Tuesday, February 22, 2005

Well, Congressman, what are we supposed to call it?

From NewsMax.com we have this from Representative Charles "Charlie" Rangel (D-NY): that the expression "Islamic terrorism" is a bigoted misnomer. He even went so far as to suggest that no such thing as an Islamic terror movement even existed.

Well all right, Congressman, what do you call it when a bunch of foreigners just flood into Iraq to cause trouble? They're not all home-grown, and you know it.

And your other examples are classic red herrings:

When we had the Ku Klux Klan we didn't call them Baptist terrorists. When Hitler was killing Jews, we didn't call it Christian terrorists.
Nothing in Scripture or in the Baptist Faith and Message gives the slightest warrant to the activities of the Ku Klux Klan. And Hitler was not a Christian. He removed crosses from the altars of Lutheran churches in his country and replaced them with swastikas, and he ordered that every married couple receive, as a "present," a copy of his magnum opus, Mein Kampf ("My Struggle"). In neither case, therefore, can you find a warrant for associating the terror that they caused with any larger religious tradition.

In contrast, the Koran specifically orders its readers to commit acts of terror against non-believers.

Here's another Rangelian red herring:

[We need to realize] that a lot of countries may be poor, but they still have pride. And that is one thing that we completely ignore
Sorry, Charlie, but I'm not buying that, either. The nineteen Assassins of September 11 were anything but poor. Fifteen of them came from Saudi Arabia, one of the richest countries on earth.

To the people of the 15th New York district: This is your champion, the defender of your "rights" against the latter-day Machiavellis for whom I, for example, voted? Whoopee.