Iranian journalist Amir Taheri was besieged by requests for interviews to explain to whining reporters "…but what do the WANT?".
That reminded me of Theo van Gogh, the Dutch film-maker, who was shot by an Islamist assassin on his way to work in Amsterdam last November. According to witnesses, Van Gogh begged for mercy and tried to reason with his assailant. “Surely we can discuss this,” he kept saying as the shots kept coming. “Let us talk it over.”
Van Gogh, who had angered Islamists with his documentary about the mistreatment of women in Islam, was reacting like BBC reporters did yesterday, assuming that the man who was killing him may have some reasonable demands which could be discussed in a calm, democratic atmosphere.
But sorry, old chaps, you are dealing with an enemy that does not want anything specific, and cannot be talked back into reason through anger management or round-table discussions. Or, rather, this enemy does want something specific: to take full control of your lives, dictate every single move you make round the clock and, if you dare resist, he will feel it his divine duty to kill you.
For those who are getting hazy on what this is all about, Taheri’s Times piece is a concise refresher.
It’s the mad Bedou. Sam at Hammorabi today had a great Koran quote: “And the A’arab [Bedou] are the worst in Kufr [ faithlessness ] and hypocrisy”. And their culture is the basis of the Sharia and all that suppressive crap.