Oh, those French. They "Oolala" their Muslim friends and cozy up to Saddam Hussein and take his oil for food money and courageously stand up against American aggression towards the Iraqi people and, with their heads in the sand, say, "Ah...If only America was as wise and noble and principled as we French there would be no problem with Islamic terrorism. After all, we even side with the Palestinians agains Israel! We even let Arafat come here so we could try and save his life!
So, when Muslim youth riot for more than two weeks and burn buildings and destroy nearly 10,000 cars it cannot possibly have anything to do with Islam. Non, non, non! It is socio-economic issues, mon amis. Certainment!
Today, however, French police announced that they have uncovered a large cache of millitary assault rifles, dynamite and TNT hidden in a storage room attached to an apartment building in a Paris suburb.
According to Reuters, the discovery was "part of a probe into an Islamic militant group said to have indirect links to al Qaeda's leader in Iraq (Zarqawi)."
"Thanks to (several) arrests, an arms cache has just been discovered which reveals the seriousness of this matter. They are very determined people, with links between terrorist extremism and major crime," (French Interior Minister) Sarkozy told BFM TV.
"We think they have indirect links, at a fairly high level, with al Qaeda," he said.
But, mon dieu! What are they doing in France? We are their friends! We are on their side...uh...non...n'exactment pas...I mean, we like all Muslims, no matter who they are...and, uh...these folks have really...I mean really embarrassed us by taking advantage of our hospitatlity like this. Most certainly they were planning to use these weapons somewhere...against somebody...perhaps the English...Oui, les Anglais...or the Americans...after what they have done they deserve it (d--m I miss all those oil options)...After all, why would they want to attack moi? I mean, France? C'est pas possible!
We the French have a word for this, of course, because our language c'est tres superior, n'est pas? Oui...and the word is...NUTS!
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Article comments
1 - sr
Occupied France under Hitler.WW2. Our waiter at the table say to a few Nazi Officers. Miser, party of 500.
2 - JELIEL³
You know for a pastor you are blindingly biggoted and an uninformed person when it comes to the French and Islam.
The riots in France are socio-economicaly based because they've had a huge muslim population for decades and the terrorists never acted up.
The problem is that muslims, most likely to your personal enjoyment, were "outcasted" in ghettos, much like large populations of blacks are treated in the US, living in "the projects". It was only a matter of time, following the 9/11-IRAK debacle, that fundamentalists would start "recruiting" in these french projects.
3 - gonzo marx
ya know, i almost hate to break up this bilious spewing of anti-french hate screed...
but i just can't resist point out that for all the hundreds of billions of dollars, years of time and lives spent...that the french police did what Bush, Cheney and rumsfeld couldn't do...
the french police actually found the Weapons
now THAT'S fucking Funny...
Excelsior!
4 - Bird of Paradise
Jeliel, I fear that you may have missed the fact that my posting is classified as "Satire." Satire makes a joke out of a serious matter. Satirists rarely take "personal enjoyment" from their subject matter because they are, in fact, taking it very seriously.
I also may be somewhat more informed than you give me credit for. Yes, I do, in fact believe that the rioting was, for the most part, socio-economic....with a heavy emphasis on the "socio" part of that. France maintains a philosophical belief in "liberte, egalite, fraternite" but, as in so many things philosophical and idealistic, the "realite" does not live up to the "eqalite". This philosophy has prevented France from even keeping census records on racial, religious and other important demographic data because "all Frenchmen are French" period.
The reality is, of course, that some "Frenchmen" are more "equal" than others.
The fact that the French government acted with such incredulity, feigning surprise that these socio-economic issues even existed in their country was what set me off.
Given the fact that many of these Muslim neighborhood communities have for years been designated as "no go" zones for French police only goes to prove that the North African (ie. Algerian/Moroccan/Tunisian) Muslim immigrants (many second and third generation) have not assimilated into French society or culture very well, if at all.
Muslim "ghettos" exist throughout Europe where national laws and cultural norms are ignored and often despised. National law enforcement and national governments have "tolerated" these Muslim sub-cultures for several generations, breeding vast pockets of resentment, hate and, at times, utter contempt for the countries that host them.
As you point out, there may be some parallels with inner-city African-American communities in the United States. The biggest difference is, however, that African-Americans are Americans. They eat, drink, socialize and inter-act with the larger culture as Americans.
