Arab World Condemns London Blasts

I won't lie to you. I'm part of that group that saw the initial footage and reports of the London bombings and said "We need to nuke Mecca and just get this thing rolling." I was pissed. I stood there, transfixed by the people pouring out in front of the cameras bloodied by these jihadist asswipes. These people more than likely have never had any involvement with any part of any crap that the jackasses from the Middle East rant about. They lived, they raised families and worked. Now, because of some fucktards trying to make a point, they died.

Emotionally speaking: I wanted to see some world scale retribution.

Blogging on this afterwards, I came across the conference that I have posted below. Arabic religious leaders trying to meet and agree on how to keep the radicals from issuing edicts that they neither had the authority or the moral right to make.

Still pissed off, it was like rubbing salt in a wound. I didn't want a reminder of the fact that the predominate number of Muslims are the same as the people on that bus and those trains. They have nothing to do with it. They live, work and raise their kids. They aren't involved in this crap either.

Now, a few hour later look at the laundry list.

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erikat said: "We condemn with the strongest possible terms these explosions, and convey our sincere condolences to the British people and government."

Saudi Arabia, itself hit by a wave of attacks by suspected al-Qaida insurgents in the past two years, "strongly condemns" the blasts, said an official source.

In the United Arab Emirates, Deputy Prime Minister and State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shaikh Hamdan bin Zayed al-Nahayan said his country "condemns in the strongest possible terms these horrific crimes and declares full solidarity with the British government".

Abu Dhabi also "supports any measures (the British government) may take to deal with" the attacks. "These terrorist attacks which target innocent lives are against all human norms and values," the Kuwaiti leader said. Shaikh Sabah also expressed "Kuwait's sympathy and support to friendly Britain and to all actions it will take to eradicate vicious terror in order to preserve security and stability."

"The state of Qatar denounces terrorism of whatever kind and whatever its source," the statement further said. "Qatar expresses solidarity with the friendly United Kingdom and presents its condolences to the families of the victims and the injured," it added.

The Palestinian Islamist resistance group Hamas condemned the London bombings. "Targeting civilians in their transport means and lives is denounced and rejected," Moussa Abu Marzouk, deputy chief of the group's political bureau, said.

Hamas denouced a bombing for God's sake. Sure it was probably damage control, but still.

Leading Lebanese Shia Muslim scholar, Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah, voiced outrage. "These crimes are not accepted by any religion. It is a barbarism wholly rejected by Islam," he said. "Lebanon, which has been the victim of violence for years, shares with the British their pain," said President Emile Lahoud.

Sure, I doubt that you would have to walk too far to find some Arab who would say "Well they had it coming after Afghanistan and Iraq," but then most likely that guy is going to turn around and go back to living life the way he was before taking no real action against the UK.

My point in all this is that while it's easy to blame Islam or the middle east let's calm down for a second to focus on what this really is: Extremists, who are brainwashed and are using "Allah" as a tool to garner support in a private war funded by wealthy private Arabs against the west at the suggestion of delusional clerics. While it is direly important to remove the capabilities of these groups, the Arab world can do more to end terrorism than we ever can by simply pounding home the message to their own people that this behavior is not what Allah wants and those who say it is are liars. The downside is that they have decades of "Jew hating", and therefore "west hating", to overcome and a limited amount of time to do it in.

Iraq and Afghanistan may be what put London on the list, but the Arab world also knows that New York was the reason that certain members of Afghanistan and Iraq are in jail and the countries are now fledgling Democracies. If they are smart they will do a lot more than just condemn the bombings with words and we will see a few changes in the practice of Islam itself. If not, Syria and Iran may need to look over their shoulders.