Because gee, Islam is really swell. And of course, I'm all for European governments learning more about Islam. In fact, I think they should devote an enormous amount of attention to learning about Islam. They just shouldn't trust Jack Straw's favorite authorities to tell them anything useful about it.
I hereby volunteer my services to any European government that wants to learn more about Islam. I will travel to your country at my own expense for meetings with government officials. I will take you step-by-step through the Qur'an and Sunnah, and introduce you to Sharia and fiqh. I will work strictly from Islamic sources, so that you can see for yourself whether or not what I am saying is accurate. Give me a week or two, and you will be quite familiar with the essentials of Islamic teaching and practice. Contact me at director@jihadwatch.org.
Straw, by the way, also comes out here against freedom of expression.
From the Khaleej Times, with thanks to Sr. Soph:
LONDON — British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has asked European governments to learn more about Islam and “protect the rights of every citizen irrespective of their faith and creed.”Addressing an award ceremony organised by the Muslim News in the capital, Straw said European governments have to provide a space in which the rights and diversity of people of all faiths are protected....
“My point is this: the story of Europe is not a simple, linear one of secular values steadily pushing out and eroding religious ones. Rather the European experience is one of an accommodation between faith and modernity. And it is the future of Europe too.”
Straw said the reason for singling out of Islam as a target of attack might be due to its reputation as a new European religion.
“There have been Muslim communities in Europe for centuries,” said Straw. “But it is true that in recent decades those communities have grown in size and that Islam is now the fastest growing religion here. Another reason might be the feeling that many people seem to have that Muslims are in some way more religious than followers of other faiths. Again, I think it is probably undeniable that for most of the Muslims whom I know their faith is more obviously apparent in their daily actions and rituals than it is in the daily lives of the majority of people in Britain.”
Straw also condemned the decision of some European newspapers to reprint the controversial Danish cartoons by claiming the right to freedom of expression.
“I said at the time that the cartoons were reprinted in Europe — though not here in the United Kingdom — that doing so was needlessly insensitive and disrespectful,” said Straw. “The right to freedom of expression is a broad one and something which this country has long held dear. It was the focus of our human rights work during our recent Presidency of the European Union. But the existence of such a right does not mean that it is right — morally right, politically right, socially right — to exercise that freedom without regard to the feelings of others."
“A large number of Muslims in this country were upset by those cartoons being reprinted across Europe and at their deeply held beliefs being insulted. They expressed their hurt and outrage but did so in a way which epitomised the learned, peaceful religion of Islam. In doing so they were not being 'unreasonable' or 'un-European'. They were not threatening anyone's values.”
This man Straw is a cowardly timeserver, kowtowing to the party line, almost certainly to keep his job and remain important in the eyes of others. This weakness leads him to betray his country and culture. He is not just an appeaser but a lier, because he knows exactly what he is dealing with but prefers to sleep with the enemy. He is a lily-livered, unworthy and mealy-mouthed traitor.
I've got to agree with samson. I used to admire Straw, but he's turned weak and gutless.
He's obviously intelligent so why can't he see the elephant in the room? Or maybe he can and (I really do hope) he's applying the "keep your friends close, and your enemies closer" mind set.
Or maybe he's scared to death of the fact that if the government do anything but be completely positive to the Muslim population of the UK they will rise up and do UK Jihad 2006...
Hmmm, what a mess we're in.
Those who would like to see protests which epitomize the "epitomised the learned, peaceful religion of Islam" take a look at the video here:
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=19405&only
Straw, you are a liar.
Straw, you are a Quisling.
Straw, you are beneath contempt.
Straw, you are a man of straw, a hollow man, headpiece filled with straw.
*EDIT*
Change: "Muslim population of the UK" to "All Muslims in the World"
..just please let me ignore the fact that they all hate each other..
