Dumb as a Doorknob

Or hopelessly blind; those are my two explanations for the Post's negligence in publishing columns by apologists for terror and failing to highlight that fact for its readers. The latest example, as noted by Charles Johnson at Little Green Footballs, is Sunday's How I Came To Love The Veil by Yvonne Ridley. The column itself is a piece of work, but let's start by quoting Johnson:

Yvonne Ridley is a member of George Galloway’s RESPECT party, and has written numerous essays defending Islamic terrorism. She described those murdered in last year’s terrorist attacks in Jordan as “collaborators.” She wrote, “I think I’d rather put up with a brother like Abu Musab al-Zarqawi any day than have a traitor or sell-out for a father, son or grandfather.” She described Shamil Basaev, the mastermind of the massacre of Russian school children at Beslan, as “a Shaheed,” or martyr. She was fired by Al Jazeera because she was too extreme even for them.

This is how the Post identifies her:

Yvonne Ridley is political editor of Islam Channel TV in London and coauthor of "In the Hands of the Taliban: Her Extraordinary Story"

Well, yes. And if we had an entry for Mohammed Atta, I suppose we'd just say he was a student pilot.

LGF's Johnson asks his readers to contact Post Ombudsman Deborah Howell, but I'd do so only for entertainment value. She's never corrected the record on this year's repeated misrepresentation of Joe Wilson's efforts in Niger. She defended the Post's publication of a dishonest column by terrorist leader Ismail Haniyeh, prime minister of the Palestinian National Authority, partly by saying both his column and another one by Richard Cohen "indeed were provocative." Whatever you think of Cohen, I'm pretty sure he hasn't supported terrorist murder nor, unlike Haniyeh, does he belong to Hamas.

Yvonne Ridley's column is paired with another by Asra Q. Nomani in Clothes Aren't The Issue, which deals extensively with wife-beating in Muslim society, something that Ridley tosses off as having nothing uniquely to do with Islam. But Nomani cites what Ridley does not:

When dealing with a "disobedient wife," a Muslim man has a number of options. First, he should remind her of "the importance of following the instructions of the husband in Islam." If that doesn't work, he can "leave the wife's bed." Finally, he may "beat" her, though it must be without "hurting, breaking a bone, leaving blue or black marks on the body and avoiding hitting the face, at any cost."

Such appalling recommendations, drawn from the book "Woman in the Shade of Islam" by Saudi scholar Abdul Rahman al-Sheha, are inspired by as authoritative a source as any Muslim could hope to find: a literal reading of the 34th verse of the fourth chapter of the Koran, An-Nisa , or Women. "[A]nd (as to) those on whose part you fear desertion, admonish them and leave them alone in the sleeping-places and beat them," reads one widely accepted translation.

Read Nomani's column to become informed about the what she calls the "4:34 dance," or better yet, attend her live chat Monday at 1 p.m. The quality of Ridley's column is signaled by her holdover feminist complaint of unequal pay between men and women, and her defense of the full-faced nikab shroud as no more objectionable than cell phones, emails and fax machines. And no one switches off the radio because they can't see the presenter's face. Direct quote.

Quick internet searches haven't turned up a definitive reason for her departure from Al-Jazeera, despite Johnson's riff. But Wikipedia provides a view of the eminence for whom the Washington Post provided the front page of its Op-Ed section:

Since her conversion to Islam, Ridley has taken increasingly controversial stances that made her the target of extensive criticism. In particular surrounding her apparent support for suicide bombings, which she calls "martyrdom operations." ^[8] She says, "I hate the term 'suicide bombers' it's an offensive term which was invented by the West to ridicule what many people regard as 'martyrdom operations' and you have to look at each one in context." ^[9] On 21 September 2004 she described radical cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri as "quite sweet really," while her former captors, the Taliban, had suffered an "unfair press." ^[10]

Her vocal support for causes involving Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan, Kashmir, Chechnya and Uzbekistan have made her a popular speaker in anti-war circles. At a debate at Imperial College London on 16 February 2006 she outlined a viewpoint that is "pretty much in line with that of Hamas." She described Israel as "that disgusting little watchdog of America that is festering in the Middle East" and further that her party, the Respect Party, "is a Zionist-free party… if there was any Zionism in the Respect Party they would be hunted down and kicked out. We have no time for Zionists", while both the Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties are "riddled with Zionists." ^[11]

So remember, kids. This is who the Post thinks should instruct you on the glories of the veil. Not that they let you know.

Comments

[Anxiety Cures]

Good post, disturbing information. She should go and live among her compatriots - and get used to being someone's propert.

[football customized jerseys]

Z was in fact in there. So, why does the US military just have to kill a child?