Many, if not most, French Muslims do not see themselves as culturally French. While many African-Americans may view themselves as oppressed and marginalized, they do not view themselves as aliens or as "strangers in a strange land."
This is the attitude of European Muslims...and this, of course, includes Muslims in France.
Islamist fundamentalism and the recruitment of European Muslims to radical/terrorist organizations was occuring long before 9/11 and the United State's invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. Don't fool yourself into thinking otherwise.
The leadership of the 9/11 terrorists were linked to Islamist groups in Germany. Many European Musllims had already participated in Al-Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan and attended Wahhabist-funded Islamist schools (madrasahs) in Pakistan and elsewhere. Many had even participated in militant Islamist combat in the Balkins, especially in majority Muslim Bosnia and environs.
The actions of the United States post 9/11 did not initiate the militant Islamistization of European Muslims but was, in fact, a response to its malignant existance.
What we could see from across the Atlantic was, apparently, more difficult for the French, Dutch, Belgians, Germans and English to see in their own countries.
This is the dynamic that forms the foundation of my satire.
By the way, as a Christian, I must agree with God who declares, "I do not take pleasure in the death of any man."
I am also personally acquainted with the leadership of the Hawaiian Muslim community, have had my adult Sunday School class material on Islam approved and endorsed by a Muslim Professor at the University of Hawaii and am a co-founder of the Hawaii Multi-Faith Leadership Forum which brings the religious leaders of Hawaii's diverse faith groups together for lunch once each month.
If this makes me "blindingly bigoted and uninformed" then I will humbly acquiesce to your superior, and apparently clairvoyant, insight into my personal character and intellect.
Aloha.
PS. I like your blog post on "Bourbon Street Journal - NOLA Rising." Funny! I am linking it to my own blog and sending a copy of it to a former NOLA friend of mine.
5 - tommyd
To say that most Muslims don't interact with the greater French population shows you simply don't know what you're talking about. Are you in France? Have you been to France?
6 - JELIEL³
Pastor, perhaps it was satire but it was déplacé none the less. And it's hard to tell it was satire, other than the SATIRE tag. It felt like right-winging at best and it sounds a lot like what passes for news over at FauxNews
I did feel that you associate Muslim with terrorism. And of course not to forget the endless jokes about making the French sound stupid (Although both times they told the US not to go to war, and the US went anyway, it was a disaster on both counts). Yeah I know it's satire, you've said that.
And if you truly believe blacks are treated as equals in the US, you truly have blinders on. Just because segregation is illegal, doesn't mean the segregationists have gone away. If I'm wrong please explain why poor people are mostly black (The other strong poor majority are hispanics)?
If it was nothing more than satire then I apologise. But my gut says otherwise.
I thought the Bourbon Street Journal was funny to.
7 - Bird of Paradise
Jeliel, Note that I did not say anything about American Blacks being treated as equals. That is a subject for another thread. All I said is that they are culturally American. Also I did not say that Muslims in France did not interact with the French or the French culture outside of their own communities. I simply said that, for the most part, they do not feel culturally attached to nor do they readily identify themselves with the national culture, philosophy or espris de corps which surrounds them.
As for Muslims being identified with being terrorists we have the best ever summary of this matter by Arab editor, abd al-Rahman a-Rashid, who wrote, "It is certainly true that not all Muslims are terrorists but, sadly, we have to say that the majority of the terrorists in the world are Muslims."
Islamic leaders representing Muslims from 57 Muslim governments met is Mecca earlier this month to "assert that Muslim nations were as much against terror as other nations."
The Turkish representative stated, "We do not have the luxury of blaming others for our own problems. Terrorism is a crive that must be renounced by every Muslim."
Pakistan's Musharraf declared that, "Senseless actes of terrorism committed by a handful of misguided individuals while claiming to act in the name of Islam have maligned our noble faith of peace, tolerance and compassion."
King Mohammed VI of Morrocco was looking forward to the day when the Iraqis would eradicate Muslim "terror gangs that threaten the lives of innocent people every day" (the innocent people being Iraqis themselves).
This two-day meeting of the Organization of the Islamic Conference did not generate much publicity in the West but underscores what I have been writing for several years...that the matter of Islamist terror and terror organizations is ultimately a problem that can only be addressed and resolved by the Muslim world itself. It represents more of a civil war within Islam than it does a monolithic Islamic threat against the West.
We in the West must protect and defend and fight against those who would take pleasure in destroying us but the coup de grace, should it ever come, will come from within Islam itself.