“....A large number of Muslims in this country were upset by those cartoons being reprinted across Europe and at their deeply held beliefs being insulted. They expressed their hurt and outrage but did so in a way which epitomised the learned, peaceful religion of Islam. In doing so they were not being 'unreasonable' or 'un-European'. They were not threatening anyone's values.”
Excuse me- but did Mr Straw not see that the deaths of some 50 to 100 people occurred because of this absurd 'rage'? Didn't Mr Straw see the signs calling for the 'real holocaust' to happen.
Didn't Mr Straw, see the obvious assault upon freedom of expression, such as been assisted by the secular politics of Europe across the decades to demean Christianity, to demean Judaism without once ever, anyone losing their lives? I know the muslim TV channels show religious jews drinking the blood of children for religious holiday devotion- monstrous!, unbelievably monstrous, lying filth, and not one word out of his yap, or any of the yappers.
Instead- We have to understand their great culture.
Ugh.
The Man of Straw's word should always be put into context. Everything he says on such matters is influenced by the fact that he represents a constituency (Blackburn) that contains the third largest proportion of Muslims in the UK. Under challenge from an anti-war candidate, he nearly lost his seat at the last election.
"Straw said the reason for singling out of Islam as a target of attack might be due to its reputation as a new European religion."
Yeh right! Those poor Muslims...did nothin to no one. Why are they gettin' picked on?
4593 attacks by Jihadists since 9/11 and counting may have something to do with it.
Stat courtesy of http://www.thereligionofpeace.com/
How can anyone with such selective memory and a wide open personal agenda...to stay in power at all costs through Muslim votes... be allowed to misrepresent the real feelings of our country.
Straw.....resign you traitor.....you are incapable of telling the truth.
Jack Straw depends on the Muslim vote in his constituency.
From the Wikipedia:
"In 2005, allegations of vote-rigging and corruption began to grow around the Labour controlled council. A local councillor, Muhammed Hussain, was jailed for rigging an election by stealing postal vote ballots. Straw was challenged in the 2005 general election by his former employee and British ambassador to Uzbekistan, Craig Murray. Murray stood for election in the seat of Blackburn on a platform of opposition to the war in Iraq and electoral corruption. The anti-war vote was split, however, and Jack Straw was returned with a comfortable majority of over 8,000."
Acupucture is showing great breakthroughs in the treatment of the condition called Islamophobia. Yes all is needed is a few pricks placed in strategic areas to help convince people that their is nothing to worry about!
Jack Straw (SBUH)
It's one thing to express the opinions of your constiuents. It's quit another to lie in the process. You sir, deserve the noose for being the seditious traitor you've become.
Jack Straw, Spit Be Upon Him
Past Posting from the archives:
Fitzgerald: Jack Straw: Idiots Rule
"For a sampling of what historians think of Jack Straw, consult an article entitled “Your view of history is bunk, academics tell Jack Straw” by Michael Paterson. Straw is quoted as saying that “a lot of the problems that we are having to deal with now - I have to deal with now - are a consequence of our colonial past."
Straw on the Subcontinent: "India-Pakistan - we made some quite serious mistakes. We were complacent with what happened in Kashmir, the boundaries weren't published until two days after independence. The consequences are still there."
Straw on Afghanistan: "We played less than a glorious role over a century and a half."
Straw on the Middle East: "The odd lines for Iraq's borders were drawn by Brits." Straw on the Arab-Israeli conflict: Britain’s role was "not entirely an honourable one".
Straw on Africa: he has "huge arguments" with Robert Mugabe. "However, when any Zimbabwean says to me land is a key issue . . . the early colonisers were all about taking land."
In response, Oxford don Niall Ferguson: “Nobody pretends that the history of the British Empire is unblemished but it is reckless for politicians to suggest that problems are the consequence of British colonialism. In the 19th and into the 20th century, it brought a quarter of the world's land surface free trade, the rule of law and non-corrupt administration and in many places the British were successful in sowing seeds of parliamentary government.
Ferguson added that sub-Saharan Africa “has got much worse since decolonization," and “to say the British are to blame for problems in Zimbabwe is laughable. If we encourage people to blame problems on the British, it becomes a wonderful excuse for dreadful foreign governments to cover up their own faults."
Historian Andrew Roberts: "Mr Straw seems to be forgetting it was the Attlee Labour government that scuttled the Empire and pulled Britain out of India in a hurry, leaving a mess. Churchill stood up in Parliament and spoke about his fears that Mountbatten's timetable for partitioning India was wrong - and that has become the view of most historians."
Conor Cruise O'Brien, another historian: “Britain did not create the divisions among people groups in any of its former colonies - many of them were hundreds of years old - and Britain could not have eliminated them during the end of colonialism."
Barry Buzan of the London School of Economics: "It is easy to be critical. But it is hard to say which bits of our foreign policy from the Imperial days should have been different. It's like looking back at a game of chess; it's much easier to work out afterwards what the moves should have been. Conspiracy theorists think Britain and the French wanted to stop the creation of an Arab superstate after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in the First World War. But it is doubtful a superstate like that could have held together. In one sense, we have a hangover from the days of Empire. But really we are involved now in some former colonies because we are Bush's poodle."
Historian J. B. Kelly: "Iraq would not have come into being as a state after the First World War if it had not been for Britain. It is an area where the sea had been made safe - largely for our benefit but also for that of locals. We brought the rule of law to the Gulf. Not long after Britain left, the Arabs began the oil offensive and Iraq made claims on Kuwait. But he should remember that we could not have stayed and staying would not have prevented most of the trouble with countries which had more money and allies nearby….This demonising of Britain has long been dismissed by good scholars." Iraq’s borders? “Very well drawn."
One of the things J. B. Kelly told the interviewer that did not appear in the final article was that the most important "boundary line" of modern Iraq, that supposedly separating "Arab" (Sunni) Iraq from Shi'a Persian Iran, was drawn not by the "colonialist" British, but by the Ottoman Empire and the Persian Empire, in an agreement brokered by the Russian government called the Treaty of Erzrum (1847).
Note Straw's remark that Britain’s role in the Israeli-Arab conflict was “not entirely an honourable one." Jack Straw is not here referring to the British administration of Mandatory Palestine, which was entirely intent on betraying the solemn commitments that Great Britain had made to the League of Nations in order to become the Mandatory power, and was in fact bent on not fulfilling the League of Nations' promise to create the Jewish National Home. The only exceptions in Mandatory Palestine itself (there was Wyndham Deedes in London) were Orde Wingate (expelled from Palestine because he actually believed in helping the Jews learn how to defend themselves from Arab attack), and earlier, Col. Richard Meinertzhagen (see the "Diary" of Meinertzhagen).
No, what the ill-informed Jack Straw is referring to is the nonsensical and baseless Arab insistence that certain promises were made to them that the British betrayed. This is completely false. The Hussein-Macmahon correspondence, which was thoroughly studied by Elie Kedourie, shows exactly what "promise" was made by the British -- none. The "promise" made by MacMahon 1) could not bind the British government, and the Arabs understood this perfectly; and what is more important, 2) explicitly excluded the territory of what became Mandatory Palestine from its purview -- as MacMahon kept insisting and finally, fed up with Arab misstatements, set out clearly in a letter to the London Times in late July 1937. This can all be found in Elie Kedourie's article on the MacMahon-Hussein correspondence (see the collection of articles "Islam in the Modern World").
Straw is a former National Union of Students leader. He does not know the history of Great Britain. He only knows the standard caricature history of the Empire, and of figures such as Palmerston. Somehow the Foreign Office has kept him from reading Kedourie and Kelly both. If he did, he would save himself from a great deal of error.
And if he studied Islam, what is actually in the texts, and what every great Western historian of Islam has written about it (he can find a sample of it in the forthcoming "The Legacy of Jihad"), he might change his tune about Turkey. But he won't because he will not study, will not learn. Don't confuse the Jack Straws of this world with history.
They are Jaywalking (in the Jay Leno sense) through the Foreign Office, and in various other European and North American chanceries. It is not only the high school students and college students who cannot place the American Civil War within 50 years, think Christopher Columbus discovered America round about 1750, and believe that Africa is in Asia, and China touches Peru. No, it is also people at the level of Jack Straw.
Keep that in mind, as you try to make sense of all the nonsense. Idiots rule. Straw is a fool. Historians know it. Visitors to Jihad Watch know it. When will enough people in England know it?"
Thank you for that Hugh, I will copy and paste that to keep it close in my handy file.
Jack Straw was born and brought up not a million miles from my own stamping ground. He was president of the NUS just before I joined. I'm afraid he is a career politician, having been active in politics at university and he seems to have only worked in a non political job for a bare 2 years. There are plenty of idiots who have worked in the world before entering politics (John Prescott was a merchant seaman for years) but the narrow experience can't help.
Yet still MPACUK loathe him.
Hugh, an absolutely spot on post about Straw and his lack of knowledge. I was telling my daughter that he most probably listens to his son over cornflakes about how nasty us Brits have been to the Muslim world and its all our fault...
It shows how far Britains has fallen that a man of such limited historical knowledge is running the FO. I never liked Straw, and yet again he has proved that my first impressions were totally correct.
Mr Spencer, Mr Fitzgerald, et al:
You could do a big favor to a lot of us regular readers of Jihadwatch/Dhimmiwatch by adding a glossary of common Islamic terms. For example:
what is Fiqh? How does the Hadith differ from Sunnah? How many different collections of Hadith are there? What is Bukhari I so often see quoted. Could the website add a glossary/vocab page?
Jack Straw is full of sh**! Bullsh**!
William the Crusader:
Jack Straw (SBUH)
I'm disappointed! I thought that would read: Sh** be upon him! :-)
Idiots rule. Straw is a fool. Historians know it. Visitors to Jihad Watch know it. When will enough people in England know it?" - Hugh
Yes, when? This government is the government of fools for fools!
No, Mark Alexander, it is the government of thieves for thieves, covered by some PC bullshit that never has anything serious to do or say about any real injustice. It is Toryism with a human face, dedicated to privatization, theft from the public purse, conspiracy with contractors, and empty public gestures. The only difference between the man of Straw and his colleagues is that he has a Muslim son, with whom he seems to be on the best of terms. If he is not a Muslim himself, that is.
Yes Straw is right about European leaders should learn more about muslims and islams! yes but they need to know the " REAL Truth about Islam"!!! they need to read Robert's books, websites like this one, and many others that are not PC, and REALLY learn the Truth about Islam, and lastly Straw has to learn the truth!
Good question. I doubt the current administration will get another term. However, the alternatives don't look particularly enticing either. Maybe some re-alignments will take place - I don't see the current farce lasting indefinitely.
bevc you want a glossary ?
It is amazing to see us all now discussing Islam and "the Prophet", we will soon have a better knowledge of the Koran than the average Muslim.
On the Muslim blogs (I advice you to pay long visits to the Muslim blogs) there are endless discussions about what is allowed, what is not allowed, when can a woman do this or that, etc.
Religions have always bored me, because of that. A long list of endless, uninteresting injunctions which make me yawn, and long debates, as nobody really agrees about the injunctions, together with the promise that the one who follows the rules will go to Paradise, and the one who does not will be in trouble.
Welcome in the XXI century !
I wish people could use their brain cells on science, history, poetry, astronomy, medicine, music... at least, the Greek Gods had their poetry. They were funny as they were as silly as humans.
As for Straw, he is one of those people, who are present throughout human history. He is a genuine collaborationist. We have the same type of MPs, in France (I am thinking of the one who proposed an "anti blasphemy law", because, as he said "we must accept that THERE ARE ALSO RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS".)
= "Rather the European experience is one of an accommodation between faith and modernity. And it is the future of Europe too".
