Weekend Rambler

A reader sent me an interesting article from the Washington Times discussing the Vatican's decision to stop turning the other cheek and be prepared for defense. It is about time Rome woke up and stepped to the forefront of free people, Benedict is a true sheepdog and a needed leader among the faithful in these volotile days. This is very interesting coming on the heals of Benedict's recent statements on Islam's inability to reform from inside and the recent violence against Christians in several islamic nations.
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PARIS -- After backing calls by Muslims for respect during the furor over cartoons of the prophet Muhammad, the Vatican is urging Muslim countries to reciprocate by showing tolerance toward their Christian minorities. "Enough now with this turning the other cheek. It's our duty to protect ourselves," Monsignor Velasio De Paolis, secretary of the Vatican's supreme court, thundered in the daily La Stampa. "The West has had relations with the Arab countries for half a century, mostly for oil, and has not been able to get the slightest concession on human rights," he said. Bishop Rino Fisichella, head of one of the Roman universities that train young priests from around the world, told the daily Corriere della Sera that the Vatican should "drop this diplomatic silence." "We should put pressure on international organizations to make the societies and states in majority Muslim countries face up to their responsibilities," said Bishop Fisichella, rector of the Pontifical Lateran University.
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This is interesting as in more recent history Rome had taken a more passive route in their defense of human rights under John Paul in helping bring down the Soviet Union. Passivisity though is hardly the history between Rome and Islam as the first Crusades and the Inquisition were under the banner off the Vatican in response to Islamic desecration of the Holy lands over a thousand years ago. It is significant that the Vatican is taking this stance and saying No More as the free world will unite behind a strong Pope and Benedict is no push over appeasement monkey.
On another note Victor Davis Hansen writes about his recent trip to Iraq and as always adds his implaccable insight and wit.
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The insurgency in Iraq has no military capability either to drive the United States military from Iraq or to stop the American training of Iraqi police and security forces — or, for that matter, to derail the formation of a new government. The United States air base at Balad is one of the busiest airports in the world. Camp Victory near Baghdad is impenetrable to serious attack. And even forward smaller bases at Kirkuk, Mosul, and Ramadi are entirely secure. Instead, the terrorists count on three alternate strategies:


First, through the use of improvised explosive devices (IED), assassinations, and suicide bombings, they hope to make the Iraqi hinterlands and suburbs appear so unstable and violent that the weary American public says “enough of these people” and calls home its troops before the country is stabilized. In such a quest, the terrorists have an invaluable ally in the global media, whose “if it bleeds, it leads” brand of journalism always favors the severed head in the street over the completion of yet another Iraqi school.
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From what I have seen on Iraqi websites the unrest has been localized and targeted at extremists it appears the american MSM won't get the civil war they so crave. Iraq the Model blog is a great resource to actually find out for yourself.
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Curfew extended in Baghdad and three other provinces.
The defense minister in a press conference currently on Iraqi TV gave statistics to correct what he described as "exaggerated media reports" about civilian casualties and attacks on mosques since the attack on the Samarra shrine:
Mosques attacked/shot at without damage: 21 not 51
Moderately damaged: 6 not 23
Mosques destroyed totally: 1 not 3
Mosques occupied by militias: 1 not 2 (evacuated later)
.Civilians killed: 119 not 183
It was also announced that day-time curfew in Baghdad and three other provinces (Salahiddin, Diyala and Babil) will continue for another two days.
More from the press conference:In the same press conference, the interior minister said "we are not going to show tolerance towards those who cause violence anymore, those who felt like doing something have done what they done but we will accept no more of this" obviously referring to those who let their anger push them to violence.
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It seems their press may be as messed up and biased as ours. It mirrors what is happening here in a press corp that wants to make a story more than actually report the news in a truthful factual manner as it happens. In other words they should report the facts and leave the spin at home.