Historical excuses, bad PR and lame arguments

Submitted by James (Australia), Sep 7, 2003 at 22:21

As an Australian appalled by the ineptly insensitive comments of muslim leaders in my region I am not really heartened by the defenders of islam on this site. Anyone is prepared to concede the evil practices of christianity in my country. They'd be laughed at if they didn't. But we have a rule of law and crimes go punished and no amount of dogma spouting can save the prosecuted, ie catholic Priests who are jailed regularly here for paedophilia. Indeed if historical issues were raised in court the defence lawyers would be laughed at. So how is it that historical wrongs are thrown up as some sort of justification for regular bombings by Muslims for supposedly Muslim objectives ?

I'm living here now witnessing crimes now. Is it really being argued that "pay back" is justifed for say, kicking the moors out of Spain or the Crusades ? That's just an infantile "Its our turn again argument". Is the civil war in Palestine really justification for Muslim's internationally to be taught to loathe the west ? Isn't the industrialisation of the west on th basis of oil responsible for showering oceans of cash/wealth on the desert realms of Islam ? Was Australia's final termination of the awful occupation of Catholic east Timor an act of evil against islam ?

If you are a 'human' Muslim and revile murder, if it makes you sick to your stomach - for pity's sake say so. When 88 Australian's died in Bali the 'revered' Indonesian Muslim leader Abu Bashir's comment when asked if he had any comments to the families of the horribly murdered was "Convert to Islam". Other "Religious" (?) leaders here habitually (and sickeningly) giggle and smirk when asked about their proven links to Al Queda. After 9/11 they made comments very late in the piece because they were worried about their mosques being damaged. The silence and the rubbish that passed from the lips of your chosen respresentatives left me amazed; mildly stunned actually.

We know (you know) terrorists are recruited in the mosques. We know the Islamic tithe is a river of money for various holy bomber groups. How do you think I feel about Muslims ? Should I wait for my child to die by bomb blast here because of Muslim theory ? Should I take heart that the Koran actually says don't murder ? It also says Muslims are going to get several virgins to root in paradise. Its what are you lot doing down the road that concerns me.

Stand up modern muslims and show me what you believe cause at the moment you look like the emeny, act like the enemy, sound like the enemy. The attrocity committers are justifed by Islam, the bomber groups have 'spiritual leaders (!!).
And I'm a widely read ex-journo with a healthy scepticism of US policy and militarism so don't give me any ... about brain washing and mindless America following.

---

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".