Daniel Pipes hits the nail on the head in the New York Sun:
…The head of the Benedictine order, Abbot Notker Wolf, said the pope’s quote was “a blatant allusion to Ahmadinejad,” Reuters reported. Vatican insiders told the London Sunday Times that Benedict “was trying to pre-empt an aggressive letter aimed at the papacy by the president of Iran, which was why he cited the debate involving a Persian.”
First reflection: Benedict has offered elusive comments, brief statements, and now this delphic quotation, but he has not provided a much-needed major statement on this vital topic of Islam. One hopes it is in the offing….
Second reflection: This new round of Muslim outrage, violence, and murder now has a routine quality. Earlier versions occurred in 1989 (in response to Salman Rushdie’s novel “The Satanic Verses”), 1997 (when the U.S. Supreme Court did not take down a representation of Muhammad), 2002 (when Jerry Falwell called Muhammad a terrorist), 2005 (the fraudulent Koran-flushing episode), and this February (the Danish cartoon incident)….
Third reflection: The Muslim uproar has a goal “” to prohibit criticism of Islam by Christians and thereby to impose Shariah norms on the West. Should Westerners accept this central tenet of Islamic law, others will surely follow. Retaining free speech about Islam, therefore, represents a critical defense against the imposition of an Islamic order.
Hear, hear. Read it all.