Al-Qaeda jihadists spit on the memory of Paul Johnson and revile his widow. This is further indication that, in the view of Muslims such as those who murdered Johnson, Islam is a religion of compassion and mercy, but only for Muslims. From MEMRI:
The recent issue of Sawt al-Jihad (“Voice of Jihad”), which is identified with Al-Qa’ida, published an article titled “A Letter to the Wife of the Slain Pagan Paul Johnson from the Wife of One of the Martyrs.” [1] This letter celebrates the murder of the American hostage Paul Johnson in Saudi Arabia. The anonymous letter is attributed to the wife of one of the terrorists killed by the Saudi Security forces. The following are excerpts from the letter: [2]
‘The Blood of Your Husband is the Blood of a Dog because He is an Idolatrous Infidel’
“I have heard that you appeared on television feigning innocence and wondering haughtily what was your husband’s sin and what was his crime. I believe you are not ignorant of the fact that he was one of the greatest criminals indeed, although he is not considered that according to your standards, you infidels. For you call the criminal innocent and the innocent one, defending his rights — criminal. Or else, what was the purpose of your husband’s work with the Apache helicopters? Have you ever believed that these helicopters hover over Afghanistan, Palestine, and Iraq to shower flowers and sweets over the heads of our children there? Or do you know that they throw on them rockets and bombs in order to turn their streets and homes into ashes upon which their corpses become coal? Is his work above reproach, then? Or was he innocent, while he worked on this kind of airplane [sic]?…
“You should know that our brethren whom you detain in your prisons and our brethren whom your husband used to burn with his helicopters are not alone. Rather, there are hearts pounding with love for them, just as you have demonstrated that you have loved your slain husband. Nay, we love them more than you can imagine because the blood of a Muslim is for us more precious than the Ka’ba , but the blood of your husband is the blood of a dog because he is an idolatrous infidel.”
‘The Corpse of Your Husband shall be followed by Mountains of Corpses’
“Do you know that we have not done anything [yet] about the blood of Muslims and the blood of my husband that was shed for no reason. We are just getting started and the corpse of your husband shall be followed by mountains of corpses of his countrymen, until they leave the country of our Prophet, Allah’s prayer and peace upon him, lowly and humiliated. How can you claim innocence for your husband, Allah’s curse on him, while you have been hearing the warnings of the Mujahideen calling you to leave our country that is forbidden for you? You however shut your ears and went obstinately with your wrongdoing. This is your penalty. May you shed tears mixed with blood, just as we wept blood because of your airplanes and your troops.
There is more, but you get the idea. This is a cannily written piece. It focuses on grievances that Europeans and American Leftists will love — the occupation of Iraq, alleged Western targeting of non-combatants — and suggests that Muslims will fight against Americans until they leave Iraq. This implies that the jihad will then end, which is the view of many analysts today on the Left and the Right: if we just stop bothering the Muslims, they’ll stop bothering us. Unfortunately, this doesn’t take into account the traditional Islamic teachings about offensive jihad: the necessity to wage war to establish the hegemony of Islam. It is affirmed often (here by South African Mufti Ebrahim Desai), but gets hardly any attention from taqiyya-addled Western analysts. Yet it is not something that will be mitigated by the removal of any or all points of contention.