Applebaum Confused on Muslim Thuggery (CAIR)
September 19, 2006, 9:37 pm |
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By Andrew L. Jaffee
Why would it be so difficult to find clarity on the absurd Islamic reaction to the Pope’s recent speech? Muslims have proven the Pope’s point. Many have become angry and violent precisely because of being accused of being violent. And their violence is slowly but surely convincing more and more people in the West that Islam has a serious problem (my empirical analysis of Midwesterners). I have been almost amazed at the clarity of reporting on this subject, even from the Associated Press. Today, the Washington Post was willing to publish an ostensibly decent editorial on the Pope controversy, written by Anne Applebaum, definitely worth the read. But I find this piece disturbing because Applebaum mentioned the hate-group CAIR (Council on American-Islamic Relations) as if it were willing to honestly criticize Muslim extremism. CAIR is an unabashed apologist for Islamist terrorism. Applebaum is either euphemizing (politically correct), naïve, and/or ignorant about life in the real world:
None of the radical clerics accepts Western apologies, and none of their radical followers reads the Western press. Instead, Western politicians, writers, thinkers and speakers should stop apologizing — and start uniting. …
…we can all unite in our support for freedom of speech — surely the pope is allowed to quote from medieval texts — and of the press. And we can also unite, loudly, in our condemnation of violent, unprovoked attacks on churches, embassies and elderly nuns. …
…nothing the pope has ever said comes even close to matching the vitriol, extremism and hatred that pour out of the mouths of radical imams and fanatical clerics every day, all across Europe and the Muslim world, almost none of which ever provokes any Western response at all. And maybe it’s time that it should: When Saudi Arabia publishes textbooks commanding good Wahhabi Muslims to “hate” Christians, Jews and non-Wahhabi Muslims, for example, why shouldn’t the Vatican, the Southern Baptists, Britain’s chief rabbi and the Council on American-Islamic Relations all condemn them — simultaneously?
I am surprised that Applebaum even referred to CAIR as part of “we,” with all its ties to Islamist terrorism. To put them in the same sentence as the Vatican, the Southern Baptists, and Britain’s chief rabbi is a crime of equivocation, naïveté, or just plain ignorance.
Related: Arab/Muslim World, Islam, War Against Islamo-fascism, Media/Blogsphere
September 19th, 2006 at 10:53 pm
[…] Cross-posted at netwmd.com and IsraPundit Arabs, Islam, Pope, USA Posted by Andrew Jaffee @ 8:59 pm | […]
September 19th, 2006 at 11:30 pm
Good call Mr. Jaffee! As you well know CAIR is part of the Islamofascist problem. CAIR even receives funding from Islamofascist hate groups. CAIR will not join in any simultaneous criticism of radical Islam. CAIR is part of that wickedness.
September 19th, 2006 at 11:47 pm
I’m perplexed as to Ms. Applebaum’s reference to CAIR. After all, she works for the Washington Post, and must have come across some negative press on CAIR. On the other hand, CAIR is often trotted out by the Post as a “moderate” Muslim voice. Surely she could’ve picked a more suitable group to reference — or not mentioned them at all. But to lump them together with Catholics, Baptists and Jews?
September 21st, 2006 at 10:09 am
I would suggest that Ms. Applebaum’s mention of CAIR was an unfortunate mis-speak.
I think it was appropriate to include reference to Muslim organizations joining Western voices in speaking out. Mention of CAIR however misleads the reader to think that CAIR is a Muslim organization that promotes peace, harmony, good will and mutual tolerance between the Islamic and Western world when it is not.
September 21st, 2006 at 11:44 am
I agree that, “it was appropriate to include reference to Muslim organizations joining Western voices in speaking out.” But Ms. Applebaum’s choice of Muslim groups is either uninformed or politically correct. She should’ve said something like, “CAIR could prove itself worthy of serious consideration by renouncing all ties to terrorism, and to publicly condemn the violence directed at the Pope.”