<![CDATA[Obama: There is No Them & Us-Only We. “We” Massacre 12 In UN Compound In Afghanistan]]>Farah Pandith, Special Representative to Muslim Communities, United States Department of State, speaking at a seminar yesterday praised president Obama and his attitude to Islam and especially his “historic Cairo speech.”
She also referred to President Obama’s statement that, to paraphrase “there is no them and us, only we.” This is a slightly different version of his statement at a press conference where he was asked about the proposed Islamic Center and Mosque near the 9/11 site. He referred to Muslim soldiers serving in the U.S. armed forces first (emphasis mine).
“And part of honoring their service is making sure that they understand that we don’t differentiate between them and us,” he added. “It’s just us.” On the former issue, the president said Islam should be treated no differently than any other religion.’
“The president made the comments in reference to a question about the planned Islamic cultural center near Ground Zero and the possible burning of copies of the Quran by fringe Florida pastor Terry Jones, both of which have been tied to a spike in anti-Islam sentiment in the United States.”
Prior to Ms.Pandith’s address, on the Yahoo network, a writer L B Woodgate had, inter alia, this bit of gushing praise about Obama’s Cairo speech;
“Who among us can whole-heartedly say that as the leader of the most powerful democracy on earth looked into the fresh young faces of his Egyptian audience, whose physical appearance was not dissimilar to many of them, and encouraged them“to speak your mind and have a say in how you are governed”, that something inside a few of them clicked with an inclination towards action that was already there?”
What may have clicked inside them as to an inclination for action is perhaps not what Mr. Woodgate, with his concept of irony, may have hoped. The Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt have made it very clear, in their draft program that “if we are called on to implement Sharia law after elections we will be happy to be the conduit to do so.”
To Ms. Pandith’s consternation-perhaps- their statement that “there is no place for women in the ensuing administration and that stoning of women convicted of adultery is a “red light issue’ i.e. if they, the women, don’t commit adultery-go through the red light, the matter of stoning won’t arise may give food for thought.
As regards Pastor Jones, subsequent events have made the differentiation between “them and us’ perhaps a bit clearer. In America, where there is freedom of speech,no matter how pseudo profound and disconnected with the realities of the world,or no matter how silly which includes burning a holy book people are, usually, not massacred. Nor do “Holy Men” incite whole villages to attack peaceful UN workers and slaughter at least 12 of them.
It is blind disingenuousness at worst, or, ascribing the best of intentions to those who hold to the “no them and us position” utter naivety, to think that there is no such thing as Pan-Islamism, Islamic faith transcending national boundaries and, in some quarters a desire for universal Sharia law following on from individual instances of it-in Egypt for example.
President Obama and the liberal left fit in one, at least, of these two categories, Sarah Palin is the antithesis of naivety as regards Islam and Israel, which country to support, which faith to be clear headed and on guard about.
Original post at; M. Joseph Sheppard’s “A Point Of View”
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