"It is time to unite the Muslim world against any such conspiracy against them," [the head of an Islamic alliance in Pakistan] said, adding that since the desecration claim had been published in Newsweek "there is no doubt about the truth of its happening." reports CNSNews. Thanks to Austin Bay's "technological compression," the Newsweek affair has spiraled completely out of control in record time. Everyone's using or abusing it for his own agenda, of course, but the bottom line is that the Great Satan's reputation is going down the drain.
In a caption to a picture of Afghani rioters burning an American flag blogged here yesterday, we noted the similarity to Arab-street-for-hire theatrics during the Iranian Revolution of 1979. Now reader Mr. Kurtz calls our attention to Mary Madigan's post at Dean's World on the very thing:
According to an Indian security analyst, the Islamist rioting in Afghanistan is being deliberately incited by well-organized agents of the Hizb ut-Tahrir terror gang. They realized that Newsweek "Quran desecration" story was a propaganda windfall.
CNSNews continues:
Raman describes Hizb ut-Tahrir as a veteran group with a secretive leadership and structure, which shares al-Qaeda's goal of an Islamic caliphate under Islamic law, but focuses on mass agitation rather than acts of terrorism.
The movement emphasized the importance of clandestine penetration of security forces, he said. The violence in Afghanistan illustrated "the extent of its penetration not only in the student community, but also in the Afghan security forces."Hizb ut-Tahrir (Islamic Party of Liberation) was founded in the then Jordanian-occupied East Jerusalem in the early 1950s and has spread across Europe and Asia, with a particularly strong foothold in the Central Asian Republics.
Beyond Afghanistan, reaction has been instigated by radical rhetoric and fiery sermons, while calls for calm have been largely absent.
In Pakistan, an influential six-party alliance of Islamic groups, Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) said it has contacted Muslim leaders around the world, organizing a global day of protest on May 27.
Newsweek retracted the story this morning, and the usual suspects cried foul, blaming it on White House pressure, but the horse left the barn centuries ago. As Islam scholar Robert Spencer of DhimmiWatch -- quoted in the CNSNews report -- says, "The pretexts are ever new; only the jihad is constant."
Well, sure, it's planned. Both the MSM and the radicals have missed all those great visuals of the renta-protesters burning our flag!
Posted by: Patricia | May 17, 2005 at 10:42 AM