Translation: The Muslims are scaring and they will grow more numerous than us, so we must be prepared to change our lives and become religious.
Faith and modernity.... we know which faith he is thinking about. But I doubt modernity will still be there when "faith" commands. Straw is not only a coward, but also a very stupid person if he imagines there can be an "accomodation" between the two opposite things which are modernity and faith, as, precisely, modernity rejects the idea that faith must influence the public sphere.
If someone is threatening you, two ways of reacting: fighting to be respected, or submitting. The "future of Europe", as Man of Straw says, will depend on what type of people will be more numerous.
What stuns me is that the Muslims are still in minority ! And we are already scared of them ! Can you imagine what will happen when they are 30 % of the European population ? You will have boatpeople coming from Europe I tell you.
Straw says that muslims are insulted by cartoons? Well I was pretty insulted by a group of muslims getting onto trains and buses and murdering 53 people in mohammeds and allahs name. I was insulted by the next group a couple of weeks later who tried to kill even more in the name of mohammed and allah. And, I will be even more insulted when the next religious mass murder takes place in the name of mohhamed and allah. But hey don't worry, all we have to do to stop these attacks is to convert to the religion of peace and tolerance..............or else.
DaveMate, one thing which is really pathetic is that the dhimmis imagine that if they submit, and convert, they will be able to live in peace. It is naive ! The traitors have always been contempted.
Cf the caricatures, the US Media did not publish them and stil, the Muslim mobs were shouting against the USA.
So the dhimmis are acting stupidly, as they will always be put in the same bag as the resistants.
I was very shocked by the great dhimminitude which was shown in Spain after the Madrid attacks: the people were saying "it is because we spent our troops to Iraq" and they voted for the socialist dhimmi who had said he would retrieve Spanish troops from Iraq... what good came from that ? I saw that the angry mobs in London were also shouting against Spain during the caricatures crisis.
If I have to die, I'd better say "F... you" to the one who is going to kill me rather than "how may I please you". Really, the dhimmis are doubly disgusting: first, they are cowards, but worse, they are stupid.
I'd rather say "The US Medina".
By the way, the way CNN covers our new little Parisian crisis is utterly stupid. I saw that they confuse two different groups of people: the Blacks and the Arabs who have gone into Paris to hit "white, rich kids" and the white, rich spoilt kids who demonstrate a break a few things because it is such a thrill for them.
Well the first ones have aggressed and hit the second ones... and CNN says "the youth, the youth".. for Heaven's sake can't they do their job properly and figure out that there are several different groups ??? And then they wonder why some "youth" hit some other "youth" !!
The girl who covers Paris for CNN is anyway totally stupid. I can't watch CNN any more since I have heard her about the November riots. She always wears a big smile and thinks it is soooo cool and romantic, wow, the "youth in Paris are revolting", like in 1968 !
Lady, buy a new brain please, and use your eyes, as what you see is no 1968 at all. It is silly spoilt lobotomised sons and daughters of good family having fun, and poor SONS and grand sons of immigrants spreading their anti white and anti French hatred whislt the police watches.
and anti woman hatred must I add
Here is another excellent information-site with the truth about Islam.
Plenty of sources out there, but dhimmis would rather keep their heads in the sand.
From the above link:
"At some point our collective heads will come up out of the sand, probably by the force of an explosion; and we'll stand, mouths agape like so many fish out of water, trying to comprehend a situation we've done our best to ignore.
-Anonymous, 2005"
Jack 'Chamberline' Straw:
The epitome of socialism in a suit. One of the biggest holes in Blackburn Lancashire.
Islam- "...a new European religion"?
More like the newest religion against Europe.
Islam, even with its constant infighting, is PERMANENTLY united against the West.
The West, especially with its constant ego-stunted jockeyings for insignificant power gains, appears constitutionally unable to unite against anything that threatens it.
In this formula:
Islam wins by knowing what it wants.
To paraphrase Freud:
What does the West want?