[whataretheysaying] Mary Madigan: A toldja so post

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Posted by Mary Madigan:
A toldja so post
http://whataretheysaying.powerblogs.com/posts/1174056842.shtml


   When you sleep with evil, it always steals the covers
   The Tick

   I often said that Iraq's [1]Grand Ayatollah al-Sistani is one of the
   extremists we're supposed to be fighting - we shouldn't be kissing his
   ass and [2]calling him our savior.

   Via the [3]National Review:

     Now, former Reagan administration official John Agresto is weighing
     in. Agresto, who appeared on Hugh Hewitt's show yesterday, has a
     new book out, Mugged by Reality, which is a memoir of his recent
     nine months of service in Iraq as an adviser to the education
     ministry. Here is some of what he has to say about Sistani:

     We insisted that the Ayatollah Sistani was surely a "moderate" and
     a friend to civil and religious liberty despite all the hard
     evidence to the contrary. Let me repeat my previous observations
     and predictions: The Ayatollah Sistani is an Islamist bent on
     establishing a theocracy not far removed from that found in Iran.
     He is an open anti-Semite and a not-too-subtle anti-Christian. He
     threw his support behind democratic elections because they were the
     handy vehicles for imposing religious authority all over Iraq. Nor
     is he the only one, or even the worst, only the most prominent. Yet
     while I believe the evidence is as clear here as it is in the case
     of [Ahmad] Chalabi, we only see what we want to see, not what's
     visible. In our religious lives, hope may well be a virtue â but in
     foreign policy it is more often a sin, a temptation to willful
     blindness.

   According to common wisdom, nonviolent pious Muslims like Sistani were
   our only hope - they had star power in the Muslim world, with billions
   and billions of fans. The Grand Ayatollah was the new Gandhi, hotter
   than George Washington, bigger than Tom Cruise, he'd be our salvation.

   How's that working out for us?

   Now policy wonks like [4]Dinesh D'Souza's are claiming that
   conservative "Red Americans" must win the culture war by allying with
   [5]"pious Muslims", the billions and billions who keep traditional
   moral values if we want to win the war against terrorism.

   D'Souza ignores the fact that terrorist groups like the Muslim
   Brotherhood (and their partners in crime, groups like CAIR and
   propaganda outlets like al Jazeera) helped to create the moderate
   Muslim brand.

   After 9/11, Americans began seeking nonviolent 'moderate Muslims'
   (loosly defined as practicing Muslims who criticized terrorism and
   therefore weren't presently planning to blow us up) who could help
   them deal with the extremists. Before then, the concept of 'moderate
   Muslims' didn't exist. There was no demand, and therefore, no supply.
   Like all good capitalists, the Muslim Brotherhood, managers of
   terrorism's billion-dollar financial infrastructure, understand the
   laws of supply and demand. The market demanded moderate, pious
   Muslims, they gave us [6]ModeratePiousMuslims (TM).

   They even give us [7]ModeratePiousMuslim spam.

   Now ModeratePiousMuslim reformers, progressives, liberal Islamists and
   [8]wannabe friends of Muslims are all jumping on the ModeratePious
   gravy train. Many probably aren't directly connected with the
   Brotherhood, but they rarely deviate from basic Brotherhood marketing
   guidelines like:
    1. Always downplay the fact that the Brotherhood is a billion-dollar
       financial empire
    2. Downplay the fact that this finanical empire is and always has
       been the foundation of Islamist terrorism
    3. Pimp the popularity of the Brotherhood and its members
    4. Criticize the "extremists" but not the Brotherhood
    5. Respond to criticism of one branch of the Brotherhood by saying
       that the Brotherhood is a large and varied organization.
    6. Bow before the [9]Tariq
    7. Shout "Islamophobia" (if you're in a bad mood, this can be step 1)

   The ModeratePiousMuslims movement may be large and varied, but the
   Brotherhood's money all goes to the same place, and that money is used
   to fund groups like al Qaeda and Hamas.

   While the friends of ModeratePiousMuslims claim that Islamophobia
   hurts the war against terrorism, downplaying the malign influence of
   the Muslim Brotherhood certainly doesn't help the war against
   terrorism. In the long run, the Islamophiles are capable of doing even
   more damage than the "Islamophobes."

   Allying with the terrorists we're supposed to be fighting isn't the
   best way to win the war against terrorism. Has that concept ever made
   sense to the friends of ModeratePiousMuslims and the Islamophobia
   watchers?

   Can anyone say "willful blindness?"

References

   1. http://www.deanesmay.com/posts/1148108425.shtml
   2. http://justworldnews.org/archives/000853.html
   3. http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MWI4NWVkN2ZmMTUzYmRiNGM3ZWQ2MTA0ZGM2OGVkYmM=
   4. http://newsbloggers.aol.com/2007/03/06/bernard-lewis-vs-the-islamophobes/
   5. http://media.www.vanderbiltorbis.com/media/storage/paper983/news/2007/02/20/MusicAndBookReviews/Islamic.Fundamentalists.Find.A.New.Supporter.In.Dsouza-2728869.shtml
   6. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tariq_Ramadan
   7. http://whataretheysaying.powerblogs.com/posts/1173286873.shtml
   8. http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20070301faessay86208/robert-s-leiken-steven-brooke/the-moderate-muslim-brotherhood.html
   9. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/04/magazine/04ramadan.t.html?ex=1328245200&en=2c69215fb7d2aaee&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss