Europe blames the messenger

Muslim countries warned Friday of strong reactions to an anti-Islam film posted on the Internet by far-right Dutch deputy Geert Wilders, though initial reactions in the Netherlands were calm.

Wilders posted his film "Fitna", featuring violent imagery of terror attacks in New York and Madrid intertwined with Koranic texts, on the Internet on Thursday.

A handful of Muslim countries had responded early Friday, with Iran saying the short movie showed some Westerners were waging a "vendetta" against Islam, and warning of unspecified repercussions.

Muslims must be Democrats. If you tell the truth about them they accuse you of attacking them. What, I wonder, will those "strong reactions" consist of. Perhaps angry Muslims will post a video on YouTube criticizing Dutch society? No, I rather think they have something a bit more physical in mind.

Bangladesh also said the film could have "grave consequences", while a coalition of Jordanian media said it would sue Wilders and launch a campaign to boycott Dutch products.

"GRAVE" consequences. That gets a little closer to Muslim's standard operating procedure.

The European Union's Slovenian presidency also attacked the film, saying it served "no other purpose than inflaming hatred."

But hijacking planes and flying them into office buildings and planting bombs on crowded trains, and let's not forget kidnapping innocent people and sawing their heads off while they are alive and screaming, couldn't possibly "inflame hatred".

But Muslim leaders in The Netherlands called at a joint press conference for their co-religionists in other countries not to over-react.

"We call on them to follow our strategy and not react with attacks on Dutch embassies or tourists," the head of the Dutch Moroccan community, Mohamed Rabbae, said.

"We feel offended by the link between violence and Islam but we know this guy (Wilders), the best response is a response in a responsible manner."

In response to a film which calls Islam a violent religion the Dutch Muslim leaders have to run to the nearest microphone to beg their fellow Muslims not to commit acts of violence. Because they know that is the first thing their fellow Muslims will think to do. It reminds me of the photograph of some Muslim taken at a protest in one of those shithole Muslim counties holding a sign that said "behead those who say that Islam beheads its enemies".

As part of damage control efforts by the government the Dutch ministers of justice and integration met Friday with organisations representing religious and minority groups to talk about the film ahead of weekly prayers in the country's mosques.

The right-wing Telegraaf paper said that "Friday prayers are crucial," and warned of possible violent reactions to come from abroad especially in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

We really need to stop and think about this. The reason that everyone is upset here is that the film told the truth! If the film had lied about Islam being a religion of violence and hatred there would be no problem because the non-violent and non-hateful Muslims would not be seen as potentially reacting to it with violence and hatred. Do Europeans not get the concept of irony?

Christian paper Trouw summed it up as "'Fitna' offends but does not surprise". . .

Well it shouldn't surprise anyone after 9/11 and Madrid and the London Tube Bombings and the Taliban and Salman Rushdie having to live in hiding and Theo van Gogh and Daniel Pearl and Monsignor Rahho and the death threats against Ayaan Hirsi Ali and on and on and on. No, I'm not a bit surprised. Are any of you?

On Thursday the Dutch government was quick to say it regretted that the film finally aired, despite calls on Wilders to reconsider.

"The film equates Islam with violence. We reject that interpretation," Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende said in a solemn statement a few hours after the film appeared on the LiveLeak video sharing website.

Well gee Mr. Balkenende maybe YOU reject the equating of Islam with violence but it is pretty damn clear that MUSLIMS don't! And isn't how THEY see their religion really the fraking point!?! You fraking Euro-trash weenie!

The first minutes of the 17-minute movie show a Koran being opened and the text of a sura from Islam's holiest book, which translated from Arabic implores the faithful to "terrorise the enemies of Allah".

The opening scenes are followed by images of the attack by hijacked airliners on the World Trade Centre in New York on September 11, 2001, with soundbites from telephone calls to the emergency services on that day.

The film continues with grisly images of bloodstained bodies in the aftermath of the Madrid train bombings in March 2004, video footage of beheadings and executions and other gruesome images Wilders links to Koranic texts.

Isn't it terrible how Wilders printed up a fake copy of the Koran with all those violent verses added to it and then hired actors to pretend to be Muslims and say all those awful things and then used special effects to make it look like the World Trade Center had been destroyed and a train in Madrid had been bombed?

What was that? You say that the Koran really does say stuff like "terrorise the enemies of Allah"? And that those weren't actors pretending to be Muslims? And that all those bombings and beheadings and stuff really happened?

Well damn. Perhaps the outrage is a bit misplaced. Perhaps Europeans should be pointing shocked fingers at ISLAM for doing all those evil things rather than at Geert Wilders for having the stones to tell the truth about them!

The government said the public prosecutor's office was investigating the film to see if it broke any laws, but the general feeling of legal experts in the Netherlands was that although it may be seen as offensive by some it was not illegal.

Give the European Union time and I'm sure that they will see to it that telling the truth about Islam will be a serious crime. It will certainly be a capital offence by 2050 when Europe will be majority Muslim.