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Can CAIR Get Sensitivity Training For Islamists?

The Times of London has an article about a 26-year-old Pakistani terrorist suspect who was supposed to report to a police station and turn over his passport, but fled the country instead. The article discusses the role a mosque played in his escape:

He was traced to a nearby mosque, where community leaders say he had sought sanctuary. Police rarely enter a mosque: they began discussions with both local community figures and leading officials connected to the mosque. It is understood that while these talks were taking place, the young suspect was helped to escape through a back entrance while officers from Greater Manchester Police were stationed outside.... This episode will raise questions about how police deal with suspects who take shelter in mosques as senior officers are aware of the sensitivity of entering religious buildings by force.

Andy McCarthy quotes from this article and comments

The self-conscious solicitude of the Western intelligentsia, military and investigative authorities for things Islamic continues to boggle the mind. Yes, mosques are houses of worship; but there is a lengthy record of their use as centers of jihadist indoctrination, conspiracy, recruitment, para-military training, and even weapons storage and transfer. In Iraq, Muslims blow up mosques and use them as fortresses for military operations; in England and America, police won't enter them ... even for purposes of apprehending a known terrorist.

Similarly, at Gitmo, we have terrorists who believe the Koran commands them to murder infidels and who have been known to use Korans to pass notes to one another; yet, each terrorist is issued a Koran at the expense of the taxpayers the terrorists are trying to kill, and our military only allows the book to be handled by Muslim personnel wearing white gloves. Throughout the Iran/Iraq war, Muslims slaughtered each other with gusto throughout the month of Ramadan; in the West, during a defensive war against jihadists, we are periodically told we should suspend military operations during Ramadan out of respect for Muslims.

One thing that seems to stand out from the examples of mosques, the Koran, and Ramadan is that Islamists seem to have a definition of holiness that differs from that of Western religions. Generally, something is holy because it is separate and distinct from the mundane world--in that sense it is something that applies to and is defined in terms of the members of that religion.

Islamist extremists, on the other hand, seem to define things in Islam as holy more as something distinct from the non-Muslim world: a world that is not only mundane but unclean, inhabited by people that are referred to as dogs and pigs--both by the Koran and by the fundamentalist imams who incite their flock. Apparently these fundamentalists may act freely with their mosques, Korans, and holidays, but the actions of non-Muslims are circumscribed.

How else to explain the liberties these Islamists take with what we are told are holy places, books, and days? When Islamists in Iraq blow up mosques, are we supposed to assume that they took out all the Korans first?

Maybe CAIR can arrange for these fundamentalists to get some sensitivity training?

by Daled Amos

Technorati Tag: Islam and Islamists.

Posted by daledamos at January 18, 2007 12:21 AM