In a World of Broad Islamist Support for Suicide Bombings, British MK Blames Blair for Cheapening Value of Life
In what a neutral media outlet is describing as a "stinging attack on Mr. Blair", Labour MP Kitty Ussher unleashed the following coherent and well-reasoned assertions:
This month Kitty Ussher, the moderate Labour MP for Burnley, made a stinging attack on Mr Blair. She wrote in the New Statesman that “(the) only conclusion any right-minded person can draw is that the Prime Minister thought it was OK for Muslims to keep dying”.
She said that the Muslim community in Burnley was asking why its blood seemed cheaper than that of Jews and Christians, and that much of the work done since Iraq to persuade Muslims that they were not being persecuted had been wasted.
Well first, there's at least one other conclusion that any right-minded person can draw: that the Prime Minister thought that it wasn't OK that Israelis should have to keep dying. But if that didn't occur as an option to the right honorable madame, we'll let it slide.
Now, it's trite to point out that sectarian violence in the Muslim world far surpasses what Jews and Christians do, and while that's technically true we won't belabor the point. But there are two points we do want to make:
(1) Cultures that celebrate suicide bombing don't get to talk about the sanctity of life. Full stop.
(2) Muslim blood seems cheap to other Muslims even in non-sectarian contexts:
A German news agency has reported that Hizballah men have executed 18 Lebanese accused of spying for Israel. Lebanon has a judicial process, but it was not involved. Hizballah alone directed and carried out the process of putting these 18 to death. I have no idea if any of them were spies for Israel, but it seems most unlikely. Eighteen? All caught at work in the short time-frame of the fighting?
Of course, it's quite reasonable to point out that many of the Lebanese civilians who suffered because Hezbollah choose to start a war don't support suicide bombings (although it's not reasonable to blame Israel for their suffering). And in that specific context, certainly the very terse and glib arguments we're offering about who is determining the relative "cheapness" of Muslim blood is unpersuasive. But to speak grandiously about the Muslim world in general and to imply that Jews and Christians are responsible for Bin Laden saying that Muslims love death - that seems a little unfair.
[Cross-posted at IsraPundit]
This month Kitty Ussher, the moderate Labour MP for Burnley, made a stinging attack on Mr Blair. She wrote in the New Statesman that “(the) only conclusion any right-minded person can draw is that the Prime Minister thought it was OK for Muslims to keep dying”.
She said that the Muslim community in Burnley was asking why its blood seemed cheaper than that of Jews and Christians, and that much of the work done since Iraq to persuade Muslims that they were not being persecuted had been wasted.
Well first, there's at least one other conclusion that any right-minded person can draw: that the Prime Minister thought that it wasn't OK that Israelis should have to keep dying. But if that didn't occur as an option to the right honorable madame, we'll let it slide.
Now, it's trite to point out that sectarian violence in the Muslim world far surpasses what Jews and Christians do, and while that's technically true we won't belabor the point. But there are two points we do want to make:
(1) Cultures that celebrate suicide bombing don't get to talk about the sanctity of life. Full stop.
(2) Muslim blood seems cheap to other Muslims even in non-sectarian contexts:
A German news agency has reported that Hizballah men have executed 18 Lebanese accused of spying for Israel. Lebanon has a judicial process, but it was not involved. Hizballah alone directed and carried out the process of putting these 18 to death. I have no idea if any of them were spies for Israel, but it seems most unlikely. Eighteen? All caught at work in the short time-frame of the fighting?
Of course, it's quite reasonable to point out that many of the Lebanese civilians who suffered because Hezbollah choose to start a war don't support suicide bombings (although it's not reasonable to blame Israel for their suffering). And in that specific context, certainly the very terse and glib arguments we're offering about who is determining the relative "cheapness" of Muslim blood is unpersuasive. But to speak grandiously about the Muslim world in general and to imply that Jews and Christians are responsible for Bin Laden saying that Muslims love death - that seems a little unfair.
[Cross-posted at IsraPundit]
