Tuesday, for example, in an otherwise insightful column on the Left’s incoherence in the mosque controversy, the Wall Street Journal’s James Taranto took an offhanded swipe at the “fringe right’s ravings about ‘Shariah.’” But are the concerns really “ravings,” and are they truly confined to a right-wing “fringe”?
I cannot find the quote but I read Rauf saying that the USA is most like Sharia because we believe in liberty and the pursuit of happiness? I have yet to read where Sharia includes such sentiments.
I didn’t make the Hiroshima analogy, the Imam of Ground Zero did.
PD, really? What you wrote in your last paragraph is the imam’s analogy?
Dave, your sentiment would be appropriate if there was some relationship between 9/11 and Islam. If there was, then we might be looking for ways to bolster moderates at the expense of radicals. According to a number of posts on this site, there is no such relationship. To suggest that Islam has something to do with 9/11 is emotionalism at best, prejudice as worst, unless of course it’s the Muslims wanting to make the connection.
Humbug.
reid, the part where I said “to take the analogy seriously,” that being the Imam’s analogy?
PD, from what I can find, his discussion of Hiroshima had nothing do with the building of this center. It wasn’t even an analogy. Why are you trying to shoehorn it into an analogy here? And an inapt one at that.
This is a pointless discussion. It’s between the rational and the irrational. It’s very much like the gay marriage discussion. The right has literally nothing rational to say on this topic. Nothing. And no reason will penetrate their tribalism and partisanship and bigotry.
They don’t care that they are pointlessly demonizing more than a billion people. They don’t care that their “arguments” have been blown apart. They don’t care that they are distorting the facts because they don’t care about the truth. Facts, truth, logic, fairness, these are all utterly irrelevant to the right.
The question we should be asking is not why people like this take positions like this. You might as well ask why a three year old screams for candy or a dog howls at the moon.
The question is why the few remaining rational members of the GOP stay in a party so clearly defined by this sort of belligerent imbecility.
Is the promise of a tax break really this important to people? Is that all it comes down to? Will the tiny and dwindling band of rational conservatives just keep selling their beliefs, their ideology, their love of country down the river in exchange for a few dollars?
These are the “train schedule voters.” They’re like the Italians in the 20’s and 30’s who were very bothered by what Mussolini was doing. But supported him anyway because he made the trains run on time.
The rational Republicans set everything else aside. For the promise of a few extra dollars.
Who is worse, the paranoid, hate-filled idiots? Or the ones who know better but can’t bring themselves to make a break?
One thing is certain… Newt and Palin have delivered a huge propaganda victory to Al-Qaeda on a silver platter.
First, Anjin, that was stupid statement. If you think al Qaeda needs anything Palin or Gingrich have to say for propaganda you have come to the game late. Someone said we are hurting their senistivities. Fu*k their sensitivities. Why do they want to build a Mosque so close to where 19 Muslims murdered, in cold blood, nearly 3000 Americans that parts of the plane that his one of the towers landed on the proposed site. My question is why do they insist it be built there? No one here has an answer. Why do the feeling of those of us who remember that day not count? Answer me you cowards. Why is it always about them an never about us? That “got ya” Taylor shows a very immature thinking process. I suggest professional help. Someone who does not prescribe green bud therapy.
lol, Harry that’s the same way I felt several years ago when I first stated coming here and reading how liberals felt about Christians.More or less. Switch out tax breaks for free and oh ya, gotta murder them babies and undermine them troops, but pretty much the same.
At yesterday’s anti-mosque demonstration in NYC, protestors had Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the U.S.A.” blaring on the PA. For the mental midgets on the right who do not have a clue as to what Springsteen is about, let me offer you one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmKMkXV_US4
“Why do the feeling of those of us who remember that day not count? ”
Nobody is saying you guys can’t whine about the community center, Mr. Rageshaft.
We’re just saying you can’t stop it from being built.
“To suggest that Islam has something to do with 9/11 is emotionalism at best, prejudice as worst, unless of course it’s the Muslims wanting to make the connection.”
Such an ill informed comment.
One of the biggest hurdles after 9/11 for the non- Al-Qaeda Muslim world (and for anyone fighting the War on Terror) was to discredit Al-Qaeda in the eyes of main street Muslims. Why? because Al Qaeda’s actions were grounded in Islamic theology. Al Qaeda’s theologians had more credibility (spoke with more clarity) than the established legal scholars.
Conrad Black’s August 20, 2010 “Obama and the Muslims”* is worth reading in its entirety. This encapsulates the 9/11 mosque situation:
“It is inexcusable that there is any serious thought of building a mosque near the World Trade Center site. It has nothing to do with freedom of religion, tolerance, and so forth. It is a matter of decent respect for sensibilities.
The authors of the unspeakable atrocity on that site, and other terrorist acts against civilians, espoused the faith the proposed mosque celebrates.
Of course most Muslims are inoffensive. So are most Germans and Japanese and Russians; but there is no move to build cultural or recreational centers by those countries at Auschwitz, Pearl Harbor, or the Katyn Forest.
This is an argument that only a degenerating society can have, and when Maureen Dowd is trying to enlist George W. Bush to this cause, we know that this is not necessarily a sick society — as the Left loved to claim in Johnson’s, and Nixon’s, and Reagan’s days — but that the New York Times is a sicker pigeon than we thought.
As for my friendly acquaintance Mayor Bloomberg, he should have saved himself $80 million, devoted 10 percent of that to electing his talented and delightful companion Diana Taylor to the Senate over the cipher who festers there now, and hastened to his philanthropies.
