NYT Letter --Islam: Clean your own house!

www.nytimes.com New York Times ^

[ktvaughn]

To the Editor:

Re "Temperatures Rise Over Cartoons Mocking Muhammad" (news article, Feb. 3):

Judging by the public demonstrations in the Muslim countries, protesting the sins of a few nonbelievers is more important than protesting the sins of a few Muslims.

Apparently, the targeting of innocent victims for kidnapping, beheading and suicide bomb attacks doesn't insult Islam or warrant protest in Muslim countries, so long as another Muslim does it in the name of Islam. But it's not O.K. for a democratic country to target its attackers if an innocent Muslim might be accidentally killed in the process.

Or perhaps hypocrisy, double standards or fear of a theocratic reprisal are as much the accepted norm in Muslim countries as free speech is an accepted norm in democratic countries.

Muslim countries would do better to clean up their own house before they tell others how to clean theirs.

John Smith Sugar Land, Tex., Feb. 3, 2006

[ktvaughn]

The real question is, in the long run, what do we do about ISLAM? Will the world rise up and say this violence is unacceptable? Will Islam as a religion be outlawed, as religions involving human sacrifice? Isn't that what suicide bombing IS? I predict WWIII will be the world against Islam. What do you think?

[farlander]

It sure looks like it's going that way. At this rate probably sooner than later. And if the islamists think they'll win that one, they're sorely mistaken.

[Rick Deckard]

I was talking to Nabim, an Afghani, down at the corner gas station this morning. He as much said that most Muslims are uneducated & want to kill everyone that doesn't agree with them.

[manic4organic]

Can't argue with that.

[Rick Deckard]

I couldn't either.

[nodumbblonde]

I think WWIII will be the world against Israel. :\

[BookaT]

Exactly. If you are uneducated, meaning you can't read, where are you getting your info from? Right the Moolahs and the Imams. They tell you all the information you will ever hear and so they control you. They tell you something the USA does is bad. You have to believe it because there is no other source of information and if you try to disagree, woe is you.

[BW2221]

If we have a WWIII against Islam, I worry about Muslims who live in this country. While Germans and Japanese citizens were willing to fight for the U.S., I doubt the majority of Muslims in the U.S. would be willing to support the West against a Muslim armed force.

[Shadow Deamon]

"The real question is, in the long run, what do we do about ISLAM? Will the world rise up and say this violence is unacceptable? Will Islam as a religion be outlawed, as religions involving human sacrifice? Isn't that what suicide bombing IS? I predict WWIII will be the world against Islam. What do you think?"

That just needs to be repeated over and over and over... although I'm of the opinion that we are right smack in the middle of WWIV rather than III which was the Cold War.

The problem is that only the mooselimbs are acting like they know it. If we don't wake up and start playing "cowboys and muslims" real soon, we might miss our opportunity.

[auboy]

I think these nut/date jobs are pushing their luck. The camel's back is full with straw.

[InvisibleChurch]

The real point, John Smith Sugar Land, Tex., Feb. 3, 2006, is that Muslim doesn't care about your letter, however right it might be. The local ayatollah would just as soon kill you than try to find reason with you, John Smith Sugar Land, Tex., Feb. 3, 2006.

[Rick Deckard]

I've always wondered how a Muslim can remain true to his faith & live in the West.

The guy at the gas station said that he's an American citizen & he's been here for decades. I got insight on his way of thinking. He feels that we have too much freedom here. He told me that he's got a gambling problem & that gambling should be outlawed. I asked him if anyone forced him to go in to the casino. He said no. I told him that I used to drink way too much, but I quit. I also said I don't think that others shouldn't be allowed to drink because I was a drunk. You can take the Muslim out of the Third World, but you can't take the Third World out of the Muslim. They seem to like iron-fisted dictators.

[ktvaughn]

Okay-say it is WWIII--who are our allies? China, yes, what about North Korea? What about Jordan and Saudi? What if we, in the next 20 years, have to intern all Muslims and take away their children in order to stop the cancer of extremism? Are we prepared to do that? Look at history, we annihilated the Indians and corralled them in order to make sure they could not be a threat. Is the west prepared to do whatever is necessary to protect our way of life. I am not comfortable with outlawing religions or putting people in camps. But, if IT DOES NOT STOP, what do we do?

[Cicero]

Worth a look at the other letters. It's just about the first thing Abraham Foxman has said in many years that I can agree with.

[Paleo Conservative]

[Cicero]

No, Muslims won't listen, but somehow or other we have to start persuading Americans to listen. Before it's too late.

[johnny7]

Whatever religious status it had... it lost. Islam is nothing more than a cult-of-violence.

[kokonut]

Yeah, well, let me help ya'll not forget. Here's a list of video links regarding Islam, Muslims and terrorists.

http://kokonutpundits.blogspot.com/2006/02/islam-religion-of-peace-video-gallery.html

[VOA]

He told me that he's got a gambling problem & that gambling should be outlawed.

That's similar to what I heard on a radio show (Dennis Prager?).
A Muslim told the host that the real reason for such modesty for
females in Islam is basically because every man is ready to have his way
with any woman, even his own daughter.

This is no different than when we noted that not everyone left
the Soviet Union. Not needing to make choices is very comforting to
some people.
And they won't be happy until you are equally deprived of options.

[motife]

To the Editor: The widespread anger across the Islamic world and in Muslim communities in Europe over the depiction of the Prophet Muhammad in the European press is ironic considering that newspapers in the Arab and Muslim world have no moral scruples when it comes to demonizing and stereotyping Jews in editorial cartoons.

In the Muslim and Arab press, Jews are routinely depicted as stereotypical hook-nosed, greedy and manipulative killers.

Moreover, leaders of regimes like Egypt and Saudi Arabia have virtually ignored appeals from the United States and Jewish organizations to put an end to incitement in the media, excusing it in the name of "freedom of the press."

One would hope that Muslim and Arab leaders would turn all of the anger being aimed at the European press into a larger lesson for their own people about the power of images. Those incensed by the portrayal of Muhammad should turn a mirror on their own press before assuming the moral high ground in a discussion of press freedom.

Abraham H. Foxman
National Director
Anti-Defamation League
New York, Feb. 3, 2006