Common Sense; It Comes and Goes

The Republicans Stand Up against Bush(it)

Finally, some common sense has reached the Republican party as they reject a proposal by Bush that would "authorize military tribunals and harsh interrogations of terror suspects in order to shield U.S. personnel from being prosecuted for war crimes under the Geneva Convention." Though these are clearly mid-term election tactics for the Republican Party (GOP) as they try to distance themselves from the president, this is a good step forward for the country. Democratic Party leaders were quick to point out how the White House has essentially alienated itself from the rest of the GOP.

Bush was quoted as saying on Friday "If there's any comparison between the compassion and decency of the American people and the terrorist tactics of extremists, it's flawed logic...It's unacceptable to think that there's any kind of comparison between the behavior of the United States of America and the action of Islamic extremists who kill innocent women and children to achieve an objective."

Granted the U.S. tries to avoid killing innocent women and children to kill international terrorists, our tactics of extracting information from the terrorists are no worse than the terrorists themselves. The fact that Bush admitted the presence of secret CIA prisons, which is illegal under international law, and admitted the use of interrogation tactics that ride the line of being illegal, make this administration no better than those of Hitler and Stalin.

This follows on the heels of an interview on Larry King Live on Thursday with Sean Penn, who said that Bush has caused "enormous damage to mankind, and may bring fascism to America." He also called the War on Terror and the War in Iraq distractions from the current reality.

First A Cartoon, Now A 600-Year-Old Quote

This week, on a trip to Germany, Pope Benedict XVI made a quote from the Byzantine Christian Emperor Manuel Paleologos II from the 14th Century which questions the logic of jihad, or holy war. The quote, "Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached," naturally upset the Muslim community. Before making the quote, the pontiff stressed that it was a quote two times. Vatican officials have said that the Pope didn't mean to offend the Muslim community, something the West seems to do fairly easily.

The West, especially America, has been dealing with tapes from terrorists like Bin Laden, who accuse America as being the great Satan and refer to Zionist plots, for years. I have yet to see Christians or Jews riot in the streets after one of these videos come out. The most you might get out of an American is an F-bomb directed to the terrorist leader himself and not much more. When the West draws a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed, the entire Islamic community finds that reason enough to try and start WWIII. Even Iran's response by holding a contest to draw cartoons depicting the Holocaust only drew scornful remarks from U.N. Secretary General Koffi Annan and from Jewish leaders. No rioting.

The Pope seriously looks into the logic behind jihad, and the entire Islamic community takes it personally. Here are some of the quotes from Muslims on this issue.

"He has a dark mentality that comes from the darkness of the Middle Ages. He is a poor thing that has not benefited from the spirit of reform in the Christian world...It looks like an effort to revive the mentality of the Crusades."

"Benedict, the author of such unfortunate and insolent remarks, is going down in history for his words...He is going down in history in the same category as leaders such as (Adolf) Hitler and (Benito) Mussolini."

This quote was the killer. Had it been said alone, it probably would have been fine. But in context with these other quotes, it contradicts itself. I'll let you draw you're own conclusions from this one.

"Anyone who describes Islam as a religion as intolerant encourages violence."