  urlLink Listening to Mahathir Paul Krugman driving me insane this morning. He advocates the idea that Muslims are incapable of producing a leader, blames anti-Semitism on Bush, and postulates that what we need is more appeasement to reach Muslims. Krugman: The fact is that Mr. Mahathir, though guilty of serious abuses of power, is in many ways about as forward-looking a Muslim leader as we're likely to find. Me: Mahathir Mohamed is the Prime Minister of Malaysia, who recently made anti-Semitic comments I documented in this blog a few days ago. So Krugman is speculating that a crazed Jew hater is the best Muslim leader we are likely to find.
I'm no apologist for Islam, but I still believe that the sensible Muslims are out there, and they must be found. They need a Martin Luther to metaphorically nail something the the Mosque door and reform their religion. Blanket statements like Krugman's suggest, in the faint racism of the Left, that some people just aren't capable of handling freedom due to their ethnicity. The Left does this all the time - Iraq can't be free, Blacks have trouble voting, Hispanics can't learn English. It is offensive. Krugman - Malaysia has a Muslim, ethnically Malay, majority, but its business drive comes mainly from an ethnic Chinese minority. To keep the economy growing, Mr. Mahathir must allow the Chinese minority to prosper, but to ward off ethnic tensions he must throw favors, real and rhetorical, to the Malays. Me - I don't know the details of Malay economics, but to say that the Chinese are the engine, while the majority Malays are incapable of supporting thier own economy.... Imagine a conservative making such a statement. Krugman - And that's what he was doing last week. Not long ago Washington was talking about Malaysia as an important partner in the war on terror.
Now Mr. Mahathir thinks that to cover his domestic flank, he must insert hateful words into a speech mainly about Muslim reform. That tells you, more accurately than any poll, just how strong the rising tide of anti-Americanism and anti-Semitism among Muslims in Southeast Asia has become. Thanks to its war in Iraq and its unconditional support for Ariel Sharon, Washington has squandered post-9/11 sympathy and brought relations with the Muslim world to a new low. Me - Ahah! Mahathir was FORCED into his hateful remarks because of the policies of George W. Bush. You know what? Screw the relations with the Muslim world. Weve been trying for a generation to appease and make friends, and what does it get us? You do not negotiate with people whose world view requires your death. You confront them, change them, and bring Muslims to power with whom you CAN negotiate with. There is nothing we can do to make the Muslim world trust us, AS IT IS TODAY. Again, our actions in Iraq are even more correct, since this is the first effort to allow the peaceful Muslims a chance to have a voice.
And finally... Krugman - And bear in mind that Mr. Mahathir's remarks were written before the world learned about the views of Lt. Gen. William "My God Is Bigger Than Yours" Boykin. By making it clear that he sees nothing wrong with giving an important post in the war on terror to someone who believes, and says openly, that Allah is a false idol — General Boykin denies that's what he meant, but his denial was implausible even by current standards — Donald Rumsfeld has gone a long way toward confirming the Muslim world's worst fears.
Me - I don't care what this General believes, provided he gets the job done. I don't want to see it become a Christian versus Muslim war, but what are we going to do? Must we have only atheists or Muslims in our armed forces prosecuting this war? The job right now is to kill hostile Muslims.
If the man pulling the trigger believes he is doing the work of Jesus, I don't care. So long as he operates within the bounds of his orders and our policy, he can THINK whatever he wants. The Left LOVES the idea of criminalizing thought (i.e. ridiculous, insane 'hate crime' legislation). Deeds count, thoughts do not. If we start placing conditions of thought on the capacity to serve, then we will simply become the US Senate trying to confirm a Judge. That works well, doesn't it? 
