December 06, 2007

Teddy Bear Jihad: "Religion of Peace" Showing the Love

By Brenda Walker

Thank you, Sudanese Muslims, for illustrating the medieval, hostile face of Islam as never before!

There's nothing like 10,000 angry Sons of Allah protesting in the streets of Khartoum, armed with clubs and machetes for the purpose of personally beheading a misguided middle-aged teacher over a child's cuddly toy.

A BBC news clip showed an angry protester declaring, "This old British lady—if I find her I will kill her and behead her myself."

Even the most mush-headed multiculturalist can see there's a problem here.

Surely?

Even the Mainstream Media [MSM] has covered this case in a straightforward way because the facts are not easily nuanced into a less morally clear situation. The MSM still calls the violent Muslims of Paris "youths" (as in the Associated Press' "Youths Riot for 3rd Night Outside Paris"), but the shocking story of a inappropriately named teddy bear could not be ignored or made politically correct.

There is no question that the teacher who committed an unwitting cultural faux pas had no intent to offend anyone. But Muslims are remarkably thin-skinned and seize upon even imaginary insults.

Fifty-four-year-old Gillian Gibbons, a resident of Liverpool, England, began innocently enough, teaching primary grade children in a Khartoum school in August. She asked her class of seven-year-olds to vote on a name for the teddy bear as part of a project for them to study animal behavior. The kids chose "Muhammed"—a popular name for males of the Islamic religion, from boxer Muhammad Ali to 9/11 terrorist Mohammed Atta.

The original story was that some parents were disturbed with Gibbons' allowing the stuffed toy to be named for the Prophet, but later reports pointed to an unhappy former employee who spread accusations of blasphemy to close down the school.

Gibbons was arrested, charged with insulting Islam and was sentenced to 15 days in prison and deportation—no beheading or 40 lashes. This punishment could be considered mild by Sudan standards, particularly in comparison to the kidnapping and beheading of newspaper editor Mohammed Taha after he was accused of blasphemy in 2006. The punishment for blasphemy, including insults to Mohammed, is death.

The lack of execution was evidently a disappointment in certain quarters. On Friday, thousands of angry Muslims burst from Khartoum mosques into the streets, demanding the infidel teacher be executed.

What could possibly have been the mosques' sermon topic on that day? Surely not the famous "peace" for which (according to George W. Bush) Islam is known.

“Sudan jailed the British teacher for 15 days for allowing her students to name a teddy bear Muhammed. But that's not enough for Muslim mobs.

“Thousands of Sudanese brandishing machetes and clubs demanded the woman's execution. ‘Kill her, kill her,’ one large group chanted as they piled out of a mosque.” [A Religion's Reputation At Stake, Investor's Business Daily, November 30, 2007]

On Monday, the Khartoum government announced that Gibbons would be pardoned and would not have to serve the remainder of her jail sentence. She is now safe at home in Liverpool with her adult son and daughter, speaking generously about the charming Sudanese people. Case closed on that front.

But the images of machete-wielding Sudanese Muslims won't be easily erased, particularly in contrast to an innocent child's toy. In 2006, we saw violence and rioting around the world in response to several Danish cartoons of Mohammed. In truth, some of the drawings were meant to provoke, as we expect of free speech in democratic societies. But this case was a complete botch, since the "offender" was so obviously a cultural naïf.

According to the Sun, a British tabloid, the unlucky teddy bear has been locked away in a government vault, facing a "life sentence." Certainly the Sudan government wanted this case to go away, with no annoying reminders popping up on e-Bay.

Even some British Muslim groups said the teddy bear intifada was over the top—more than the terrorist-connected Council for American Islamic Relations could manage.

A BBC writer opined that Sudan's image had descended to below sub-prime, saying "it was hard to imagine how the international reputation of the Sudanese government could sink any lower." He was referring to the murderous pillage of Darfur, in which 200,000 have been killed by Muslim Janjaweed militias. But no one thinks Sudan is about to break into the world of civilization, and the issue of teddy-bear intifada is not about a national government. The BBC is simply too politically correct to mention the fact: Islam is more political cult than religion.

It's a pity that the television writers' strike has turned off the late-night faucet of comedian ridicule, since the teddy bear jihad would surely have launched a fusillade of wicked jokes. But the internet has stepped up to the plate by providing various substitutes, such as the cartoon showing a teddy bear being flogged. Scrappleface noted that the case "stalls the 'Tickle Me Muhammed' Launch." British talking head Pat Condell recommends that we Laugh at Sudan. The Rude News responded by dressing up its plushy critters as CAIR Bears (although the Burqa Bear's ears are immodestly flaunted for all to see).

All in all, Islam has been made to look at once ridiculous, hideous and pathetic by the actions of its adherents. We are learning far more about Islam than we ever wanted, and wish it would stop.

Well, you may be thinking, that's all very interesting in a diversity sort of way, but rather far afield. The local day laborers are not rioting over teddy bears named Hay-soos, after all.

Wrong. Sudanese are indeed represented among the multicultural tapestry of immigrants that Washington continues to welcome. There are around 15,000 immigrants from Sudan residing in the US, including Muslims from the north and Christians from the south.

As a September GAO paper reported, nearly 10,000 people from terror-supporting nations have entered America as legal immigrants using the Diversity Visa program since 9/11, including 3,703 Sudanese from 2000 to 2006. [Fraud Risks Complicate State’s Ability to Manage Diversity Visa Program, September 2007 (PDF)]

The Diversity Visa results for 2008 are in, and 1147 Sudanese were lucky enough to win the coveted visa and eventual green card. That number is more than double the 2007 lottery, which allotted 569 slots for Sudan. These winners will, of course, be able to start their own migration chains, courtesy of our out-of-control “family reunification” law.

Not only are Sudanese immigrants coming here, a hefty chunk of American taxpayer money is going there. The State Department notes proudly on its website that US aid to Sudan over FY 2007-08 is more than $2 billion.

The Heritage Foundation did not rate Sudan in its 2007 Index of Economic Freedom, because the extreme levels of violence and genocide made the country too chaotic to assess properly. Heritage did note, "Khartoum's government is rife with corruption: Sudan is one of the world's 20 most corrupt nations."

Is Washington completely brain dead? America has run up $9 trillion on the national credit card, yet politicians are throwing away truckloads of money at hopeless sewers like Sudan. What's the point in sending billions of dollars to a corrupt country where most aid will be stolen? Uncle Sucker is getting his pocket picked again.

Needless to say, none of our peerless leaders are saying America should stop admitting likely enemies.

So we here at VDARE.COM will say it: persons from primitive, hostile countries should not be welcomed as immigrants.

We don't want a diversity-driven version of the Teddy Bear Jihad to appear in Peoria.