Garbanzo Toons

Muslim Civil Rights

The Detroit News is the more conservative of Detroit's two dailies. When it comes to whitewashing our terror supporting Muslim neighbors, however, they are as willing and able as the more liberal Detroit Free Press to do the job. Both papers seem to have their staff apologists. Here is a recent whitewash - uh - I mean article concerning young local Muslims speaking up.

When Sofia Latif sees news reports portraying Muslims as terrorists, she sometimes sends e-mails to journalists deploring coverage she views as one-sided and urges them to publicize good works done in the name of Islam.

Like what?

Most of the Muslims interviewed said they deplore suicide bombing, that it defies the teachings of Islam and that terrorists cloak themselves in religion to excuse their evil acts. But they also stress that they understand the enormous frustration over conditions in the world that give rise to extremism.

Do all Muslims talk out of both sides of their mouths? And why does this "frustration leads to extremism" equation only apply to Muslims?

As part of their assertiveness, younger Muslims sought to explain some of the findings in the Pew poll, which found that 25 percent of Muslims ages 18-29 view themselves as Muslims first, before identifying themselves as Americans. It is not unusual, Muslims said, for many people to identify themselves by their faith. They cited a finding in a previous Pew poll that 42 percent of all Christians and 62 percent of evangelical Protestants say they are Christian first.

As for the finding about suicide bombing, many asserted that the Prophet Muhammad expressly prohibited even collateral damage in war, let alone intentional assaults on civilians. They also point to a poll published in February by the Christian Science Monitor revealing that 24 percent of Americans say that "bombing and other attacks intentionally aimed at civilians are often or sometimes justified."

As always, rather than taking responsibility and admitting there is a problem within Islam, they trot out the well-worn "moral equivalence" argument. When was the last terror attack by a Christian or any nonMuslim again? I can't remember either. Muslims must become familiar with the concept of "personal responsibility."I'm getting tired of every Islamic depravity anywhere in the world being somebody else's fault.

"I constantly feel that we are on the defensive," said Shahad Atiya, 19, of Bloomfield Hills. "Personally, I am sick and tired of that. I want to ask people, 'Why do you single me out?' "

Actually, ever since 9/11, Islam in this country has been on the offensive. It is the rest of us who are expected to be on the defensive and act like good dhimmi to avoid the dreaded accusation of "Islamophobia."

It's a good thing that Michael Chertoff and the Department of Homeland Security is on the job and protecting us from Islamic terror; right? Wrong! According to another Detroit News article,

While the NAACP has been fighting for the rights of African-Americans for nearly a century, it's important to fight for Muslim Americans in a post-9/11 world, the nation's Homeland Security chief told guests at the 98th NAACP national convention Tuesday evening.

"(We've) fought too long and too hard for the rights of African-Americans to turn our backs on the rights of Muslim Americans," Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff told a crowd of more than 600 at the Armed Services and Veteran Affairs awards dinner at the Renaissance Marriott Hotel.

Huh? Who is this idiot working for again? It certainly isn't the American public.

Not only haven't we not turned our back on the rights of Muslim Americans, but their rights are so well protected that they are busy demanding more rights: The right to wear a veil in court, the right of Muslim cabbies to refuse service to people carrying liquor or using a Seeing Eye dog, the right of Muslims to have footbaths built at the expense of the rest of us on university campuses, the right to disrupt airline flights, and once they gain these extra and special rights, they will, of course, demand more.

Debbie Schlussel has lots more here and here.

Labels: Debbie Schlussel, Detroit Free Press, Detroit News, islam, Michael Chertoff

posted by Harry @ 9:22 PM