War of Words

Powerful things, words are. They say exactly what I mean, to paraphrase Lewis Carroll. Sticks and stones, the children chant, but words don't hurt. But words can cut - a cutting remark. They can be lethal, those words.

All over the news, we've heard of the plot out of Pakistan by way of England. Bit by bit, details are revealed, about the group in England that took its marching orders from Pakistan. Arrests in Pakistan led to the order to carry out the plot, according to the Guardian news service. Tony Blair would not have been on holiday if he had known the arrests were coming down, but the police had to move quickly, unexpectedly. George Bush spoke from Wisconsin, where he had been giving a speech. Some vacation he's having, isn't it?

Stark reminder, at war, and such words as that were carried over the air waves yesterday. How close we came to another massive attack, mass murder on an unprecedented scale. By all accounts, the men involved were Muslim. So what of those who speak for Islam? What are their words?

As quoted in The Irish Times, we have this gem from Nihad Awad:

US Muslim groups criticised Mr Bush's description of the foiled plot as a "war with Islamic fascists", saying the term could inflame anti-Muslim tensions. "We believe this is an ill-advised term and we believe that it is counterproductive to associate Islam or Muslims with fascism," said Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations advocacy group.

Was the plot evil? Doesn't matter to the Council on American-Islamic Relations. The evil was in the American president's words. Islamic fascists. Dreadful term, and to link Islam with fascism. Why, that's just going to upset the infidels.

The plotters were followers of their own bastardized version of Islam, and the politics of their movement is fascism in Arab dress. But heaven forbid that one utter two words together and link the two. Don't call a spade a spade, Mr. President, because words can hurt. Course, liquid explosives and crashing planes are far more painful, Nihad, but it's only the words that concern you. The violence, the hijacking of your faith for deadly purposes, none of that seems to be a trouble at all, at all.

Isn't it time that Mr. Awad started using some words of his own? Like condemn, not followers of Islam, congratulations to British and Pakistani authorities for nabbing the devils, the heretics. Some words say exactly what they mean, and sometimes silence speaks volumes.