Muslims 'to blame for own woes'

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said yesterday that the world's Muslims had only themselves to blame for the poverty, misery and violence afflicting much of the Islamic world.

The veteran leader made his comments in a speech to religious affairs ministers meeting for the Organisation of the Islamic Conference.

Last month he sparked a row at the outset of an OIC foreign ministers meeting by suggesting Palestinian suicide bombers should be considered terrorists for deliberately attacking civilians.

This time he also laid into the OIC itself, saying its inaction and disunity had damaged its reputation.

"I am ashamed to say that many Muslims and non-Muslims have made fun of the OIC saying that it stands for 'Oh! I see'. The implication is that we just see and do nothing," said Mahathir.

"Since its founding, the OIC has not been remarkable for the things that it does. Indeed it is seldom that the members of the OIC can see eye to eye on anything that needs to be done."

Mahathir bemoaned the world Muslim community's weak response to Israel's attack on the West Bank, and in particular the refugee camp at Jenin.

Same speech as reported by the Teheran Times:

Mahathir Attacks Incapable Islamic World Over Israel's Jenin Assault
Compiled From Dispatches
KUALA LUMPUR -- Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad on Tuesday criticized Islamic countries for being helpless during the Israeli military operation on the Jenin Refugee Camp, AFP reported.
"It is shameful and unIslamic that all we Muslims can do when the Israelis massacred the Palestinians in Jenin is to appeal to others for pity and for help," Mahathir said. He was speaking during the second-day of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) meeting attended by Islamic affairs ministers and officials from its 57 member states. The meeting ends Wednesday.
The Palestinians have accused the Israeli army of massacring civilians in a nine-day assault on the camp. Israel says it killed 52 Palestinians, most of them gunmen.
Mahathir attacked the OIC, saying the Islamic body had not achieved anything significant.
Meanwhile, the Malaysian Prime Minister said on Tuesday that Malaysia will offer money and humanitarian aid to victims of the Israeli military attack on the Palestinian refugee settlement of Jenin, Reuters reported.
Mahathir, an avowed supporter of the Palestinian cause, was critical of a United Nations' decision to disband a fact-finding mission to probe what happened in Jenin last month because Israel would not cooperate. Palestinians claim there may have been a massacre at Jenin, Israel denies the accusation.
"I will propose to the government that we provide assistance either in the form of cash or food and medicine to the victims," Mahathir told a news conference after opening a religious affairs ministers' meeting of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC).
He said Jenin looked "As if it had been hit by a severe earthquake", judging by photographs he had seen.
Mahathir is expected to urge the United States to take a tougher line with Israel when he goes to Washington next week to be thanked by President George W. Bush for Malaysia's support in the war on terror since the September 11 attacks on the United States.

You could just as easily strike one word from the following quote and it still makes a fair amount of sense:

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said yesterday that the world's Muslims had only themselves to blame for the poverty, misery and violence afflicting much of the ~~Islamic~~ world.

The Muslim world is pretty much where the misery in the world is. Everywhere there's some ugliness going on in the world, it seems like 75% of the time there's going to be the words "Muslim" or "Islamic Fundamentalists" lurking close by. Islam is going backwards in time. They won't be happy until the only book available for reading is the Koran and every centimeter of female flesh is hidden from view.

Where will our culture be in 50 years? Hey- maybe we'll have men living permanently on Mars. Where will the Islamic world be in that same time period? If they haven't pissed the West off enough to finally get nuked out of their misery they'll still be arguing amongst themselves about what color the Burqua is supposed to be or whether the woman has to have her eyes covered as well. We'll be tinkering with immortality via nanotech and they'll still be dreaming of life with toilet paper or what kind of reward a female martyr gets from Allah if not 72 virgins.

The only thing I can see that the Muslim world has to offer us (judging from their actions) is oppression, misery and death. We're on our way to the stars- they're on a journey back to the Stone Age.

LOL!...this is why I say we need to keep some distance. So hard to figure out who is who and how long they are going to be what they are. Recall an article a year or two back about Mahathir Mohamad. Malaysia's currency had collapsed and he, I think, blamed the Jews. He's hopeless when it comes to Israel but not bad in other areas.

Have you seen his speech reported anywhere else? I've only seen it in the Arab press. Odd. He has received lots of attention before (when he onlywent after Jews).

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.