Ivy League Conservatives

If you're new here and like what you read, subscribe to my RSS feed. Thank you for visiting!

I’ve avoided posting about Fitna until I had time to watch the film and think about it thoroughly. On March 28, LiveLeak removed Fitna from their servers after receiving threats to their staff members and their families. The film has since been reinstated on the servers and can be viewed on the London-based LiveLeak site. For your benefit, I’ve included it in this post. If you haven’t seen the film, the images and video are intensely graphic and absolutely not safe for work, unless your boss is cool with blood and guts. This is the kind of compilation of clips that should remind us all what we are up against. That Geert Wilders has been subjected to death threats is chilling as well. See a clip of Muslim protesters calling for Wilders’ death here, at Hot Air. I highly recommend you watch both films, even if you already support the war. It’s only 15 minutes long.

Now that you’ve seen the videos, you might be wondering how the mainstream media has covered this intensely memorable film. They’ve largely remained silent, covering Muslim protests against the film and interviewing Muslim leaders rather than reviewing its content. CosmicConservative reports on the U.N.’s Secretary General’s response to Fitna:

In his speech he repeatedly attacked the filmmaker and called the film “hate speech.” His only comment about the murderous terrorists operating under the guise of Islamic jihad was to say that they are a “small minority” of Muslims. Then, in what I think is the most breathtaking example of moral equivalence I have ever seen, he essentially equated Wilder, the producer of the film, with Islamist fascists who call for the extinction of Israel, call for the destruction of all Western societies and routinely commit torture and murder on those they disagree with.         

In the mind of Sec Gen Ban Ki-Moon, there is no difference between drawing a cartoon of Mohammed and cutting the head off a living person. [...] In their minds drawing a cartoon of Mohammed is the same thing, and has the same moral value as beheading a living captive for the crime of not believing their religion.

U.N.’s Ban condemns Dutch film as anti-Islamic | Reuters“Freedom must always be accompanied by social responsibility,” Ban said.“We must also recognize that the real fault line is not between Muslim and Western societies, as some would have us believe, but between small minorities of extremists, on different sides, with a vested interest in stirring hostility and conflict,” Ban said.         

Ed Morrissey commented on the Dutch government’s response to the film last week:

 What I find fascinating is the Dutch government’s haste to appease Muslim anger over a film, while it says next to nothing about the death threats Wilders has received for making his previous film with Theo van Gogh. Those death threats came at the same time as the murder of van Gogh by a radical Muslim, which indicates that they’re not empty threats but an indication of real danger. The Dutch government rejects Wilders’ views, but say nothing about the threats that have created the need for the government to hide Wilders from assassins.         

The death threats to Wilders, as well as the murder of van Gogh by a radical Muslim, have spooked the mainstream media enough that opinionated coverage can basically only be found in the blogosphere. Terrorism hasn’t ended. One blog post can’t begin to cover what is out there, right now, that isn’t being published. Consider this, compiled by The Astute Bloggers:

MR. RUSSERT: Michael Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, believes that there is–if there is another terrorist attack, it will originate there.GEN. HAYDEN: We believe so, too. We, we, we can see what’s going on. Our–you, you talked before about intelligence and how good or ill we have been in the past. We’ve gotten much better against al-Qaeda, and, of course, tomorrow we should be better than we are today. So, you know, that’s not an absolute scale. We have to keep getting better. But it’s very clear to us that al-Qaeda has been able, over the past 18 months or so, to establish a safe haven along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border area that they have not enjoyed before, that they are bringing operatives into that region for training, operatives that, a phrase I would use, Tim, wouldn’t attract your attention if they were going through the customs line at Dulles with you when you’re coming back from overseas.MR. RUSSERT: Look, look, look Western?GEN. HAYDEN: Look Western, who, who, who would be able to come into this country with–again, without attracting the kind of attention that others might.          

Fitna showed the growth of the Muslim population within Europe. As the post above continues, the Open Skies deal will come into effect soon, which will end the restrictions on which airline carriers can operate transatlantic flights. It’s expected that the Open Skies deal will cause an increase in the number of carriers that operate on these transatlantic routes. This means that there are even more opportunities for terrorists to enter U.S. soil.To protect us, the Bush administration has called for heightened security measures. Again, from The Astute Bloggers:

The US administration is pressing the 27 governments of the European Union to sign up for a range of new security measures for transatlantic travel, including allowing armed guards on all flights from Europe to America by US airlines.The demand to put armed air marshals on to the flights is part of a travel clampdown by the Bush administration that officials in Brussels described as “blackmail” and “troublesome”, and could see west Europeans and Britons required to have US visas if their governments balk at Washington’s requirements.According to a US document being circulated for signature in European capitals, EU states would also need to supply personal data on all air passengers overflying but not landing in the US in order to gain or retain visa-free travel to America, senior EU officials said.And within months the US department of homeland security is to impose a new permit system for Europeans flying to the US, compelling all travellers to apply online for permission to enter the country before booking or buying a ticket, a procedure that will take several days.The data from the US’s new electronic transport authorisation system is to be combined with extensive personal passenger details already being provided by EU countries to the US for the “profiling” of potential terrorists and assessment of other security risks.Washington is also asking European airlines to provide personal data on non-travellers - for example family members - who are allowed beyond departure barriers to help elderly, young or ill passengers to board aircraft flying to America, a demand the airlines reject as “absurd”.          

Yes, it’s absurd until a terrorist attack–or worse–occur. Circling back to Fitna, here’s a comment on the CosmicConservative post that bears reprinting: 

The question in my mind has always been what ’small minority’ of 1.3 billion Muslims are radicalized jihadists or jihadist supporters/sympathizers? One percent? Five percent? If only 1% of Muslims are extremists in either their behavior or thinking we are looking at a world inhabited by 13 million potential suicide bombers.That is no small problem…Comment by Dadman — March 30, 2008 @ 3:52 pm          

There will certainly be more on this, and soon.  UPDATE: Thought this might be pertinent: