Last Refuge

The cartoon controversy violence is disturbing in how it resonates with much of the Moslem public. But don't make too much of this. There are a lot of "rent-Allah-crowds" out there incited by people who have no use for Islamic piety except as a tool to finally incite a clash of civilizations between Islam and Christianity.

So far, the "long war" has been the West against the jihadis with the Moslems slowly losing patience with the jihadis. We are slowly winning this battle. The jihadies and the corrupt thug-states that are trying to save themsleves by igniting religious war must not be allowed to succeed in widening this war. Don't fall for their desperate ploy.

Our administration recognizes this reality:

In Washington, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice accused Iran and Syria of instigating protests in their countries, and President Bush called upon governments to stop the violence and protect the lives of diplomats overseas.

The United States and other countries were looking into whether extremist groups may be inciting protesters to riot, said Yonts, the U.S. spokesman in Afghanistan.

Zahor Afghan, editor for Erada, Afghanistan's most respected newspaper, said the riots in his country have surprised him.

"No media in Afghanistan has published or broadcast pictures of these cartoons. The radio has been reporting on it, but there are definitely people using this to incite violence against the presence of foreigners in Afghanistan," he said.

And for a longer look at this, see (via Instapundit) Amir Taheri's piece:

The "rage machine" was set in motion when the Muslim Brotherhood--a political, not a religious, organization--called on sympathizers in the Middle East and Europe to take the field. A fatwa was issued by Yussuf al-Qaradawi, a Brotherhood sheikh with his own program on al-Jazeera. Not to be left behind, the Brotherhood's rivals, Hizb al-Tahrir al-Islami (Islamic Liberation Party) and the Movement of the Exiles (Ghuraba), joined the fray. Believing that there might be something in it for themselves, the Syrian Baathist leaders abandoned their party's 60-year-old secular pretensions and organized attacks on the Danish and Norwegian embassies in Damascus and Beirut.

Truly, false Islamic piety is the last refuge of scoundrels and scoundrel regimes.

Stay focused, people. Kill and destroy our enemies. Ignore the fools worked up into a frenzy by our enemies.