6.28.2007 | Rescue me

President Bush, throwing good money after bad, has now pandered to the very people who only wish us to convert or die. In a speech before the Islamic Center in Washington, he promised to, among other things, appoint a superfluous envoy to the Jew- and Christian-hating Organization of the Islamic Conference.

The envoy's purpose? To listen and learn. All about how there's really only a few hard cases in Islam; the vast majority are "moderate" and have had their faith "hijacked" by the hard cases. Except, perhaps, when you have Muslim leaders spew before this group, and remind us exactly what Islam is about: converting, or killing, or otherwise subduing, those who would be free.

Is anyone really believing this nonsense that Bush is putting forth? Survey after survey shows large support for jihad among Muslims; survey after survey shows that even among Muslims who live here in the West in freedom and prosperity, fully one-fourth support suicide bombing against innocents.

Overseas, majorities find nothing wrong with Osama bin Laden's approach to jihad. An envoy to the Islamic group is a waste of airfare and U.S. tax dollars. If all he is going to do is "listen" and "learn," read MEMRI translations of sermons in mosques; read state-sponsored hatred, in the mode of Nazi propaganda (in style and substance), that spews with state support within places that Bush thinks of as being our "friends."

But Mr. Bush plows on, bravely, saying "We must help millions of Muslims as they rescue a proud and historic religion from murderers and beheaders who seek to soil the name of Islam." Newsflash: Muhammad, the Prophet, started out in the desert murdering and beheading. His followers continued in this noble tradition, over the centuries. It seems that today's murderers and beheaders are simply honoring their roots.

Islam can't be rescued from its heritage of violence. It is a religion of violence, or conversion at the point of a sword. One might as well attempt to rescue a circle by calling it a square.

The bottom line: rescue me from those who have such a rosy view of Islam, who willfully ignore over a thousand years of bloody history. Who pretend that Islam is a "religion of peace." We need a leader who doesn't have insidious ties to the Saudis; we need a leader who also will not stand before us an tell us that Islam is not what it patently is: a religion of murderers and beheaders.

There is a religion of peace. It is called Christianity. Our Savior set the standard of loving our enemies; something Islam would do well to emulate. Now.