February 12, 2006
The Cartoons War
By Pat Buchanan
Like white phosphorus,
the mocking cartoons of Muhammad have inflamed and lit up the battlefield
in the culture war between the secular and the sacred, between West
and East.
Since 9/11,
President Bush seems to have understood that if we wish to win
the war on terror, we must separate the Islamic masses from the
monsters. To defeat the Islamic extremists, we must win the hearts
and minds of the moderates.
To this
end, Bush has visited mosques. He has held White House celebrations
for the breaking of the fast at the end of Ramadan. He has sent
Karen Hughes to State to develop ideas to show we respect the
Islamic faith and that our war is against terror, not Islam. He
has said more times than many of us care to recall, "Islam
is a religion of peace."
Those cartoons
-- insulting, blasphemous, provocative to Muslims -- have wiped
out much of what Bush had accomplished. The cartoons have given
the Muslim radicals visible proof to show the masses that the
West mocks what they hold sacred.
All Muslims
believe that to depict the face of the Prophet or to ridicule
him as Salman Rushdie did is a sacrilege. Why did that Danish
newspaper do it? Why have conservatives rushed to show solidarity
with the European editor-idiots who plastered these mocking cartoons
all over page one?
"We
believe in the First Amendment!" comes the blustery reply.
But just
because the First Amendment may protect the right of Nazis to
march in Skokie, or Larry Flynt to publish pornography, or Mapplethorpe
to publish photos of himself with a bullwhip protruding from his
rectum does not mean we stand in solidarity with Nazis, Larry
Flynt or Robert Mapplethorpe -- or does it?
Conservatives
rage in rebuttal that Islamic nations tolerate cartoons, books,
billboards and TV shows far more anti-Semitic and anti-Christian
than these cartoons were anti-Islamic.
All of which
is true, and none of which is relevant. For this is not a debate
over double standards. It is a battle for the hearts and minds
of Islamic peoples. And if we are to have any hope of winning
that battle, we cannot condone insults to what they hold most
sacred and dear: their faith.
Though State
initially condemned the cartoons -- "Inciting religious or
ethnic hatreds in this manner is unacceptable" -- neocons
who lust after "World War IV" with "Islamofascism"
seem to have regained control of the message. While Bush, standing
next to King Abdullah of Jordan, denounced the violence the cartoons
ignited and Condi Rice charged Iran and Syria with exploiting
the crisis, neither would criticize the cartoons.
But if Bush
cannot follow the lead of our best friends in the region, like
Abdullah, Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, Recep Erdogan of Turkey and
Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan, or even Jacques Chirac, and denounce
the insulting content of the cartoons as well as the violence
promoted by the anti-Western demagogues, our wars for democracy
will be in vain. For we cannot win the friendship of these people
if they believe our words of respect for their religion are a
cover for an abiding contempt.
And let
us admit the truth. Contempt for the beliefs and values the Islamic
faith holds dear, and for the Prophet, has been widely expressed
by ideologues, entertainers, preachers and even conservatives
post-9/11.
We are all
entitled to hold such views. But if we wish to exercise our right
to air them in print or broadcast, we should expect to reap what
we have sown. For, as Bishop Berkeley said: "Things are as
they are, and their consequences will be what they will be. Why
then should we seek to be deceived?"
To understand
Islam, we might read more deeply into our own history. When Christianity
was as old as Islam is today, we, too, were prepared to die in
crusades to defend Christians abroad. We, too, were prepared to
burn heretics, schismatics and infidels. Their Most Catholic Majesties,
the king and queen of Spain in the 15th century, and the father
of the Anglican Church, Henry VIII, had no problem with beheadings.
Five centuries
ago, Christians would have responded to insults as Muslims do
today. However, given our pathetic protests of Hollywood sacrileges
such as "The Last Temptation of Christ," one could argue
that Muslims are simply more devout and resolute in defense of
their faith than the milquetoast Christians of modernity.
Like Catholics
and Protestants in the 16th century, Muslims do not believe all
religions are equal. They do not believe freedom of speech and
the press should protect those who blaspheme their God or Prophet.
And if we
are unwilling to curb our tongues when it comes to their faith,
or to condemn those among us who use their freedom to insult the
Islamic religion, we should probably pack up and get out of the
Middle East. Before they throw us out.
Copyright
2006 Creators Syndicate
