“But Souheil Merhi, chairman of the Muslim Council of Calgary, said the photo is offensive and promotes hatred, portraying Muslims as terrorists — ‘as people who should be shot or belittled.'” Osama bin Laden was an Islamic jihadist who murdered 3,000 people in obedience to passages he read in the Qur’an and Hadith. But Souheil Merhi would probably say that Osama misunderstood those passages, and that he rejects that understanding of Islam, and is just much against terrorism as Rob Anders and Melissa Mathieson. So what is the problem here? Merhi wants it both ways: he wants to be regarded as a “moderate” while working against even the slightest effort to resist or stand up to jihad terror.
“MP Rob Anders’ shooting range photo in front of turban-clad ‘zombie Osama’ target promotes hatred, Muslim leader says,” by Reid Southwick for Postmedia News, February 10:
CALGARY — A Calgary Muslim leader says a photograph showing MP Rob Anders and federal candidate Melissa Mathieson at a firing range in front of a target depicting a lifelike image of a terrorist promotes hatred.
But not everyone says the photo, which has been circulating on social media, poses a real problem.
The image has sparked debate about what lifelike figures are appropriate targets for firing ranges and whether there is a line, however narrow, that should not be crossed.
The photo shows Anders, the MP for Calgary West, and Mathieson, who is vying for the federal Conservative nomination in the upcoming Macleod byelection, standing back-to-back with guns in their hands at a Calgary shooting range last weekend.
Behind them is a target depicting a caricature of a bearded Muslim man wearing a turban and torn clothes, with an assault rifle in his hands. A website that sells the same target, ZombieTargets.net, identifies the character as a zombie Osama bin Laden.
Duane Bratt, a political scientist at Calgary’s Mount Royal University, said the first time he saw the photo he thought the target was racist because he assumed it portrayed a generic Muslim terrorist. After learning it was bin Laden, he changed his mind, calling it “harmless fun.”
“I mean, come on, if you can’t picture shooting Osama, who can you?” Bratt said in an email.
But Souheil Merhi, chairman of the Muslim Council of Calgary, said the photo is offensive and promotes hatred, portraying Muslims as terrorists — “as people who should be shot or belittled.”
“As leaders, they should promote tolerance and show the real image of Canada, a peaceful place where people come to enjoy freedom of speech and religion, and not being judged because of somebody else’s actions,” Merhi said.
Anders said he doesn’t remember seeing the bin Laden target when he was at the shooting range. He said there were more than a dozen different targets and that he fired at two of them, one depicting a clown and another portraying a nondescript male zombie.
The MP said it’s not unusual for firing ranges to use lifelike targets, rather than a typical bull’s eye.
When pressed to recall the bin Laden target, which was plainly visible behind him in the photo, Anders said, “I’m sure it was there if you say it was there but, you know, there were a lot of them.”
When reached a second time to respond to Merhi’s claims, Anders declined to comment and hung up his phone.
Mathieson said she had joined “law-abiding firearms owners for a friendly afternoon of target shooting” at the southeast Calgary range on Feb. 2, but she did not address the bin Laden target in a written statement to the Calgary Herald.
“As is typical for a gun range, there were a variety of paper targets posted down range throughout the day, being changed and replaced frequently by range organizers,” she said in the statement.
When contacted again to comment on Merhi’s allegations that the bin Laden image promotes hatred, Mathieson said she was busy campaigning and referred a reporter to her earlier statement.
Don Brown, vice-president of the association that owns the shooting range, said his group does not supply its members with targets. But he said he had no problem with the bin Laden image, given that it depicts a “cold-blooded killer.”
Nobody on the range that day, including the man who brought the controversial target, had any intention of disparaging Muslims, said Brown, of the Calgary and District Target Shooters Association.
Merhi would have a solid case if people were shooting at images of Allah or Muhammad, but they were taking aim at a caricature of a man who was responsible for thousands of deaths, he said.
“I know the guy who brought this target and put it up there,” Brown said. “It wouldn’t even have crossed his mind that this could have possibly been offensive to the Muslim people because he was just looking at it as a zombie Osama bin Laden.”

RodSerling says
Souheil Merhi has no problem with the non-Muslim targets.
kikorikid says
Everything and Anything, any time and everywhere there is
something depicting Islam it is “Blasphemous”.
Death sentence, etc…
mortimer says
Jihadists are the enemies of 80% of humanity.
If jihadists are the mullah’s friends…is he protecting them? hiding them? Time for the intelligence people to pay close attention to Souheil Merhi and everyone he talks to and follow the money trail.
Champ says
True, Mortimer …not all muslims are terrorists, but the vast majority of terrorists *are* muslim.
Angemon says
Philip says
So the muslim organization was complaining ‘all Muslims are not terrorists, so his shooting at a terrorist gives the impression that all Muslims are to be shot at?
So basically they are saying all terrorists are Muslims? We knew that already.
PJG says
This is not the first time the idea that opposing terrorists is “racist’ has crept into the – you know, the “discourse”.
Muslims are very defensive about their terrorists, and that defensiveness has spilled over into our loony-lefty-progressive minds.
Here’s how it has gone in the last few years:
To be anti-Muslim is “racist”>
To be anti-Islam is “racist”>
To be anti-terrorist is “racist”>
Therefore, to be anti-terrorism is to be “racist’.
