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Monday, September 13, 2010

Imagine the reverse!

Bloomberg released a story this afternoon that begins as follows: " Two Iranian grand ayatollahs issued fatwas calling for the killing of those who insult the Koran, including anyone who burns the Islamic holy book, the state-run Fars news agency reported." While I agree that it is completely inappropriate for anyone to burn a holy book, even if it is from a religion other than one's own, the fatwa from the ayatollahs does seem like an overreaction.

Just imagine the response if the US were to issue a statement saying that major government officials had stated that anyone insulting christianity must be killed. How about death for burners of the US flag? How about death for those who insult the United States? The answer is that there would be rioting and demonstrations in Teheran and elsewhere in the Muslim world.

Why is it that we need to walk on eggs to avoid upsetting the crazies in Iran, but they can riot and destroy things in response to whatever we do?

Sensibilities are important. That is true if they are the sensibilities of Muslims in Iran or the sensibilities of those who lived through the attacks by Islamic terrorists on 9-11. It would be nice if our leaders undestood this.

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