Unmosqued: Moderate Bridge-Builder Imam Rauf Places Terrorism Firmly In Conventional, Legitimate History of Warfare; Says US Terrorism Causes Islamic Terrorism

Citing the example (the go-to complaint of neo-Nazis such as David Irving, by the way) of Curtis LeMay's firebombing of Axis cities*, Rauf asserts that the West has always engaged in terrorism.

He then attempts to claim that continues to the present day by quoting Madeleine Albright saying that civilian casualties due to sanctions against Iraq (not warfare) were unfortunate but necessary. He seems to ignore the part where sanctions are not in fact warfare at all, and can be legitimate, which is not even remotely true in the case of terrorism -- in that case, civilian casualties are not an unfortunate, unavoidable consequence of a military action, but in fact the whole point.

His claim that 1,000,000 Iraqis died due to sanctions is, of course, purely crank, the product of overheated leftist imaginations and Muslim eagerness for any grievances that can justify their murderous terrorism.

He then goes on to claim that the US is using a double-standard in defining terrorism, and urges a "neutral" definition which would bind "both sides."

So his claim is, once again, that Islam isn't doing anything the US isn't doing, and that it's unfair to make a big deal out of Islam's terror.

Once again he makes the same offer that Obama did, just with less threatening language: Never, ever challenge an Islamic state militarily -- or even with steps short of military action such as sanctions -- and we'll see about calling ixnay on the errorism-tay. Deal?

No deal.

This is the exact same defense of terrorism offered by every single one of its supporters.

This won't do.

A man who continues to drone on and on with his apologias for terror is a "moderate" whose plans for a trimphal victory mosque we must not frustrate.

* I wrote he said "Dresden" but he spoke of firebombing "over 60 Japanese cities." I have corrected to the vaguer "Axis cities" in order to note that all neo-Nazis ever want to talk about is the horror of Dresden.

Thanks to OlafK. for pointing the error out.

More Corrections: I also cleared up/cleaned up the part about Madelein Albright.

posted by Ace at 11:05 AM

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