That Mark Steyn is an idiot with the moral core of a plague bacillus is not surprising, especially if you've been reading Glenn Greenwald lately. But I was shocked - honesly shocked - to see Steyn write the following:
One hundred ten years later, for the Fox journalists and the Western media who reported their release, what's the big deal? Wear robes, change your name to Khaled, go on camera and drop Allah's name hither and yon: If that's your ticket out, seize it. Everyone'll know it's just a sham.
But that's not how the al-Jazeera audience sees it. If you're a Muslim, the video is anything but meaningless. Not even the dumbest jihadist believes these infidels are suddenly true believers. Rather, it confirms the central truth Osama and the mullahs have been peddling -- that the West is weak, that there's nothing -- no core, no bedrock -- nothing it's not willing to trade.
As I say, I was shocked. What Steyn is saying here is that Americans in the public eye should conduct themselves with at least some thought to how their actions will be perceived in the Islamic world. This is quite the admission for a Bush-lover.
I expect Steyn will next call for Ann Coulter's hateful dialogue to be silenced, so as not to jeopardize the war on Terror. I expect him to call for Bush to apologize for the "Islamic Fascist" bs he's been spewing lately. I expect Steyn to call for Condoleeza Rice's resignation after her careless, thoughtless "birth pangs" remark. Finally, I expect Steyn to call for Donald Rumsfeld's dismissal - not resignation - and prosecution for allowing the violations of American and international law at Abu Ghraib prison.
Or maybe Steyn wasn't meaning what he was saying.
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