From Dim Minds

Link via LFG. A partial fisking of the Chicago Tribune article, "Of Two Minds" follows:

"The king was a moderate Muslim much like the vast majority of those who practice Islam, the world's fastest-growing religion but also one exploited by the terrorists who have attacked America."

Hmm, King Hussein of Jordan was a moderate. I didn't know that moderate Muslims supported Saddam Hussein when he assaulted Kuwait in 1990. When you have a moderate like King Hussein and a fascist like Saddam Hussein in agreement on conquering a tiny helpless country, you need to re-evaluate your definitions of moderate and fascist. Or take your head out of the sand.

"But in many respects the king's and the terrorists' cause were one: Righting an unjust world in which millions of people who practice Islam suffer, often at the hands of governments empowered by America and its policies."

Let's get this straight: the only cause of the king was to stay in power and the terrorists' cause is to usurp power. For as long as I have been alive, America has been helping Muslims. In the 90s, America helped Muslims in Kuwait by sending 500,000 troops, and later helped them in Bosnia, and Kosovo. In this century, America has helped Afghanis start a democracy where none existed before. Americans and the allies have provided food and medical care for millions of needy children there. Over a million refugees have come back to Afghanistan. Since last year, Americans have been spending billions of dollars to help the Iraqis build their country. But let's assume that American policies are hurting Muslims. How exactly does flying jets into buildings, killing tourists at a resort, gleefully raping and murdering school children, and blowing up innocent Iraqis help right that?

"Reporters found little to suggest that Islam encourages violence, despite the impression Westerners might have because of exposure mostly to extremists. In fact, its venerable history suggests that Islam, like most religions, promotes peace and charity."

Right from the beginnings of Islam, Muhammed ordered the peaceful killing of the entire Jewish tribe in Mecca. Muslims then, peacefully, subjugated peoples in Asia, Africa, and Europe. A few years ago, the Taliban peacefully shot women in stadiums. Today, people are peacefully beheaded for alcohol consumption in Saudi Arabia, girls are peacefully stoned to death in Iran, and across much of the Muslim world women are peacefully killed by their families for bringing dishonor to them. So, remember that Islam promotes peace.

"Using America's influence with the Israelis to play a constructive role to help settle the Palestinian conflict would be the single most effective step the U.S. could take to win the war on terrorism and to deter another attack in the U.S. It would defuse the most powerful propaganda weapon in the radicals' arsenal."

Why should the U.S. change it's strong support of Israelis to support the very people who danced and celebrated while thousands of Americans died on September 11, 2001? Obviously, that's what you meant by a constructive role since the U.S. is not playing such a role right now. The U.S. is the only country that stands between Israel and another holocaust. The U.S. is a moral nation and as such she will never support the agents of darkness.

"In some countries, such as Egypt, reporters found an Islamic cultural resurgence rising from a population sick of ineffective government, corruption and recurring humiliation of Arabs by the West. In other nations, such as Iran, reporters found Islam imposed top-down by a religious government that rules its citizens with an iron fist. In both cases, though, American policy does little to ease the problems of the average Muslim. In Egypt, U.S. policy helps perpetuate a government that is a democracy in name only. In Iran, U.S. opposition to the nation's nuclear ambitions undermines the support of a growing moderate Islamic movement, a youthful faction that rejects the more conservative practices of the nation's ruling imams."

Since when did it become the responsibility of the U.S. to ease the problems of the average Muslim in Egypt and Iran? When the U.S. does help Muslims in Afghanistan and Iraq, the U.S. is a NAZI-like resource-hungry state. Therefore, the terrorists in these countries are brave insurgents. When the U.S. doesn't help Muslims in Egypt and Iran, their hatred is warranted. The U.S. can't win, it's always America's fault. At least be consistent; the U.S. promoting democracy in Iraq and not promoting democracy in Egypt can't get the same asinine reaction from you and the Muslims. Or can it?

"Indeed, for every militant killed or captured by the U.S. or another government, Pakistan churns out dozens of potential recruits to take his or her place. A possible effective countermeasure is American aid to promote education reform in Pakistan, a nation whose importance in the fight against Islamic extremism is hard to overstate. But precious little Pakistani or American money finds its way into education reform."

Right, American aid for reform. Just like the $2 billion in aid Egypt gets every year or the billions of aid money Palestinians have received from the U.S. They're both great models of miserable failure. Most of the money that Pakistan is going to get will be, ahem, lost in the bureaucracy. Some of it that does get to the schools will be given to the madrassas. The only effective way to reform these institutions is to give these countries the shock and awe treatment. That way the U.S. can monitor the flow of money and quickly capture frauds and replace them. Hey, isn't that happening in Iraq? Can you not see that the current U.S. foreign policy is the most effective and the least bloody? After more than two decades of giving peace a chance, the ruins of such thinking were brought to NYC on 911. Enough, time to give war a chance.

"The U.S. should adopt policies that make Muslims as comfortable here as Christians."

What might be those policies? Maybe, covering up women so that they look like dementors, banning women from getting driver's licenses, banning barbies for their unIslamic look, non-muslims paying the dhimmi tax for protection, banks banning interest on money, homosexuals and fornicators being stoned to death, banning books written by Jews, drinking alcohol punishable by death, hanging those who criticise such policies, you know all that good stuff. When it comes to Islam, the media should stop their auto-fellatio and report the facts.