So, for the past several months, I (Greg) have been affirming to those unfortunate enough to find themselves in a checkout line with me or waiting at a taxi stand that, however bleak things might seem, I have detected a slight wavering of the needle in the right direction. Of course, nobody in the halls of power will admit that Islam is at war with the rest of the world, but, on the other hand, there have been fewer speeches positively affirming that Islam is — as the saying goes — a “religion of peace.” “In fact,” I recently heard myself remark, “President Bush himself no longer refers to Islam as peaceful.”
Well, me and my big mouth. Just when I thought that the administration might have gained some — a little — clarity on the issue, we are dealt the following remarks from the Big Kahuna himself that makes one wonder whether the “dream team” of Rice, Cheney, and all the rest in fact possess the collective intelligence to sit the right way on a toilet seat.
From our comrades-in-arms at World Net Daily. Thus Spake Zarathustra:
“That’s what I believe. I believe Islam is a great religion that preaches peace.”
Well that’s just super.
President George Bush has repeated his belief all religions, “whether they be Muslim, Christian, or any other religion, prays to the same God” — an assertion that caused outrage among evangelical leaders when he said it in November 2003.
And would rightly scandalize any halfway seriously religious person from Alabama to Nepal.
Bush made the statement Friday in an interview with Al Arabiya reporter Elie Nakouzi.
Al Arabiya is Al Jazeerah’s top competitor in the Mideast.
As the president and Nakouzi walked from the Oval Office to the Map Room in the White House residence, Nazouki asked, “But I want to tell you — and I hope this doesn’t bother you at all — that in the Islamic world they think that President Bush is an enemy of Islam — that he wants to destroy their religion, what they believe in. Is that in any way true, Mr. President?”
“No, it’s not,” said Bush. “I’ve heard that, and it just shows [sic {their sic not mine!}] to show a couple of things: One, that the radicals have done a good job of propagandizing. In other words, they’ve spread the word that this really isn’t peaceful people versus radical people or terrorists, this is really about the America not liking Islam.
“Well, first of all, I believe in an Almighty God, and I believe that all the world, whether they be Muslim, Christian, or any other religion, prays to the same God. That’s what I believe. I believe that Islam is a great religion that preaches peace. And I believe people who murder the innocent to achieve political objectives aren’t religious people, whether they be a Christian who does that — we had a person blow up our — blow up a federal building in Oklahoma City who professed to be a Christian, but that’s not a Christian act to kill innocent people.
“And I just simply don’t subscribe to the idea that murdering innocent men, women and children — particularly Muslim men, women and children in the Middle East — is an act of somebody who is a religious person.”
“And I just simply don’t subscribe to the the idea”. Well, congratulations, Mr President. Ladies and gentleman, it is this sort of blind faith upon which rests the grand strategy of the world’s sole superpower. Now would be a good time to check your parachutes.
In Friday’s interview with Al Arabiya, Bush emphasized his outreach to Muslims.
“We are having an Iftaar dinner tonight — I say, ‘we’ — it’s my wife and I,” Bush told Nakouzi. “This is the seventh one in the seven years I’ve been the president. It gives me a chance to say ‘Ramadan Mubarak.’ The reason I do this is I want people to understand about my country. In other words, I hope this message gets out of America. I want people to understand that one of the great freedoms in America is the right for people to worship any way they see fit. If you’re a Muslim, an agnostic, a Christian, a Jew, a Hindu, you’re equally American.
What I want to emphasize above all, is that we — me and Laura and the twins — and poppy — no longer possess any serious convictions of any kind. Instead of affirming what makes America distinctive and great — what has kept her from the cycle of tyranny and war that has marked the Islamic world for thirteen centuries — we have cast all that aside in favor of a warm and pleasant idea of “oneness” with the rest of the world. We’re all one now. One big, happy, global family. Really, Christ the selfless martyr and Muhammad the conquering warlord were on the same mission of brotherly togetherness. Don’t you see? Peace is war and freedom is slavery. It all makes perfect sense now. Just let me remove a piece of your brain with these scissors and you’ll feel so much better.
“And the value — the most valuable thing I think about America is that — particularly if you’re a religious person — you can be free to worship, and it’s your choice to make. It’s not the state’s choice, and you shouldn’t be intimidated after you’ve made your choice. And that’s a right that I jealously guard.
Ooh. He jealously guards it. Well, no need to worry then.
“Secondly, I want American citizens to see me hosting an Iftaar dinner.”
Sir, we see. But what we see, we don’t like. Capisce?
“That’s a strong message for the Americans,” said Nakouzi.
Alas, yes.
Last year, WND reported criticism of Bush from Wafa Sultan, a native of Syria, who said the president was empowering terrorist leaders whose ultimate aim is for Islamic law to govern the world by proclaiming Islam a “religion of peace.”
“I believe he undermines our credibility by saying that,” said Sultan. “We came from Islam, and we know what kind of religion Islam is.”
Preach it, Wafa. Georgi Porgi won’t.