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NY Analysis

AN UNNECESSARY APOLOGY

The President’s apology in the wake of the Koran burning incident in Afghanistan throws into a harsh light the growing surrender to “Islamic Rage,” much of which is fundamentally political and thoroughly undemocratic.

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The Korans in question had been misused (religious Muslims might say defiled) by Afghan detainees attempting to surreptitiously send messages.  After the ruse was detected, the defaced texts were disposed of in a manner that was proper and respectful; they were burned.  In fact, this is the manner in which the military disposes of worn out flags. This appropriate course of action was used as an excuse to whip up anti-American furor in the Muslim world.  Six Americans were killed in the resulting riots; The White House has yet to demand an apology for this loss of life.
Over the past twenty-three years, there have been at least eleven major Islamic riots in response to incidents that were either wholly fabricated for political reasons or were in response to the exercise of freedom of speech.  As outlined by Mark Humphreys, they include:
·       The Salman Rushdie Riots of 1989;
·       The Miss World Riots of 2002;
·       The Newsweek Riots of 2005;
·       The Muhammed cartoons Riots of 2005-2006;
·       The Pope Benedict Riots of 2006;
·       The Sudan “teddy bear” incident of 2007;
·       The Johann Hari Riots of 2009;
·       The Taslima Nasrin Riots of 2010;
·       The “everybody Draw Mohammed Day” of 2010;
·       The “International Burn a Koran Day” Riots of 2010; and
·       The “Koran Burning” Riots of 2012.
     The pace of these civil disorders has accelerated sharply since 2009, as many Islamic leaders perceive the west, and in particular the USA, to be more susceptible to the pressure they present.  It would be incorrect to assume that these events are spontaneous.  Paul Marshall, writing in Imprimis, notes that they are “stoked and channeled by governments for political purposes…the highly controlled media in Egypt and Jordan raised [these] issues so persistently that an astonishing 98 percent of Egyptians and 99 percent of Jordanians…had heard of them.”  In response to the “cartoon Mohammed” incident in Denmark, Saudi Arabia and Egypt urged boycotts of Danish products.  Marshall notes that Iran and Syria “manipulated riots partly to deflect attention from their nuclear projects…Turkey used the cartoons as bargaining chips with the U.S. over appointments to NATO.”
     An objective view of the treatment of Islam by western governments would indicate that the riots have been extremely effective.  Islam, and particularly the figure of Mohammed, is treated far more delicately by European and North American governments, media, and other institutions than the indigenous Catholic, Christian, or Jewish faiths.
     In the west, the Islamic religion is flourishing under the ideal of religious toleration that is wholly missing in the Moslem world.  In the United States alone, according to the Washington Examiner, since the September 11 attacks, Islamic Centers have increased significantly in number.  The Examiner reported in  February, 2012 that there are currently 2,106 U.S. Islamic centers, compared to 1,209 in 2000, and only 962 in 1994, after the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
     While Islamic governments whip up citizen frenzy over trivial incidents or perceived slights to their state religions, they have either sanctioned or failed to stop extreme acts of religious bigotry and repression within their own nations.  Writing in Newsweek, Ayaan Hirisi Ali, a Dutch Citizen originally from Somalia, describes a “rising genocide” against the Christian faith throughout the Muslim world.  She describes the horrific acts of the Boko Haram in Nigeria, slaughters in the Sudan, Egyptian security force murders of Copts, Saudi Arabia’s ghetto-type imprisonment of Christian guest workers, and ethnic cleansing in Iraq.
    Last week, Rep. Joseph Pitts [R-PA16] introduced H. Res. 556, which passed 417-1, condemning the government of Iran for its state-sponsored persecution of religious minorities and its ongoing violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political rights.
   Rep. Pitts’ efforts notwithstanding, Marshall’ Imprimis study finds that “western governments have begun to give in to demands from the Saudi-based ‘Organization of Islamic Cooperation” (OIC.)  He cites explicit examples of various European and North American governments essentially bowing to the anti-free speech demands of militant Islam.
     While the First Amendment would appear to protect Americans from speech restrictions regarding the Islamic faith, threats of violence have had a chilling effect.  American universities, publishing houses, and television producers have “self censored” under the threat of violence.
     Marshall reports that the facts get even more frightening.  President Obama, in his 2009 speech in Cairo, declared that he had a “responsibility to fight against negative stereotypes of Islam wherever they appear.”  Following suit, Secretary of State Clinton has acted cooperatively with the OIC, which continues to tacitly condone repression and murder against Christian and Jews while pushing for anti-free speech restrictions in regards to criticisms of Islam in the West.

The U.S. Constitution prohibits giving one religion preferential treatment.  This, however, is precisely what the leaders of Moslem leaders have demanded, while continuing to persecute western-based faiths in their own lands.  It is fair to question whether they do this out of true religious fervor, or merely to distract their own populations from their tyrannical and corrupt rule.