So when I read that the world's Moslems have high hopes for the president's upcoming Cairo speech, I feel like throwing up a little bit in despair. Just how far do they expect our president to go in apologizing?
Respect for Islam, a prescription for Palestinian statehood and assurances of a speedy U.S. pullout from Iraq — that's what Muslims from Morocco to Malaysia say they want to hear from President Barack Obama this week when he addresses them from this Arab capital.
What has Islam done lately (say in the last several centuries) that is worthy of respect?
[crickets chirping]
And if Moslem opinion of us depends on Palestinians, possibly the most stupid and most self-destructive people on the entire planet, governing themselves, God help us all. Have you looked at Hamas-run Gaza?
As for Iraq, if the Moslem world is upset that we liberated 25 million Moslems from Saddam's cruel regime and then defended those same Moslems from brutal attacks by Iranian-sponsored Sadrists and Syrian-aided jihadis and Baathists, why on Earth should we care about their opinion on this subject? They clearly are ill-equipped to make moral judgments.
Indeed, I think the Islamic world has a lot of explaining to do for their behavior, especially in the aftermath of 9/11 when too many think that it is wrong to resist the jihadis (the whole "why do they hate us?" line of thought):
For example, fighting back is considered, by Moslems, as culturally insensitive ("war on Islam"), and some of the Western media have picked up on this bizarre interpretation of reality. It gets worse, as, some historians point out, for example, that the medieval Crusades were a series of wars fought in response to Islamic violence against Christians, not the opening act of aggression against Islam that continue to the present. Thus, the current war on terror is, indeed, in the tradition of the Crusades. And there are many other "Crusades" brewing around the world, in the many places where aggressive Islamic militants are making unprovoked war on their Christian neighbors. Political Correctness among academics and journalists causes pundits to try and turn this reality inside out. But a close look at the violence in Africa, Asia and the Middle East shows a definite pattern of Islamic radicals persecuting those who do not agree with them, not the other way around.
The aggrieved party is not the Islamic world, it is the rest of the world that is unfortunate enough to catch their eye, from moderate Indonesians, to Hindus, to Nigerians, to Darfurians, to Jews anywhere, to Shia Iraqis, to Christian or even just nominally Christian Westerners who wonder if the jihadis will strike in their city next. We're just trying to stop them from killing us.
The Islamic world is backward and has quite the chip on its shoulder. They have far deeper problems than worrying about our "respect." That's not happening, dudes. The big speech is bound to disappoint them. Really, the president should write off those hopes of further abject apologyfests, and challenge the Moslem world to reform themselves before we have to destroy them in self defense.
(Oh, and as a bonus, Strategypage explains why, when it comes to military matters, our press corps collectively couldn't pour piss out of a boot if the instructions were written on the heel.)
UPDATE: Similar thoughts on the speech to be given here and here.
UPDATE: Peters expects another round of "I'm sorry." But thinks, as I do, that the apologies should be flowing to us, instead.
