Koran Koran
According to the Weekly Standard, the Saudis have Guantanamo beat, hands down.
Perhaps the Saudis, by asserting their particular sanctity, qualify themselves for the task of burning "defective" Korans. Just like the Boy Scouts and the V.F.W. in the U.S. can burn old, worn-out American flags without upsetting flag-lovers.
I think Tigerhawk had one of the best takes on this today, asking us to "consider the possibility that we treat Muslims as if they are not responsible for their actions because we -- meaning the Western media and policy elites -- do not believe that they are capable of responsibility. This is contemptuous and racist, and does not make this war any easier to win."
He was riffing on this superb post which identifies the central issue here as "what is to be done about Islam."
While Islamist fanatics and ignorant Westerners sow panic over the alleged desecration of a Koran at Guantanamo Bay, no one mentions a startling fact: When it comes to destruction of the Koran, there's no question who the world champion is--the government of Saudi Arabia.
The Saudi state religion is the primitive and austere Wahhabi version of Islam, which defines many traditional Islamic practices as idolatrous. Notably, the state bans the importation of Korans published elsewhere. When foreign pilgrims arrive at the Saudi border by the millions for the annual journey to Mecca, what happens to the non-Saudi Korans they are carrying? The border guards confiscate them, to be shredded, pulped, or burned. Beautiful bindings and fine paper are viewed as a particular provocation--all are destroyed. (This on top of the spiritual vandalism the Saudis perpetrate, by inserting anti-Jewish and anti-Christian squibs into the Korans they publish in foreign languages, as Stephen Schwartz documented in our issue of September 27, 2004.)
Perhaps the Saudis, by asserting their particular sanctity, qualify themselves for the task of burning "defective" Korans. Just like the Boy Scouts and the V.F.W. in the U.S. can burn old, worn-out American flags without upsetting flag-lovers.
I think Tigerhawk had one of the best takes on this today, asking us to "consider the possibility that we treat Muslims as if they are not responsible for their actions because we -- meaning the Western media and policy elites -- do not believe that they are capable of responsibility. This is contemptuous and racist, and does not make this war any easier to win."
He was riffing on this superb post which identifies the central issue here as "what is to be done about Islam."
No one from any institution of American life has as yet enunciated the dangers of failing to demand that Muslims the world over take control of their religion and either reform or eliminate those that would destroy a centuries-old spiritual path that boasts peaceful adherents in every country on earth, a tradition of scientific and cultural innovation and at least, a history of tolerance and peaceful respect of other religious practices.
