Shameless Hypocrites
You know, I'm really glad that the Koran desecration story refuses to go away - it broke while I wasn't blogging, and I was afraid that I wasn't going to get to rant about the hypocrisy that's driving this whole absurd pseudo-scandal (the incomparable Christopher Hitchens already took care of the "they only pretend to care about this because they're liars and the ones that really do care are just fanatics" angle).
Did Newsweek play a little loose with journalistic standards? Certainly. Have US soldiers either in Gitmo or Iraq or Afghanistan at least once desecrated the Koran? By now, I mean, yeah. Does that justify murdering 15 people during staged riots? Momentarily ignore for a second that apparently many Muslims are so on violently on edge that uncorroborated newspaper accounts can trigger weeks of violence (VDH had a great article on this). Similarly, ignore for a bit that there are primitive mobs all over the Muslim world who are so self-righteous, conceited, and stupid that they'll threaten all-out war against the greatest military machine in the history of the world if it doesn't turn over its own soldiers to be violently torn to pieces (cause seriously, that'll happen).
And (mostly right-wing) bloggers have been all over the "they don't seem to care about the Koran when they're the ones flushing it" angle. But some people have been expressing surprise that Muslims could be so shameless as to outright riot and murder over something that even their governments have no problem doing:
The Saudi government does not even spare the Quran from desecration. On Oct. 14, 2004, dozens of Saudi men and women carried copies of the Quran as they protested in support of reformers in the capital, Riyadh. Although they carried the Qurans in part to protect themselves from assault by police, they were charged by hundreds of riot police, who stepped on the books with their shoes, according to one of the protesters.
Convenient concern for religious sensibilities is not atypical for radical Muslims. Remember how it was demanded that the US "show sensitivity" to Muslims by not bombing Afghanistan during Ramadan? Apparently it's against Muslim law to make war during that month - unless of course you're killing Jews. Just ask Syria and Egypt, who had no problem making war when they launched a surprise attack in 1973 during (wait for it) Ramadan. It's geopolitics conducted towards 5-year olds: they get to make incoherent and inconsistent demands, and throw temper tantrums when they don't get their way.
Did Newsweek play a little loose with journalistic standards? Certainly. Have US soldiers either in Gitmo or Iraq or Afghanistan at least once desecrated the Koran? By now, I mean, yeah. Does that justify murdering 15 people during staged riots? Momentarily ignore for a second that apparently many Muslims are so on violently on edge that uncorroborated newspaper accounts can trigger weeks of violence (VDH had a great article on this). Similarly, ignore for a bit that there are primitive mobs all over the Muslim world who are so self-righteous, conceited, and stupid that they'll threaten all-out war against the greatest military machine in the history of the world if it doesn't turn over its own soldiers to be violently torn to pieces (cause seriously, that'll happen).
And (mostly right-wing) bloggers have been all over the "they don't seem to care about the Koran when they're the ones flushing it" angle. But some people have been expressing surprise that Muslims could be so shameless as to outright riot and murder over something that even their governments have no problem doing:
The Saudi government does not even spare the Quran from desecration. On Oct. 14, 2004, dozens of Saudi men and women carried copies of the Quran as they protested in support of reformers in the capital, Riyadh. Although they carried the Qurans in part to protect themselves from assault by police, they were charged by hundreds of riot police, who stepped on the books with their shoes, according to one of the protesters.
Convenient concern for religious sensibilities is not atypical for radical Muslims. Remember how it was demanded that the US "show sensitivity" to Muslims by not bombing Afghanistan during Ramadan? Apparently it's against Muslim law to make war during that month - unless of course you're killing Jews. Just ask Syria and Egypt, who had no problem making war when they launched a surprise attack in 1973 during (wait for it) Ramadan. It's geopolitics conducted towards 5-year olds: they get to make incoherent and inconsistent demands, and throw temper tantrums when they don't get their way.