And, in support of this madness, to be nationalistic or patriotic is “racist” because it might mean excluding “the Other”, and, in the interests of not excluding “the Other” we should not resist invasion in any form.
As fast as my part of town becomes Islamic, the locals adapt to this crazy point of view, and their only resistance is to – me!!
How far will it go? Will they hand over their homes to the government to be redistributed to worthy “asylum seekers” and go and live in the desert in penance for not handing them over sooner?
Well, one really does wonder sometimes where this will end…
Wellington says
A superbly unintentional ironic comment by this Merhi character since almost nothing promotes hatred more than does that most fraudulent of religions founded in the seventh century in backward (and still backward) Arabia.
Sovereign Man says
Anyone own a print shop? About time to start making some Pedophile Mohammed targets.
Any Muslims who object are welcome to come on down to the shooting range and defend their pervert-god. We will have a warm welcome waiting for them. Maybe even a 21 gun salute.
panther says
Well, Souheil Merhi represents moslems (as chairman of moslem council of Calgary) therefore taking his words that shooting at ‘zombie’ Osama is “offensive & promotes hatred” we can conclude that:
1. Osama represents all molems
2. Osama was a mass murderer, a pedophile, a terrorist (just like their false prophet mohammed)
3. Osama is revered among moslem community and whatever he did is endorsed by all moslems
Therefore, we can safely assume that either all moslems are terrorists or their facilitators/supporters.
Hence proved all that moslems are terrorists, thus justifiable to be exterminated from the face of the earth.
panther says
FBI has used a life size cut out of another public enemy no.1 of it’s days John Dellinger.
Did he represented all the Christians of USA, or were they outraged by this depiction of a White man??
CornHolio says
My god! I just realized that when I shot at that Dracula target, I was being racist against Romanians.
I need sensitivity training.
Philip says
The only ones needing sensitivity training are the moslems. They are so insensitive and offending to the host nations to the point of wanting to take over. They are the ones creating all these problems.
Must make it mandatory that any muslim granted asylem must go through sensitivity training. Instead liberals always want to give the hosts sensitivity training.
Uncle Vladdi says
Wasting ammo were we? Besides being immune to your pathetic bullets (unless they’re silver or wood) Dracula is great anti-islam crusader!
😉
WoozleEffector says
You sure of that ? Not all vampires are Romanians, (some of them may be Hungarians, even, who’s to know ?) and neither are all Romanians vampires ! (Pffffffft…) So you can go back to sleep.
😀
kikorikid says
Good!
Uncle Vladdi says
The liberal Quisling scum at the Ottawa Ciutizen newspaper (Monday, February 10, 2014, P.#A3) put it like this:
Group criticizes MP over zombie Osama target
Shooting gallery posted images of bearded MEN in turbans AND zombies
…
Well, NO, actually, liberal traitors. As your own article points out, there was ONE bearded man in a turban posted, and that was “zombie Bin laden” itself; there were NOT multiple “images of bearded men in turbans” “and zombies” at all!
But the libs just couldn’t leave it alone:
“When pressed to recall the bin Laden target, which was plainly visible behind him in the photo, Anders said, “I’m sure it was there if you say it was there but, you know, there were a lot of them.””
“When reached a second time to respond to Merhi’s claims, Anders declined to comment and hung up his phone.”
“Mathieson said she had joined “law-abiding firearms owners for a friendly afternoon of target shooting” at the southeast Calgary range on Feb. 2, but she did not address the bin Laden target in a written statement to the Calgary Herald.”
In other words, the libs were pissed because their “gotcha!” games approach just couldn’t induce the politicians to “admit” they are racists!
(Hey libs – what ‘race’ is islam, again?)
“When contacted again to comment on Merhi’s allegations that the bin Laden image promotes hatred, Mathieson said she was busy campaigning and referred a reporter to her earlier statement.”
So they quickly went after someone else, on behalf of the muslims:
“Don Brown, vice-president of the association that owns the shooting range, said his group does not supply its members with targets. But he said he had no problem with the bin Laden image, given that it depicts a “cold-blooded killer.””
In the full article, you can clearly see Anders was shooting at a generic white-bread office-worker zombie, here:
http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/02/10/mp-rob-anders-shooting-range-photo-in-front-of-turban-clad-zombie-osama-target-promotes-hatred-muslim-leader-says/
Dungenessdragon says
If you shoot at a target of Charlie Manson then obviously you hate cults. And that results in Cultaphobia.
And if you shoot at a Grizzly Bear target, then you obviously hate Grizzly Adams. And probably Laura Ingles to
Larry A. Singleton says
I’ve been studying Revelation. The more I read, the more I’m almost convinced that the Antichrist isn’t so much a person as it is an “ideology”. Especially when it talks about Christians being persecuted in the “End Times”. Who’s persecuting Christians today. When it mentions the “pale horse” in the Bible I’m pretty sure the Greek translation says “green horse”; the official color of Islam if I’m not mistaken. From every aspect.
No Matter where you turn. Islam is evil. Front, back. Up, down. From any angle Islam is bad news. Maybe that’s what they should be concentrating on, the fact that Muslims are “targeting” Christians… …everywhere. Instead of stupid cardboard targets.
And the fact that they’re just a bunch of stupid inbred losers.
dumbledoresarmy says
I happen to know that at least one British jihadwatcher, last Guy Fawkes day, burned an Osama effigy in the fire, alongside the traditional ‘Guy’.
No collaborators were present to run and tell tales, and a good time was had by all.