We are in heaven because we kill you!

But maybe I should apologize for the title of this post, because it might be taken as implying that Islamic extremists are violent.

I'm thinking that more apologies are needed.

This article on the Pope's apology (by Ian Fisher of the New York Times) appeared on the front page of today's Philadelphia Inquirer, but it is nowhere at their web site. Considering a similar disappearance (or non-appearance) yesterday, I'm wondering what is going on. (Anyone know?)

Anyway, I'm fascinated by the issue of whether the Pope has been apologetic enough:

In Egypt, a senior member of the Muslim Brotherhood, which had been critical of the pope, initially said Sunday that the pope's remarks represented a "good step toward an apology." But later comments from the group seemed to cast doubt on whether it fully accepted the pope's statement.
Considering that it's still open to question whether or not the Pope has really and truly expressed contrition for what some people think he said, I'm thinking about other apologies that might be in order if we apply the same logic.

Perhaps the UN can apologize for even contemplating military action against a Muslim country. [Via Glenn Reynolds.]

I mean, I know it's not going to happen, but still. The very idea of stopping genocidal atrocities in a country run by Muslim extremists! Doesn't that imply that they might be violent?Maybe an apology is in order for reporing that Sudanese Islamists raped little boys.

Whoever wrote that report should apologize!

And this report. Yegads! A mosque/madrassa accused of promoting violent jihad -- right in my neighborhood! Perhaps I should apologize to the local madrassa for writing a blog post pointing out that they sponsor jihad camps.

The Wall Street Journal opined that in Europe, the governments have not only learned how to apologize, but how to run their governments on an apologetic basis:

Europe is home to a new class of dissidents. In this era, their oppressor is not the Soviets, but radical Islam.

Meet Seyran Ates. On Saturday, the well-known German lawyer of Turkish descent closed her practice in Berlin following threats to her life. Ms. Ates fought against forced marriages and so-called honor killings and beatings of Muslim women and girls.

She was also outspoken about the real causes of terrorism. After the London bombings last year, Ms. Ates said the terrorists of the future will be third- and fourth-generation Muslim immigrants who "under the eyes of well-meaning politicians have been raised to hate Western society from birth." In explaining her decision to close her practice, she wrote on her Web site: "Due to an acute threat situation, I was made aware again how dangerous my work as a lawyer is and how little I was and am being protected."

Well, couldn't she have apologized!

I mean, if she apologizes, she might be forgiven, but doesn't she know what happens to those who won't apologize?

Speaking out about Islam can carry mortal risks, as was brought home in late 2004 by the gruesome murder on an Amsterdam street of Theo van Gogh. Van Gogh had made a film about Islam's treatment of women together with Dutch politician Ayaan Hirsi Ali. In May the Somali-born Ms. Ali left the Netherlands for the U.S., citing safety concerns.

Less well known outside Holland is the plight of another member of the Dutch parliament, Geert Wilders. Like Ms. Ali, Mr. Wilders went into hiding in army barracks and prisons before settling in a government-provided safe house, following death threats. In a conversation with us yesterday, he marveled that he now lived under such conditions though he "didn't do anything against the law." His crime was criticizing radical Islam and calling for a five-year moratorium on non-Western immigration.

I'm thinking maybe the Dutch and U.S. governments should issue preemptive apologies for -- what's the right word? -- harboring these hateful people who refuse to apologize for saying hateful things.

Why report any of this stuff? Can't it be taken the wrong way?

Might someone think the Wall Street Journal promotes hatred of Islam or something?

Because, I mean, the article continues, and Wall Street Journal didn't seem to be in the mood for apologies:

Freedom of speech can't be taken for granted in Europe anymore. Take Necla Kelek, another prominent Turkish-born woman in Germany who has written about forced marriages and honor killings. She can speak in public only with police protection. Last May, Roger Köppel, the then editor of the German daily Die Welt, may have escaped an attempt on his life when a Pakistani student, armed with a knife, tried to enter his office building. Mr. Köppel's crime was to republish the Danish Muhammad cartoons, which have brought riots across the Middle East and death threats to publishers around Europe.

The cartoonists who originally produced the Muhammad caricatures for the Danish newspaper, Jyllands-Posten, still don't dare appear in public. Flemming Rose, the paper's cultural editor, told us that he usually receives police protection when he speaks in public. He finds the lack of solidarity with the victims of radical Islam "pretty scary." There is "too little outrage on behalf of the cartoonists," he says.

The new dissidents are the outgrowth of the rise of political -- and extreme -- Islam in Europe. But more worrying for them, and for all citizens of free societies, is the seeming public indifference to their plight. If that passes for "normal" these days, then the gradual erosion of Europe's democratic fabric will be hard to stop.

I don't think it's "public indifference."

I think it's fear.

Better safe than sorry.

Being safe means never having to apologize!


UPDATE: Link added. And I apologize here and now -- retroactively and prospectively -- for that and all unsafe omissions!

posted by Eric on 09.18.06 at 09:04 AM





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