The Furor of Hypocrisy

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     The furor in the Islamic world over the depiction, in caricature, of the prophet Muhammad by a Danish newspaper political cartoonist reached a fevered pitch today as militant Muslims stormed and burned the Danish embassy in Damascus, Syria. These violent protestors are demanding that European newspapers and websites stop printing or posting the cartoon and for the governments of several European countries to apologize.

     Whatever one might think about the nature of the cartoons, there is an amazing hypocrisy in the reaction of the militant Islamic world to their distribution and publication. Consider that, when America is regularly reviled by Islam clerics and even when Americans were brutally beheaded in Afghanistan and Iraq, Americans did not rise up, march on Washington, and burn the Syrian embassy in protest. Europeans are not storming Middle Eastern government embassies and demanding the release of hostages because of they kidnapped by Muslim extremists or because primarily Muslim youths rioted rampant across the suburbs of Paris.

     In the violent reaction in the Islamic world, we see the truth of the nature of militant, radical Islam. These people do not care about anyone who is not Muslim, but do not dare affront Islam in their eyes. Whether the issue is criminals in France who happen to be Muslim, or caricature cartoons in Denmark, the militant, radical Islamic world believes that it has the right to rise up in violence against any insult, real or perceived. This is the religious zealotry of a militant radicalism that seeks to force Islam on the world by whatever means are at its disposal.

     Consider next the nature of the greater Middle East. These same militant radicals who are burning embassies are directly in charge of the governments of Iran and the Palestinian territory, and have incredible influence in most Middle Eastern states. This reality is the nature of the threat arrayed against the West in the Middle East. Every new incident serves only to stoke the already burning fire of religious zealotry throughout the region, and like a forest fire, if that zealotry is not contained; it will burn out of control.

     This is a threat that the West must face head on. Until Western nations admit and accept that their War on Terror is indeed a war against zealous, militant, radical, totalitarian Islam- not against Muslims themselves, but against this expression of their religion- there is no chance for the West to win. Counteracting the appeal of such a force is the only way to achieve victory.

DLH