.JPG) (Reuters) - U.S. Muslim groups criticized President Bush on Thursday for calling a foiled plot to blow up airplanes part of a "war with Islamic fascists," saying the term could inflame anti-Muslim tensions.
| I'd say the turban and automatic weapons set is doing a pretty good job at that, without Bush having to say anything. |
U.S. officials have said the plot, thwarted by Britain, to blow up several aircraft over the Atlantic bore many of the hallmarks of al Qaeda. "We believe this is an ill-advised term and we believe that it is counterproductive to associate Islam or Muslims with fascism," said Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations advocacy group.
| We believe this is an ill-advised term and we believe that it is counterproductive to associate Islam or Muslims with fascism |
At the very first we picked up on the blind hatred of the West, Nihad. It took a bit more study to realize we were dealing with Nazis, only without the natty uniforms and the marching songs. The Jew hating's there. So's the accrual of rights to the state in this case the ummah rather than to the individual, who's reduced to being nothing but cannon fodder since jihad's a requirement on the devout. We've read the words of the new Streichers and Goebbels and Dr. Neys in the Arab and Muslim press. We've watched Hezbollah and the Marching Mullahs of Iran doing their funny imitation goose steps and just a-Hitlergrüssing to beat the band. You've got Supreme Councils and Supreme Leaders and Global Councils and aspiring Fearless Leaders and you've got holy men just as corrupt and just as merciless as any Gauleiter was. There's always a beturbanned SA ready to march and bust things up, whether it's in Lahore or Gay Paree. The TNSM's out in force in Peshawar in today's news; nobody there owns any books but the Koran, so they're burning TV sets instead of books. So where's the inaccuracy in referring to them as fascists? From our angle the curly-toed slipper's a pretty good fit. |
"We ought to take advantage of these incidents to make sure that we do not start a religious war against Islam and Muslims," he told a news conference in Washington.
| We ought to take advantage of these incidents to make sure that we do not start a religious war against Islam and Muslims |
Why? Muslims have declared war on us. As a matter of fact, we seem to get a declaration of war from some nutball group or other about once a week. With lunatics running through the streets and burning our flag and the SA smashing and booming McDonalds' and Kentucky Frieds, wouldn't the appropriate response be for the populace of, say, Milpetas to riot in the streets and burn Pak or Soddy or Iranian flags and smash the occasional felafel shop? |
"We urge him (Bush) and we urge other public officials to restrain themselves."
| Why, oh why, is it incumbent upon us to restrain ourselves when there's no such constraint on the Muslim world? |
| We urge him [Bush] and we urge other public officials to restrain themselves... |
Awad said U.S. officials should take the lead from their British counterparts who steered clear of using what he considered inflammatory terms when they announced the arrest of more than 20 suspects in the reported plot. Hours after the news broke, Bush said it was "a stark reminder that this nation is at war with Islamic fascists who will use any means to destroy those of us who love freedom, to hurt our nation."
| I like it when he calls a spade a spade... |
Bush and other administration officials have used variations of the term "Islamo-fascism" on several occasions in the past to describe militant groups including al Qaeda, its allies in Iraq and Hizbollah in Lebanon.
| I think this is Bush's first use of the term. Anybody who thinks Hezbollah's not a fascist organization has never listened to their rhetoric, though I'll admit they're lousy goosesteppers, not a patch on the old GDR. |
| '...it is a totalitarian, intolerant imperialism that has a vision that is totally at odds with Western society and our rules of law,' Chertoff said... |
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff told MSNBC television the phrase reflected what he called Osama bin Laden's own vision of leading a totalitarian empire under the guise of religion. "It might may not be classic fascism as you had with Mussolini or Hitler. But it is a totalitarian, intolerant imperialism that has a vision that is totally at odds with Western society and our rules of law," Chertoff said.
| Elections are un-Islamic, as the holy men have told us on a number of occasions. Democracy's a Jewish plot. God's law, as interpreted by properly pious holy men, displaces the will of the people. |
Many American Muslims, who say they have felt singled out for discrimination since the September 11 attacks, reject the term and say it unfairly links their faith to notions of dictatorship, oppression and racism. "The problem with the phrase is it attaches the religion of Islam to tyranny and fascism, rather than isolating the threat to a specific group of individuals," said Edina Lekovic, spokeswoman for the Muslim Public Affairs Council in Los Angeles.
| That specific group of individuals acts in the name of Islam, justifies its actions by invoking Islam, and those who aren't members of that specific group nod sagely when nobody's looking and root for the old Ummah. |
She said the terms cast suspicions on all Muslims, even the vast majority who want to live in safety like other Americans.
| Even while contributing to Hamas, Hezbollah, and unspecified other charities. Even while raising their children to hate the Christians and the Jews, just like back in the Olde Countrie. Those who don't aren't CAIR members. |
Bush upset many Muslims after the September 11 attacks by referring to the global war against terrorism early on as a "crusade," a term which for many Muslims connotes a Christian battle against Islam. The White House quickly stopped using the word, expressing regrets if it had caused offense.
| "Jihad" is the same thing, a war carried out in the name of Islam. I notice nobody's stopped using that. |
Mohamed Elibiary, a Texas-based Muslim activist, said he was upset by the president's latest comments. "We've got Osama bin Laden hijacking the religion in order to define it one way. ... We feel the president and anyone who's using these kinds of terminologies is hijacking it too from a different side," he said.
| No, he's not. He's referring to a well-documented phenomenon. |
"The president's use of the language is going to ratchet up the hate meter, but I think it would have caused much more damage if he had done this after 9/11," Elibiary said, adding that tensions were not running as high as they had been in the immediate aftermath of the 2001 attacks.
| Nope. The combination of fatigue and the national attention span deficit has kicked in. The streets of Milpetas remain quiet, despite the ravings of the loons in Terrorhan and Peshawar and Cairo. |
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