If this mosque is built in this location, everyone in the world will see it as a sign that the U.S. has become, in the words of Richard Nixon’s prescient warning, “a pitiful, helpless giant.”
* http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/244280/obama-and-muslims-conrad-black?page=2
Davod:
If that’s true, then we are already there. It is amazing that one building could have so much power over us.
Does anyone else see the irony in the lower than market price paid for the building is quite likely because the building was still suffering from the damage caused by the 9/11 aircraft parts crashing into the building.
davod if you going to cut and paste the ravings of Andrew McCarthy over at NRO, at least give the raver credit. As for that Brim person’s piece, see my comment @ https://www.outsidethebeltway.com/cordoba-house-imam-extremist-in-sheeps-clothing/. Only the enfeebled would take her seriously.
That doesn’t even make sense. But, that’s the point.
> reading how liberals felt about Christians.
How do liberals feel about Christians? I am married to one.
We might have distaste for far right Christian zealots who have visions of theocracy dancing in their heads, but beyond that, I think your imagination is working too hard…
How’s the economy these days?
> It is a matter of decent respect for sensibilities.
For as long as I can remember, the right has been ridiculing the left for being too concerned with things like “sensibilities”. Now they can think of nothing else. Such is life when you are driven solely by the expedience of the moment…
***I think your imagination is working too hard…***but Harry said I don’t have an imaganation, sob sob……..
****How’s the economy these days?*** it’s Like a bubble surounding derpresion boy….
Anjin we might have distaste for Athiest and Muslim zealots who have visions of theocracy dancing in their heads, but beyond that, I think your imagination is working too hard…
eeewww the spell checka has failed me again 🙂
Thanks for including the link to Andrew McCarthy’s excellent commentary.
I have been researching Islam’s encroachment on non-Islamic areas for some time. “Willfull Blindness” the title of McCarthy’s first book, is a perfect statement of the approach of so many inside and outside of governments both before and after 9/11. No-one wants to accept (Or can afford to acknowledge) that there is a problem with Islam, not just radicals misinterpreting the teachings of Islam.”*
The showing of deleted web pages, while interesting, only confirms evidence already available of the duplicity of some “moderate” groups.
You may want to read translations of what the moderates write or say when the Anglos are not around. Then again, people like Emerson and Boston and groups like MEMRI or the Jamestown Foundation would not be on your approved list.
*One of the biggest hurdles after 9/11 for the non- Al-Qaeda Muslim world (and for anyone fighting the War on Terror) was to discredit Al-Qaeda in the eyes of main street Muslims. Why? because Al Qaeda’s actions were grounded in Islamic theology. Al Qaeda’s theologians had more credibility (spoke with more clarity) than the established legal scholars. (My Words).
PS. I will raise your Ravings and enfeebled with Dhimmi.
“The showing of deleted web pages, while interesting, only confirms evidence already available of the duplicity of some “moderate” groups.”
Have you actually read those so-called hidden webpages? Can you honestly say that they support her claims? If you can show me that they do, then I will agree with you. Can you do that?
GA … perhaps you could tell me how you reconcile your constant stream of froth against those folks you do not care for with this:
Luke 6:27-36
[27] “But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, [28] bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. [29] If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. [30] Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. [31] Do to others as you would have them do to you.
[32] “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ love those who love them. [33] And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ do that. [34] And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ lend to ‘sinners,’ expecting to be repaid in full. [35] But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. [36] Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
Sam:
This is in English.
Mind you it is rather long, but it is the voice of moderation himself.
http://www.unisa.edu.au/hawkecentre/events/2005events/Imam_transcript.asp
What does it take to change the relationship between the West and the Muslim World?
@davod
You comment is unresponsive to my question.
And I found the Imam’s talk to be quite moderate, and recommend everyone go and read it.
But, as I said, you are not being responsive to the question I posed.
***GA … perhaps you could tell me how you reconcile your constant stream of froth against those folks you do not care for with this:***
Folks I do not care for:( so I should just ignore the evil I see when I study Islam, and more to the point when I see it all over the world? I should keep the truth I know silent? I should not use the truth to try to change minds?I should say nothing of the 4,000 babies slaughtered every day by way of the false judgement of a inhumane secular religion? I should say nothing about to my friends about ny my other friends who have died much to early and without salvation because of their lifestyle?
***I[27] “But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, [28] bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. [29] If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. [30] Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. [31] Do to others as you would have them do to you.***I don’t do this?
***32] “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ love those who love them. [33] And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ do that. [34] And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ lend to ‘sinners,’ expecting to be repaid in full. [35] But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. [36] Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful***I don’t do this?
Great teaching unlike those of the Atheist and the Islam….
Perhaps you should learn the rest….
I am human, not Jesus, not God, just another fool trying to make a difference in his feeble human way. Why do I have to be perfect to tell you truths? Why?
I respect life do you?
I respect God do you?
I have a hard time doing things the way He would want me to a very hard time but know it, do you?
so ya I’m an a$$hole with a big mouth who is not perfect but I don’t like it or threat it like right given to my by my god that should be passed into law with some of the other perverted crap that my sorry fallen a$$ is apt to enjoy.
Dude cut me some freaking slack with your Judgements, my being a true believers stops me from trying to stop you in the wrong way be happy about that.
I’m not trying to kill you
I’m not trying to silence you
I’m not trying to Bull$it you into a false belief
I’m not trying to take away your freedom
I’m not trying to take away you property
I’m not trying to take away your faith
I’m not trying to take away your history
and I love you as a friend! an it the least I always have as another lost creation.
> I respect life do you?
The life of Muslims?