Interesting as well as overdue. W called it a religion of peace. Just who was he fooling? Rudy wouldn’t accept $10 thousand from the Saudis. Pushback timing-better late than never.
This is like the screen pass in football. You let the rushers penetrate before releasing the ball. Something tells me this tactic can be effective with the left. Football is life and this is a perfect example.
It's possible W didn't believe it, but was seeking Arab allies for his "war on terror." The Neocon logic at the time was that you needed the Gulf States on board, so you couldn't insult Islam.
It’s questionable whether it deserves to be called “a religion” at all. At least some “authorities” on it decline that classification. We’d be better off if the only Constitutional reference to Islam was Article I, Section 8’s “To define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high seas, and offences against the law of nations.” I wonder if there exists anything in the history of the writing and ratification of the first amendment that refers to the possibility of “religion” including Islam. Certainly, at that time paying tribute to Islamic pirate nations and suffering their attacks was the largest Islamic effect on our country. Even without explicitly banning God-Emperor Hirohito’s “religion” from First Amendment protections we were able to act against it during WWII. W’s dad never called that a religion of peace, but the children of those he helped defeat turned into some our better friends.